Forbidden Rapture
by marione25
Summary: At the night of Harry Potter's transfer to a safer location at the night of 1998, they were ambushed as lives were lost. Hermione Granger disappears without a trace; ten years later, she is found very much alive . The world condemns Severus Snape and Harry will do whatever it takes to ensure he rots in Azkaban. But why is she desperate into protecting him & begs his innocence?
1. Chapter 1

In the light of trials, memories and glimpses through the past years, Draco will help uncover a mystery that has damned his godfather to a fate with the Dementors - unless he finds a way to redeem him despite that all evidences point otherwise.

For a decade after the Dark Lord's defeat, Hermione Granger is found alive after being taken by the Potions Mater at an isolated island at the ends of London.

Harry Potter will do everything and anything using his name and power to ensure that he rots in Azkaban for it.  
But why is she so desperate in protecting him?


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter I**

 _ **The Potions Book**_

Hermione sat in the back of the car as the rain poured down their vehicle. She was waiting for Harry, who was still in the lobby signing papers for their next court hearing. She could barely contain her tears. She couldn't believe what had taken place at the first hearing.

*Afternoon's trial*

The court attendee swore Snape in. "How do you plead?" he asked for the official record.

"Guilty." His voice was distinct and it echoed throughout the room.

The courtroom waited in silence as the court attendee continued. "You are Mr. Severus Prince Snape, yes?"

Snape nodded curtly. "Yes."

All the time Hermione had known him, he had not aged, but seeing him for the first time in three months, she was surprised to see the years finally catching up with him. His face was thinner and his hair longer and lankier. His skin was not only paler but also dry and flaky. He looked as if he had aged a hundred years in the three months they'd been apart.

"And your relationship with Miss Hermione Jean Granger for the past 17 years?" asked the attendee.

There was a momentary pause before he answered. "She was my student for the first seven years." His black eyes swept up to meet the attendee's. "The following years were no different."

Murmurs circulated around the crowd, and Hermione's hands clenched to fists at her sides. "No," she whispered, her heart pumping fast. "No, please. Why are you doing this?"

The attendee was signaled to continue with the questioning. He cleared his throat and walked to the stand. "You're telling me you have treated her as your student for the past ten years? Perhaps you did not understand my question clearly; I'll rephrase it. What, exactly, was your treatment toward Miss Granger for the past ten years? Obviously, you were not in a classroom or academic environment."

"I have answered you. She was my student and I treated her as such."

The Wizengamot stared at one another, and their whispers echoed throughout the gallery. The attendee glanced up at the Wizengamot, who nodded at him to go on with the next question.

"Very well, Mr. Snape, let us move on."

Hermione was on the edge of her seat. Harry's gentle hand covered hers, offering her his support.

"Mr. Snape, how did Ms. Granger happen to be in your custody for the past ten years? Can you tell us precisely how that happened?"

Snape's expression remained blank; he gave nothing away. "It was the night the Order of the Phoenix transferred Harry Potter to a more secure location. The Death Eaters were sent by the Dark Lord to ambush them." He paused as if recalling the memory.

Hermione was silent next to Harry, but she could swear he was struggling not to launch from his seat and attack Snape. That night was as fresh as it could possibly be for both of them. The memory had too much horror to be forgotten.

"We attacked them when they were most vulnerable. We waited for hours until they were transferring Potter by broomstick. We thought they were vulnerable, but they were more than prepared to protect the boy—they were willing to die for one another. Some of us were spared and some of us were diminished." Snape kept his eyes on the floor as if watching the memory play out before him.

"Curses and spells flew through the air, and both sides found it difficult to recognize whose spells were aimed at whom. The Order suffered. They were reluctant to attack for fear of hitting one of their own, but the Death Eaters were reckless and attacked anyone who blocked their path. I found an opening for a curse, and I took it." He knew that his curse had bounced and pelted straight towards one of the Weasleys, injuring one of the twins permanently.

"Curses flew everywhere, and I was able to deflect everything that was aimed at me. Then one curse turned my way, but before I could deflect it, someone else got to it first and it rebounded towards Ms. Granger. She was heading straight towards the ground when I tried to disengage the enchantment. I was able to catch her before she crashed."

Another round of murmurs erupted, and Hermione could tell that they were dubious; but she remembered that night clearly. She hadn't seen the deflection, but she did see the emerald curse coming straight at her. Her broom had gone haywire, and she began to plummet toward the ground. Then she felt a heavy, warm sensation like a rope wrapping around her, shielding her from the various spells flying past and, most importantly, preventing her from hitting the ground. The next thing she knew, a hand grasped her arm; and a pair of black eyes were staring into hers.

*end of first trial*

"Hermione? Are you all right?"

She looked up and saw that Harry was already out of the car.

"Hermione?" he called her again, extending his hand.

She blinked and saw that they had arrived.

"We're here. Mrs. Weasley and the rest of them are already waiting inside." He pointed at the building behind him.

Hermione nodded. They were supposed to meet with the Weasleys for dinner to talk about the first hearing. Hermione had requested that only she and Harry attend the hearings, and Mrs. Weasley had honored her request despite her desire to be there to provide comfort and support.

Hermione took Harry's hand and got out of the car. They were in the heart of London—near the shops and restaurants. The September breeze made her feel comfortable and wary at the same time. She wanted to go home and go to sleep, but she knew it was impossible. Everyone would want to know how the first hearing had gone.

They entered the restaurant and quickly found the Weasleys. Hermione was greeted by Mrs. Weasley, who wrapped her in a matronly embrace.

"Oh, my Hermione. Come, come," she ushered her to the table, dragging her by the arm. "We've ordered all your favourite foods. You sit here next to Harry—no Bill, go pull out that chair so she can squeeze in and sit next to Fleur."

Hermione smiled at everyone as she was passed around for hugs. She had been with them for weeks now, but she still felt awkward. It seemed as if it was all a dream, as if she had lived another lifetime.

Conversations bounced around the table but nobody dared to ask about the hearing. Hermione thought perhaps they feared causing her more pain. She knew they were aware of her nightmares even though it was never mentioned. Since she had returned, she would wake up in the middle of the night screaming and crying, and Harry would be devastated, knowing that she was dreaming of her years with Snape.

"Here Hermione," Harry's said. "This is your favourite." He replaced her untouched platter with the second course. It was beef with potatoes, some vegetables on the side. He looked down at her with an unsure smile as she helped herself to the new dish.

She forced a small smile when Mrs. Weasley stared in her direction. Despite all their efforts to act normal, Hermione knew that normal would never again be possible.

 _"I said dinner is served," Snape called up the stairway. "There is meat and chowder downstairs."_

 _She didn't answer him or even move a muscle. She remained immersed in the Potions book he had left her with that afternoon. She continued reading, but her attention was no longer on the book; she was well aware that Snape had opened the door and entered the room. In the blink of an eye, the book flew out of her hands, hitting the floor across the room._

 _"Are you deaf?" he asked impatiently._

 _She closed her eyes and stretched out on the bed then stared up at him as she sat up. "I'm not deaf," she answered, moving to pick up the book."And I'm not hungry." she added, returning to her position on the bed and resuming her reading._

 _"I will not be treated this way," Snape spat, taking the book out of her hand again and grabbing her by the arm. "Dinner is ready downstairs. You will walk down those goddamn stairs and eat, or I will make sure that you never touch any of these little—"_

 _"NO!" Hermione wailed and reached for the book._

 _Snape threw it away, shoving her back._

 _She was breathless but she tried to look defiant._

 _"Is this really how you're going to be when you don't get what you want?" he demanded._

 _His black eyes were glinting, and Hermione knew she had pushed his patience to its limit._

 _"No," she answered in a small voice. "I'm sorry. I just...I'm sorry," she winced, her voice faltering as her eyes threatened tears. "I just want to read and take my mind off things."_

 _"Your attitude and tantrums will not bring back the Weasley boy."_

 _She didn't flinch, but he could tell by her shaking how shocked she was by his words._

 _"I'm sorry," she repeated in a small voice. "I just wish..." Her words disappeared when she felt his arms around her._

 _"Hermione, please, you need to understand that defiance will not do you any good."_

 _His arm was around her, but he was barely touching her. It felt as if he was reluctant to make contact, but still, he kept his body close to hers._

 _"Hermione, I know it has been extremely hard lately; but you need to be strong. You need to be strong when you return to them."_

 _"I know, I'm sorry," she said and began crying._

 _Snape didn't know what to do with the weeping witch in his arms._

 _"It's been two weeks Hermione," he told her. "It won't do you any good to keep dwelling on it. Deaths are inevitable, and you should learn to accept that. I know the Weasley boy was closer to you than any of us, but you need to move on. You need to understand that all these sacrifices will someday ensure a better future."_

 _"I don't know how to move on," she answered. "He's my best friend. What about Harry? Do you know where he is?"_

 _He didn't answer._

 _"Please tell me where Harry is," she pleaded, her fingers tugging at his arm. "Please. I need to know where Harry is. Is he alive? Is he safe? Where is he?"_

 _"I told you that if there is something you need to know, I would tell you." He firmly took hold of her arms and pushed her away._

 _Hermione stopped crying and stared up at him. She knew there was nothing more to say. He would give her glimpses of the outside world but not everything. She could cling to each of his words, but he would never divulge more._

 _"Hermione, you need to understand what I'm trying to do here. "_

 _"I do," Hermione answered slowly as a tear fell. "You're doing all this to protect me."_

 _She repeated the phrase, but he didn't respond. Instead, he moved towards the door. "You know the way downstairs," he simply said; and without another word, he closed the door behind him._

"Some pudding?" Fleur's voice interrupted her thoughts.

Nodding at Fleur, she took a slice, but it remained untouched on her plate.

"Hermione, I'll be having a tea party in a few days." Fleur told her. "Come and help me out? I would be delighted to have you around."

"Yes, I would love to," Hermione replied with a smile. "I'd love to see everyone."

For the rest of the evening, Hermione was forced to smile through the endless questions and invitations, their way of making her forget things.

But forgetting wasn't that easy.

Three months wasn't long enough to erase those memories. She knew they wanted her back and were happy to find her alive, but her return had been a struggle for her. She felt she no longer belonged in their world.

She didn't know any of them anymore, even though they were just as she remembered. She was now an adult who could make her own decisions, but she felt estranged from the faces around her. She felt restrained by unspoken limits she didn't even understand. She felt as if nothing around her was real and nothing around her mattered. Not even reality felt real.

*Courtroom trial*

"And you took her?" asked the attendee. "You took her without her consent?"

"She was unconscious," Snape answered clearly. "She needed to be healed."

"Why not take her to the hospital?"

Nothing but silence.

"Was it because taking her wasn't just about healing Ms. Granger?"

There was anticipation in the air. Hermione could sense Harry's irritation with the time Snape took before he answered.

"Yes," Snape finally answered. "I wanted to heal her, but I had other reasons for claiming her that night."

There were loud murmurs, and the Wizengamot had to restrain some violent reactions around the room.

"No!" Hermione screamed, struggling against Harry, who was now holding her around the waist. "No! You're lying! You're lying to them. Why are you doing this?"

Harry stared, his eyes widening in disbelief. "Hermione."

"No!" She turned and grabbed his wrist. "Harry, help him. _Help him_!" she pleaded. He looked back at her as if she was mad.

Hermione turned away from him, knowing there was nothing she could get from Harry.

"Why are you doing this?" she thought, looking down at Snape who had returned to his usual passive state. "Don't lie to them, Severus! _Don't lie to them_!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Two**

 _ **Diagon Alley**_

The rain didn't stop until Hermione and Harry returned home. It was a nice, cozy flat Harry had bought in the hopes that she would one day be returned to him. His dreams were finally coming true.

"Home sweet home!" he announced, placing his arms around her waist and kissing her cheek. He laid the keys on the small table and smiled at her.

Hermione nodded and managed a weak smile in return. "I'm going to rest."

Harry's smile faded a little when she moved away from him.

"How about I make us some hot chocolate?" he offered.

Hermione nodded at him.

Harry stared at her for a moment and nodded back. "I'll be in the kitchen."

After preparing the hot cocoa, Harry carried it out to her. It was a dimly lit room. Two long couches sat atop an expensive-looking carpet. Bookshelves paneled the walls, and they were filled with Defensive magic reference guides and some collections he'd bought in anticipation of Hermione's homecoming.

He placed the tray with hot chocolate and two cups on the table by the couch. "Would you prefer to go to bed early?" he asked as he took her hand and kissed it. "If the weather is better tomorrow, let's go to Diagon Alley to find a new a wand for you. I got a note a few days ago that they're ready to show you their new inventory."

Hermione only nodded and smiled back at him. He moved towards her and was about to kiss her when she turned away and picked up the pot of hot chocolate.

"Here, I'll pour you some," she said, avoiding his eyes as she poured the hot chocolate and handed it to him.

He nodded and thanked her, hiding his disappointment.

Harry was unsure how to feel about her homecoming. True to it, Hermione Jean Granger—the love of his life—had been safely returned. She was finally in his arms once more. She was whole physically, but she was hollow. She still refused to make love to him. She was very distant not just towards him but to everyone. It seemed as if her soul had been broken. Harry didn't know what to do.

When she was taken, their relationship was just becoming something more. The night of his transfer when they were ambushed, they were just about to announce that Hermione had said 'yes' to his proposal. But the tragic night ended all their dreams. Now he was unsure if Hermione still wanted him the same way she did then. She seemed so distant.

Three months it had been, and it still felt as if Hermione wasn't really home. Harry had demanded they repeat the tests at the hospital to make sure she was physically and mentally healthy. He was worried she has been under some kind of curse or enchantment. But everything was normal. The first month was spent at St. Mungo's where he oversaw her treatment, double checking that she got the psychological support she needed. To his and the Weasleys' delight, all the examinations showed she was in perfect health and perhaps the only thing to keep an eye on was her low weight. Harry made sure everything she needed or wanted was attended to.

He had bought her new clothes, took her to large libraries and parks—everything he could possibly think of to make sure she felt safe now that she was back. And yet, despite his efforts, none of it seemed to matter to her.

 _"Thanks," Hermione said, setting her empty mug on the table. "I'm going to bed early. Goodnight."_

 _Snape just nodded gruffly. He was sitting on the couch by the fireplace completely exhausted._

 _"Are you ill?" she asked._

 _Snape shook his head and waved his hand. "Go to sleep," he told her. "I just need to get away from this headache."_

 _She placed her hand over his forehead, and he quickly opened his eyes and grasped her wrist, brushing her away._

 _"I'm sorry. I'm just worried. You really don't look good."_

 _"If you'd been spending weeks and months taking care of a whole castle full of dunderheads, you'd have a headache too."_

 _Hermione turned to the window where she could see the snow falling. "Hogwarts is beautiful at Christmas." she whispered._

 _She missed the castle, especially during the holiday season. It had been a few months since the ambush on Harry's transfer, and she still didn't know how the outside world was faring. Was Harry all right? How were her parents?_

 _"About the other day," she said reluctantly. "You said if it was safe, you would take me to Diagon Alley."_

 _He didn't answer._

 _Thinking he might've fallen asleep, Hermione headed for bed._

 _"It's not yet safe to be out there," Snape said. "I know I made you a promise—and I intend to fulfill it once it's safe."_

 _Hermione stared at him for a moment and nodded to herself. She'd heard that answer many times._

 _"About my parents," Hermione continued. "I Obliviated them before I left for the Burrow, but I was wondering if you'd allow me to visit if—"_

 _"I will check on them this week," Snape told her, his impatience growing. "If there is any sort of emergency, I will let you know."_

 _"I was wondering if I can go with you. I don't need to show myself. Just a glimpse of them from afar and—"_

 _"And which part," Snape began, turning to her, "about keeping you safe do you not understand?" His black eyes glinted at her._

 _She bit her lower lip._

 _"Do you really want to jeopardize the plans we have? I'm trying to protect you. Do you have any idea what the Dark Lord would do if he found out that the Muggle-Born is alive? He could use you against Potter." He towered over her, and she looked like she was going to cry again. "Do you really want to be out there, to be seen and to be used against your beloved—"_

 _"No, no," Hermione said quickly. "I'm sorry. I was just… I just miss my parents and Harry and everyone else. I just thought maybe—"_

 _"Not now Hermione," Snape said, regretting his earlier indifference. "When it's safe, I'll take you to see them. Right now, this is where you are safe. Here, I can protect you. I have placed extra wards around your parents' home. I am sure they are safe and there is nothing to worry about. Just stay here." He moved a step forward as if to touch her but halted at the last moment. He just stared at her and slowly lowered his hand. "You have to trust me."_

 _"I trust you," Hermione assured him. "That's why I'm here... because you're protecting Harry, and you're protecting me. It's what professor Dumbledore asked you to do. I trust you."_

 _He didn't say anything. Hermione knew that look. He stared at her as if wanting to say something, but he didn't continue. Without another word, Snape walked out of the living room, leaving her to her thoughts and to her tears._

"Hermione? Hermione!" Harry's voice woke her out of her reverie. They'd arrived at Diagon Alley. He tried to act normal when they were in public, as they were being closely watched. The Daily Prophet still kept reporting on Hermione's abduction and trial.

"Sorry, Harry. I was just looking at the other shop," she said as he took her hand.

They took lunch at a small pizzeria at the heart of Diagon Alley where they bumped into Neville and Ginny, who were having lunch after picking up some things for Neville's new job as Professor of Herbology at Hogwarts. He invited Hermione to come visit the school anytime. There was an opening for a new professor, and he said it would be nice if she applied for the job. Hermione nodded and thanked him and said that she would visit Hogwarts once Harry was free to accompany her.

"You see anything you want?" Harry asked.

"No, I'm good." Hermione smiled at him as they entered the bookshop.

"They said at Ollivander's that they would have your wand delivered."

"It's fine, Harry," Hermione said, squeezing his hand and kissing his cheek. "It's very sweet of you. I'll just walk around and browse."

"I'll check some books as well." Harry kissed her forehead and went in the other direction.

She went through aisle after aisle of books, reading the titles and not really knowing what to buy. She had been reading a lot since she returned. Harry had bought her every possible book he could get his hands on. She kept reading, but it felt different now. Nothing she read seemed interesting anymore.

Hermione's mind was drifting off again when she passed the Potions section. She stared at the titles and took one book from the shelf. She opened it and read through the pages. It was a thick book with instructions on interesting Potions. It also had the histories and makers along with graphic drawings. She stared down at each page and could almost imagine each potion being brewed thoroughly….

 _"Aaaaargh! It burns! It burns!" Hermione screamed as she dropped the vial and backed away from the cauldron._

 _"Evanesco!" Snape commanded, and the caldron disappeared altogether. He ran over to her. "Let me see it."_

 _Hermione felt a hand trying to bring her to her feet. "I can't walk," she cried as the boiling potion scalded her thigh and dripped over her legs._

 _"I need to see it,"Snape said, roughly pulling her leg to him._

 _"I can't stretch it out!" she wailed as the pain burned deeper. "Don't touch it. It hurts!"_

 _"I said I need to see it!" Snape barked, and without warning, he scooped her in his arms and carried her back to their living room and set her on the couch._

 _"Granger, I need to see it," he told her as he tried to stretch her legs, but she remained curled in a ball. "I need to—"_

 _"It hurts when I move it—" she cried, not wanting to see her own burning skin beneath her pajamas._

 _"I told you not to touch it! It was not yet ready!" Snape spat. He grabbed a pillow and placed Hermione's leg over it._

 _"Really! You're going to scream at me right now about what I did or didn't do—aaaaah!" she screamed again. Her skin was blistered. Either he had to do something about it or they'd have to go to the hospital. Her impatience had ruined an important potion._

 _"Granger, look at me," he said, kneeling next to the couch. "I need to see it so I can heal it. You need to stretch out your leg for me."_

 _"It hurts, I can't move it!" she wailed, trying to shove him away. "It's burning my legs!"_

 _"I can see it's burning," he spat, losing his patience with her._

 _He took out his wand and rolled up his sleeves. He tried to calm himself down so she wouldn't panic. "I need to see it so I can heal it. "_

 _"No! It hurts." She tried to shove him away, but he grasped her wrists tightly._

 _"Granger." He took hold of her arms, but she shook her head and refused to move. "Granger, look at me. Hermione! Please look at me," Snape said softly. She slowly opened her eyes and looked up at him. He saw the pain in her eyes as the potion continued to burn her skin. He breathed heavily._

 _"Hermione, you need to trust me. You know I can't take you to the hospital. I need to see it so I can heal it now, please." He was growing impatient, but he also knew that he couldn't do anything without her cooperation. The seconds were ticking. The more she delayed, the more damage the potion would inflict._

 _"It hurts." she whispered, reaching out for his arm as she shook her head. "It really hurts."_

 _"I know," Snape whispered as he knelt closer. He realized that he had to take off her pajamas so he could fully see the damage. He looked at Hermione, and she seemed to sense what he was thinking. She closed her eyes and more tears spilled out._

 _"Please just make it stop hurting." She lifted her upper body and started removing her pajamas._

 _Snape swallowed hard as he watched her. When they were halfway down her thighs, she refused to move any more. He slowly placed his hand over the waistband. "Hermione, I need to—"_

 _"Just do it." Hermione said, biting her lower lip in pain and embracing the other small pillow he'd given her. "Please hurry." She looked away, unable to watch._

 _Snape nodded and muttered an incantation as he placed the tip of his wand over her pajamas. He traced a line down each leg, and the material sliced itself following the path of his wand. He winced at the sight of her beautiful skin marred by the burns. He knew he could repair it, but it would take time for her to heal completely._

 _"Hermione," Snape said, still reluctant to touch her skin. "The potions I'm going to use are going to sting, but you need to just hold still and it will be all right." She didn't seem to hear him. He whispered a Freezing Charm and pointed his wand over the burn marks._

 _"This will cool it down a little." He carefully turned her face. "Hermione, look at me."_

 _Hermione stared up at the Potions Master. She'd never seen him so worried._

 _"I'll go get the potions." It looked as if she was on the verge of passing out from the pain._

 _She nodded incoherently and pressed his wrist tightly. "Please help me," she whispered, tears in her eyes._

 _"I will," he said, and without knowing why he did it, he moved towards her. "I will, love. Just hold still. I'll take care of you."_

 _Snape's voice echoed somewhere in her head as her eyes closed in pain. She blacked out after that._

"Ms. Granger?" asked the attendee, shaking Hermione back to reality. The whole courtroom was staring at her. Her brown eyes blinked and glanced around the room. Everyone was waiting for her to answer the question.

"I'm sorry," she answered in a small voice, staring back up at the wizard questioning her. She saw that at the left side of the room Dementors and Aurors surrounded the small table where Snape sat quietly with his face down. "Please look at me," she thought. " _Please._ "

The wizard questioning her breathed heavily and stared up at the Wizengamot, who nodded and encouraged him to repeat his question.

"Miss Granger," he started as he walked around the witness stand, "I will repeat my question as it seems you were not listening. In the ten years that you were held captive by Mr. Severus Snape, was there any instance where you were forced to disrobe.

Hermione stared back at him and then glanced over at Snape, who was silent and unmoving in his chair. She did not want to answer the question, but she was sworn to tell the truth. Her heart was pounding as she struggled to find the words. She swallowed, unsure what to say.

"Forced me?" she repeated, knowing what they wanted.

"Miss Granger," the wizard repeated with impatience."I am asking if—"

"I heard you," Hermione answered. "Yes," she answered, her fingers clawing her own skin beneath the table. "Yes, but it wasn't the way you think." Her words sank as the whole room started speaking loudly and pointing in Snape's direction.

"No, wait!" Hermione said, panic in her eyes. "I'm not done with my answer! Let me finish." But the wizard just nodded and smiled at her. "But it's not what you think—there's a story behind why he did it."

Nobody was listening to her. She looked in Harry's direction, and he nodded at her with an encouraging look on his face. She shook her head with tears in her eyes. "No! That's now what it was. It was an accident and there was a potion that spilled and he had to—"

"No further questions right now." the wizard said, walking away.

Hermione knew that nobody was listening to her. She stood from her seat and banged her fists on the table. "No! I said it wasn't like that. Why won't you listen?"

Tears began streaming down her face, and she stared at Snape. Amidst the chaos and the noises around them, she saw him staring straight at her. She swore she saw a light of appreciation in his eyes. His expression was still passive, but there was something in his gaze that told her what he was trying to say.

"It's all right," his black eyes seem to communicate. "You're doing well. Just tell them all truth there is to be told."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Three**

 **Truth and Lies**

"I saw Luna today," Harry said as they entered the apartment from their grocery shopping that morning. He looked at Hermione, who sat exhausted by their living room couch. "She said that she will help us minimize the press reports and other newspaper leaks."

Hermione didn't say anything. Harry pointed his wand towards the fireplace and it fired up.

"I can make us a quick lunch if you're hungry."

"The bread is okay," Hermione said, smiling up at him. "I'll just rest for a little bit then I'll make us both a snack."

She let Harry kiss her forehead, his hands running slowly around her arms.

"Tomorrow we have dinner at Mrs. Weasley's. And I got a message from Bill as well." Harry observed her reaction to the guest list. "Bill said he wanted to go to this place to check on some project they have at his department at the Ministry, and he was asking if you'd like to come with me. Fleur will make lunch and Ginny will be dropping by. You can invite Luna if you want. I'm sure you girls will have a good time."

"Yeah," Hermione answered, "that would be nice, Harry."

Harry could tell that, as usual, she wasn't that interested but would go with the flow.

Harry moved closer to kiss her, but she quickly leaned away. Harry stared with his mouth half open. "Hermione."

"I'll make the sandwich," she said, walking towards the door. She paused and turned back to him. "Do you want tea with it or something?"

Harry tried his best to hide his disappointment. "No."

She smiled at him and walked out of sight, leaving him at loss for words.

Harry remained still for a few more moments. He did not understand it. She agreed to come and live with him, knowing his expectations and his feelings for her; or was the relationship no longer where it used to be?

" _I made you a sandwich," Hermione said, placing the platter on the table. Snape sat in the armchair with his eyes closed._

 _She walked over to him. "I thought maybe you were hungry." she said, biting her lower lip as she always did whenever she was nervous. He did not answer immediately. Instead, he remained still; but he must have sensed her nearness._

 _"I'm not hungry. You can leave this room." He listened but he didn't hear her move. Slowly, he opened his eyes and saw her standing over him with that same dreadful expression. Her brown eyes were threatening to shed tears, and he tried his best to ignore it. "I said you can leave."_

 _"Professor, I really didn't mean what happened."_

 _He continued to ignore her._

 _Hermione made another step forward. "Severus, please listen to me. I'm sorry."_

 _Snape hated it whenever she begged him in that pitiful tone and gave him that sad expression. It was such a pain in his already-aching insides._

 _"Severus, I'm sorry. I promise that it will never happen again." Her brown eyes were now shedding tears. She went down on her knees and grasped his robes._

 _"Severus." Her fingers tightened around his clothing, and she felt him shiver under her touch._

 _He tried his best to ignore her, which was becoming harder by the moment._

 _"Severus, please talk to me. I'm so—"_

 _He grabbed her tightly by the wrists. "Do you have any idea what could have happened if you were seen?"_

 _His voice was filled with hatred, disappointment, and anger. His black eyes glinted fiercely. Hermione's voice seemed to have gone._

 _"You could have been seen." He gripped her wrists tighter. "You could have been taken. You could have been killed, and all of these would have been for nothing!"_

 _All of the tears she had been holding back spilled from her eyes. "I'm sorry!" she cried back. "I'm so sorry!"_

 _Snape stared at her. He raised his hand as if to strike her, and she cowered lower. But the blow never came. Instead, she felt herself being thrown back on the floor, and she heard his angry footsteps fade away._

 _"No, no, please..." she cried, gathering herself from the floor. She crawled towards the door and followed him. "Severus, please!"_

 _She found him in the entryway putting on his traveling cloak_

 _"Where are you going? Severus, you can't leave. There's a storm and—"_

 _"I'd rather be out there than stay here," he spat as he struggled with the sleeve of the cloak._

 _Hermione tried to stop him. "Please, don't leave me, please. Let's talk. You can't just leave me here."_

 _"You were just about to do that to me!" he said, pushing her away._

 _Hermione hit the wall, but she remained standing. "No, I didn't. I wasn't going to—"_

 _"You were going to leave me the first moment you had that freedom in your hands, Hermione. Well, I guess you should—"_

 _"I would not have left you!" she screamed, reaching for him again._

 _He stopped her by grabbing both her hands. His black eyes continued to glint with a fury beyond her imagination. "If you were seen, if you were… I would not be able to survive without—"_

 _"But I wasn't and I'm safe; and I'm back here and I wasn't going to leave you!"_

 _"You do not understand!" Snape screamed. "You are supposed to be smart, Hermione! You still do not understand what this war has done to many and what it can still do to those who are left."_

 _"Severus, I'm alive and I'm here and—"_

 _"DAMMIT, HERMIONE!" he yelled as he raised his arm._

 _Hermione closed her eyes ready for the blow. But it didn't come._

 _Hermione slowly opened her tearful eyes and saw that his fist had collided with the wall beside her cheek. Blood dripped from his fist._

 _"Severus."_

 _"I'm trying to protect you," Snape said without looking at her. "I have been left with that responsibility and many others that I did not ask for. I am just trying to protect you, but if you do not need that from me…."_

 _She cried harder. She could hear an unbearable pain in his voice she has never heard before._

 _"I should not keep you here if you wish to leave. I won't stop you from doing what you want, Miss Granger."_

 _Snape slowly lowered his fist from the wall and turned away._

 _"Severus."_

 _"I cannot keep you here forever."_

 _Snape quietly walked from the empty corridor toward his laboratory to heal his bleeding fist. He was halfway there when he heard her wail behind him and then, without warning, he felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist, completely catching him off-guard._

 _"Miss Granger, please let me go."_

 _"Don't call me that," she cried. "I'm sorry."_

 _"I'm not keeping you here for no reason. I'm trying to keep you alive. But if you cannot live with that any longer, you have my consent to leave."_

 _"I can't," Hermione admitted, pressing her face to his back and placing her arms around him again. I won't leave you. You can't make me."_

"Miss Granger?"

The attendee's voice came out from nowhere, shaking Hermione back to reality.

She stared around her and realized that she was lost for words again.

"I'm sorry," she said, shaking her head and trying to ignore the look of worry Harry wore. "I'm listening."

The Wizengamot stared at her as if they didn't believe her claim.

The attendee continued then, "So Miss Granger, you're telling us that in the first few months that you were in Mr. Snape's home, you did not try to escape?"

"It's not called an escape," Hermione said impatiently. "If you call it that, it would mean that he was forcing me to stay there without my consent. I will repeat it, he had my consent. I agreed to stay with him."

"But then again, it was before you found out that the Dark Lord has gone?" the attendee interrupted her with a clear smirk on his face.

Hermione glared at him. They were really going to do everything to make it sound as if Snape was guilty. She opened her mouth, but the attendee waved his hand in the air to interrupt her.

"I will get to the point, Miss Granger and please do try your best to give straight answers to my precise questions."

"I'm trying to."

"Did you try to leave the cottage where he kept you? The man in question kept you for six months, and during the early stages you tried to escape his place, did you not?"

"I did not try to escape him!" Hermione screamed. "I tried to see my parents because I was worried about them, but I returned to the cottage because he was protecting me there."

"Protecting you? But after the six months, didn't you wonder what was happening with the war? Didn't he tell you that the Dark Lord had been defeated? Why would you want to stay?"

"Severus Snape was only trying to protect me!" Hermione stood from her chair.

Everyone was watching her. The attendee's eyes were bright and wide, and the jury was murmuring and pointing at her. Her tearful brown eyes roamed the room and found Harry. He was sitting right across her, and a look of utter disappointment and surprise was written all over his face.

"Please," Hermione begged this time, her eyes softening. "This isn't going anywhere. You're only asking me things to get the answers you want to hear."

"Miss Granger," the head of the Wizengamot finally spoke.

Hermione was silent as she stared up at the old man.

"We are asking you the questions pertinent to your situation. If the man in question is innocent, he will be freed. If he is found guilty, he will be charged and you will be given justice."

The room was silent. The rest of the jury seemed to have been terrified that the head of the Wizengamot had spoken.

Hermione sank back on her seat with her fists clenched at her sides and her eyes filling with tears.

It wasn't right. They were asking her things that would put Snape in a negative light and would surely land him in Azkaban for the rest of his life. And the worst part of it was he had made her promise that she would tell nothing but the truth. Now, he was going to rot in Azkaban because of her.

"Leaving 'without his consent' would suggest that you were escaping, Miss Granger. Given this, was there any other time you tried to leave?"

Hermione sat back with such hatred in her eyes before uttering a spiteful, "Yes."

The attendee nodded. "When was this, and why did you not succeed?"

"Isn't it obvious that he tried to—"

"Miss, Granger, kindly answer the question," the head of the Wizengamot reminded her.

She was furious. She looked up at the attendee then glanced sideways at Harry who had nodded at her in approval. He was giving her his most encouraging look, but it wasn't helping her at the moment.

"He had ways of monitoring the cottage. I couldn't just leave."

"When was this second attempt of escape?"

"It wasn't an escape," Hermione spat. "It was a long time ago. I can't remember the specific time and date."

Suddenly her bright mind lit up with an idea. She needed to answer them in ways which were neither truth nor lies.

"Very well. Do you remember why you were unsuccessful?"

"I was..." Hermione hesitated. She looked at Snape. He sat with his head down, unmoving. She wondered if he was even awake.

"Miss Granger?"

"I was bitten by a snake. He found me just in time and healed me," Hermione answered truthfully. "He saved my life."

"He healed you?" the attendee asked her. "What did he use to heal you?"

Hermione's eyes rolled. "Potions obviously."

"What kind of potion did he use to heal you?"

"He's a Potions master. He has an array of antidotes."

"So there is an array of potions where he kept you?"

Hermione's face turned red in irritation. "I said, he's a Potions master. He obviously has a laboratory where he brews all sorts of potions.

"All sorts of potions," the attendee repeated in a manner that Hermione didn't like at all. "Did you know what antidote he used on you?"

"I don't know," Hermione answered and then realized that it was not the right answer. Her face turned slightly red. "What I mean is that, there are all kinds of potions and antidotes that could prevent one from dying of a snake bite."

"But you drank it?" the attendee questioned. "You took it even though you didn't know exactly what it was."

"He was trying to keep me alive!" Hermione wailed again. "He tried to heal me using the craft he knows the best! I may not know what exactly he had used on me, but I know that he healed me, because I'm here right now in front of you answering your nonsense questions! I'm sorry I was bloody dying at the time, and I didn't have enough consciousness to inquire which antidote he was going to use on me!"

She has lost all the patience she has left. The Wizengamot looked down at her as if she had lost her mind. She tried her best to keep her voice controlled, but the way things were turning she could not hold it any longer. They were really going to make sure that Snape was sent to Azkaban for a crime he didn't commit.

But the attendee wasn't the kind of man who would let her get away with an attitude like that, even if she was the victim, even if she was one of the Golden Trio.

He nodded at her and turned to the Wizengamot. "It is obvious that for the years Miss Hermione Jean Granger was in the custody of Severus Prince Snape, she was given potions she could not identify. I think it is safe to conclude that these potions were used to manipulate and control her mind."

"My mind is intact!" Hermione suddenly raged, standing up again. She banged her fists on the table. "My mind is completely fine, and I was not fed mysterious potions."

"Miss Granger, you just admitted to the whole room that you were given a potion—an antidote as you called it—but you were not sure the precise name of the potion."

"This isn't just!" she wailed at the man. She turned to Harry for support, but he did not look convinced at all. She turned around to Snape, whose face was hidden beneath his long black hair.

"Please," she pleaded again. "This is nonsense. He saved me from that snake bite, and he protected me all those years. This isn't just."

"We ask the questions, Miss Granger," said the eldest member of the Wizengamot, and for the first time, Hermione felt a sense of respect for the jury in front of her. The old man's eyes bore into hers, and she swallowed hard as if fearful of the old man, or at least fearful of lying to him.

"Miss Granger," the old man stood, "we are here for the trial of a man whom the whole Wizarding Community thought of to be dead or missing. Now years later we find you in his custody. It is human nature for us to assume that some things happened that most would deem criminal."

Her eyes averted to Harry, who seemed to agree with what the old man was saying.

"Therefore, whether you like it or not, you will have to succumb to these hearings and answer all the questions truthfully. If you were to ask me, there should be no trial in this case." He gestured towards Snape. "Keeping you from your family, your friends, and loved ones for all those years is a crime punishable by any law—not just our laws here in the wizarding world, Miss Granger. However, for the Wizengamot to be just, these trials and hearings must proceed. If Mr. Snape is found guilty, he will suffer the consequences; and if he is found innocent," his eyes bore momentarily towards Snape, "he will be a free man. Now, today's hearing is simply to ascertain whether you left his place without his consent; if you failed, what was the reason; and if there were times he gave you potions that you could not identify. These are simple questions Miss Granger, so please do not make things complicated."

There was silence around the whole room. Hermione was also lost for words. The old man nodded and gestured for the attendee to step aside as he came forward to question Hermione himself.

"The question is simple Miss Granger," he had said calmly. "I believe you were able to answer it. Now, we have another question. In regards to the potions he asked you to drink, was there any potion you were reluctant to drink? Any potion he forced you to consume?"

Hermione breathed heavily. Her eyes strayed to Harry, who was anticipating her answer. Then she looked towards Snape, who was as silent and still as he had always been.

" _You need to drink this." Snape said, placing the vial on the table next to her bed. "Don't be stubborn."_

 _She had her back turned, and she completely ignored him. He inhaled sharply and stared at her unmoving form._

 _"Are you deaf?" he asked as he slowly lost his patience. "I said, the potion is here. Drink it now."_

 _Hermione continued to pretend that she was sleeping._

 _"I know you're not sleeping. Stop pretending you can't hear me. I am very much aware that you are wide awake. Now, either you get up on your own to drink this potion, or I will force it down your throat."_

 _Still, Hermione did not move._

 _"Bloody hell," he growled. He moved forward and grabbed her by the arm. "Miss Granger, I told you to drink this."_

 _"Then what?" Hermione said, turning to face him as he grabbed her. "And then what after I drink that?" She gestured towards the potion in complete disgust._

 _"It will keep you safe." He gripped her arm harder and grabbed the vial with his free hand. "Now drink this before I pour this down your gullet."_

 _"I won't," Hermione said, shaking her head, her eyes starting to fill with tears. "You can try and shove it down my throat, but I will not drink that on my own!"_

 _"DAMMIT, HERMIONE!"_

 _Hermione saw the frustration in his eyes._

 _She tried to ignore the look he was giving her and fought not to give in to the fear. He looked at her with such frustration and desperation._

 _"Why won't you listen to me when I tell you—"_

 _"Why won't you listen to me too!" she wailed at him. She moved towards him. "Please, I don't need that. I don't need—"_

 _"You don't know what you're talking about. You don't know what you're saying, Hermione. Please, you need to understand—"_

 _"It doesn't matter," Hermione interjected, and slowly opened his hand with the potion. "Let it go," she softly said, moving his hand to set the vial back on the table. "Please leave it. I already told you, it doesn't matter to me."_

 _"If I..." Snape began but he was unable to go on when he saw her pleading eyes. "Hermione, you do not understand. What if... we cannot even attempt to have…. You don't understand our situation. This isn't right. I'm supposed to protect you."_

 _"And you're already doing it." Hermione moved closer to the Potions master._

 _Those black eyes she'd known since her first year at Hogwarts, the black eyes she feared so much now stared through her soul. No, she refused to be shaken out of her decision because of the fear those black eyes once inspired._

 _"I'm with you," Hermione whispered, placing her hands on either side of Snape's cheeks. "I was meant to be here."_

 _"You don't understand," Snape said in a defeated tone as Hermione pressed her body against his. "I was meant to protect you, not harm you...not in any way. Miss Granger, please stop this."_

 _"Hermione," she whispered as she brought her face to the Potions master's "It sounds a lot better when you call me Hermione." She moved her lips closer until they were almost touching._

 _He captured her lips with his and was enthralled once more in the arms of the Gryffindor girl he had been asked to protect with his life._

"None," Hermione lied in the jury. "There was none I refused." She lowered her gaze so they wouldn't see the lies in her eyes. There was some murmuring, and when she glanced up, she saw the disbelief in Harry's face.

The Wizengamot stared at one another, and their heated whispers told Hermione they were debating her answer. Finally, the wizard by the stand stood up and called for the courtroom.

"There will be half an hour of break."

Hermione's heart relaxed at the announcement.

"When we resume, Mr. Severus Prince Snape will take the stand."

And with that, the Wizengamot stood up and the rest of the jury and witnesses around the room began leaving their seats.

Hermione stayed where she was and stared up at Harry who was slowly making his way towards her. Hermione bit her lip and stood up, glancing towards Snape, who was being led out of the room by two wizards. She looked up at him, expecting that he'd look in her direction, but he didn't even glance up. He walked out of the room quietly with his head down and his hands bound behind him by magical bonds.

"Hermione? Let's go grab something to eat."

"I'm not hungry," she answered truthfully. Her eyes remained on Snape until he was led out of the room and was completely out of her sight. She turned to Harry. "I just want this day to be over."

"I know," Harry answered, taking her hand to his. They started leaving the stand together. "Hermione," he slowly said, "why are you lying?"

"What?" she turned to him. "Harry, I'm not lying. I'm not!"

"I saw the results of your medical records. They saw traces of different potions in your blood," he began. "They saw a trace of a potion to keep you from getting pregnant."

Hermione noticed the hatred glowing in his eyes.

"Hermione, why are you protecting him?"

"Harry, I'm not lying. I'm not trying to protect him either," she lied again, but she knew Harry didn't believe her. "Look, I'm trying... I'm trying to tell the truth."

"The truth?"

For the first time she heard disappointment in his voice.

"The truth, Hermione? You're just making it easier for him get off scot free."

"Harry, they want him jailed in Azkaban."

 _"Because that's where he belongs!"_ Harry shot back, and his voice echoed all over the room, "Hermione, he took you in and kept you for years. We thought you died. He took you, and he should pay for whatever he did to you. Do you have any idea what it felt like for me every single night knowing you were somewhere out there, god knows where, and I couldn't even do anything! Have you had any idea—"

"He was trying to protect me!" Hermione answered back, all the anger rising inside of her. "He was trying to protect you—all of us!"

"Protect my balls!" Harry cursed loudly, not caring who heard. "He kidnapped you. Did he really damage your brain so much that you can't tell what's right from wrong! Voldemort was gone for years, and he still kept you! Why can't you goddamn see that!"

Hermione didn't say anything. Her eyes were filled with tears, and her whole body was shaking, unsure of what to do. But before she could do anything else, Harry let go of her arm and stormed out of the courtroom, leaving her on the witness stand alone and crying.

"Harry, wait!" she called after him, realizing the hurt and anger she was causing. She jumped out of the stand and quickly exited the courtroom, passing the gawking crowd. She reached the double doors but couldn't see where Harry had gone.

"Harry!" she called out, but no head turned to her. She let the people pass her and push their way around her. She bit her lower lip, and her eyes filled with tears again. Her heart was pumping so fast in anger and frustration. She was just about to re-enter the now empty courtroom, when she saw the tall wizards guarding Snape.

"Severus," she gasped tearfully. "Excuse me, excuse me," she said, making up her mind to reach them and talk to the man she hadn't spoken to in three months. She had not been allowed to see him and was unable to go to Azkaban to visit him because of Harry's restrictions. But now she was just so close to the man the whole world was accusing of a crime she knew he had not committed.


	5. Chapter 5

**_Author's Notes:_**

 ** _Hope everyone is doing well._**

 ** _I had my dental extraction today so I'll be on some bed rest for a day or two._**

 ** _Yay cause I will have time to edit and have my other stories received from beta editors and post for the coming days._**

 ** _As a note, the Italic paragraphs are memories while the normal ones are present time for the story._**

 ** _Please do check out my other stories found at A03, Adult-fanfic org and ofcourse here at_**

 ** _Through the Son - DRAMIONE - slow burn, lots of smut and angst_**

 ** _Beyond the Veil - Dramione - slow burn, lots of angst, smut everywhere and a touch of suspense_**

 ** _Across the Universe - Harry Potter/Marvel Crossover HERMIONE/LOKI - slowburn, angst, a lot of sarcasm and smut_**

 ** _Thinking of You - SSHG and ARMIONE - slowburn, drama, angst, smut, angst and suspense_**

 **Chapter Five**

 **Patience**

 _"Professor Snape?" asked a small voice._

 _He didn't answer. Another knock sounded, but he continued to ignore it._

 _Snape looked at the ancient clock at the end of his office, which told him that it was noon. It was lunchtime, and he was supposed to have an hour of peace._

 _"Professor Snape?"_

 _The knock became more insistent, and it irritated him._

 _"What do you want, Miss Granger?" He picked up his wand and waved it towards the door, which magically opened to admit her._

 _Hermione quietly entered his office and closed the door behind her. She walked toward Snape's desk with a reluctant look on her face. "Professor, I was wondering if you can help me."_

 _Snape didn't say anything, but he was listening. The silence suggested she had lost her voice._

 _"Miss Granger, if you have nothing to say, you're most welcome to leave. I do not wish to be disturbed during this limited time I have for myself."_

 _Hermione walked closer to his desk and cleared her throat as if gathering her courage. "Well you see, Professor," she began in a small voice, "we have this research paper for Professor Slughorn's class, and he asked us to—"_

 _"I'm no longer your Potions professor, Miss Granger," Snape told her without looking up. "If you have any inquiry regarding the subject and the requirements for it this term, you are in the wrong room, talking to the wrong person."_

 _Hermione didn't say anything. She continued watching Snape's process of gathering the parchments together on his desk and sorting them out in their right order._

 _Snape sensed she was not planning to leave until she had picked his brain._

 _"Are you deaf?" he asked her as he crumpled some parchmen_

 _t and threw it in the bin._

 _"I'm not deaf."_

 _He raised his brow and shook his head mockingly._

 _Hermione stared at him, her patience decreasing at his blatant refusal to help her._

 _"As I was saying," Hermione continued, ignoring his reaction to her persistence, "this assignment that we have is due next week, and the research material that he—"_

 _"I said, I am no longer your Potions professor."_

 _"Yes, I know that, Professor!" Hermione interrupted him with a raised voice._

 _Snape looked up at her in astonishment._

 _"Please," Hermione's voice was desperate. "Professor, you're the only one who can help me. You see, I think his details are incorrect, and I need to double check with you so I can prove that my argument is valid."_

 _Unwelcome and uninvited as she was, Hermione moved to the other side of the table to stand next to the flabbergasted Potions master to show him a chart she had created an hour ago in the library._

 _"Please just take a look at this reference list and chart I've made. I'm quite sure there's something amiss about his details regarding this potion."_

 _Hermione handed him the chart. He took one glance at it and then turned and walked away._

 _"Professor Snape!"_

 _Snape heard the frustration in her voice as he walked toward his storage room, which led to his private laboratory. He could hear her hurried footsteps behind him, but he continued ignoring her._

 _He reached his storage area and swiftly turned to her. She halted in shock._

 _"I will repeat," Snape breathed out at her, "I am no longer your Potions professor, therefore, any inquiries should be directed to Professor Slughorn."_

 _"I already told you that I'm aware of that!"_

 _He was fuming beyond anger._

 _Hermione blinked; realizing her mistake, she looked away from him._

 _Snape saw her consider the idea of running._

 _He stared down at her with both anger and question in his eyes. What could be so important in that assignment for her to be this desperate for his knowledge?_

 _Hermione glanced right back up at him, and he gave her his most terrifying glare._

 _"I know you're not our Potions professor anymore." She sounded as if she was on the verge of tears. "But I already double checked in the library, and I know he's wrong. I was only thinking that perhaps you can help. You know this better than anyone else."_

 _"You are one insolent little—"_

 _"I wouldn't come to you if I didn't think that you were the better Potions master."_

 _"Miss Granger, will you please hold your tongue?"_

 _"You were my Potions professor for five years. I'm not going to let all that I learned from you go flying out of the window just because our professor now doesn't know what he is doing!"_

 _"Watch your mouth, Miss Granger!" he warned her, terrifying her with his loud voice and cold eyes._

 _He grabbed her wrists and pulled her farther into the laboratory._

 _"He was my Potions professor, in case you are forgetting, Miss Granger. He taught me everything I know—everything I have ever taught you." He pushed her away and settled himself across from her behind a long wooden table. "Everything that I have taught you came from him. Have some respect. Just because he's getting older does not mean he doesn't know his craft."_

 _Hermione didn't say anything as she stood there, transfixed by the fuming form of her professor. She stood quiet and still, determined to get the answer she came for._

 _There was nothing but silence between them. He continued to glare at her, but it was no use. He finally shook his head and angrily grabbed the chart from across the table._

 _"Which reference books have you been reading?" he spat as his black eyes moved left to right._

 _Hermione blinked and came back to her senses the moment she realized that he was actually going to help her._

 _"Just the ones written there, Professor." She pointed to the end of the parchment and waited for him to finish reading it. "The library books seemed to be missing some important selections that might be—"_

 _He shoved the chart back at her, cutting off her words._

 _She watched as he swiftly moved toward two large bookshelves at the end of the room. She gawked at what looked like the most complex and significant collection of Potions books she had ever seen._

 _Hermione stared in complete excitement, anticipation, and curiosity as he opened the glass door of the shelves and quickly scanned the titles. She waited nervously behind him. Her eyes roamed over the shelves of potions and books around the room._

 _"Here." Snape's voice snapped her out of her reverie. "Bring it back in one piece the moment you finish reading what you need."_

 _Hermione stared open-mouthed at him. He was offering her what looked like a priceless Potions reference book._

 _Her hands were trembling as she took the book from him. Her eyes were filled with excitement, and she breathed in the familiar smell of stored books. She could not wait to read it. She knew it was one of his most prized possessions. "I'll take good care of it, Professor."_

 _Snape watched as her eyes locked on the book. He was struggling to keep from smiling. He knew that look too well, and he knew what it felt like to hold such a precious and informative book. He could already imagine that she would not be present at dinner as she would surely spend hours in her room indulging herself._

 _He continued to stare at her in amusement. She was too preoccupied with the book to notice that his black eyes had run from her fingers and arms to her waist and skirt, which was askew from chasing him._

 _Snape suddenly blinked away when he realized what he was staring at. He made a mental note to take off points from her house for not wearing the proper uniform. Hermione was not wearing her usual school robes. Instead, she was wearing a dark blue Muggle blouse and a skirt that was shorter than her usual uniform. His eyes strayed to her legs, and the idea of taking off points flew out of the window._

 _"Thank you, Professor!"_

 _Snape looked up at her excited expression. His brow furrowed, and he tried to look sour again._

 _"Where's Potter?" he demanded._

 _"In the library with Ron," Hermione answered._

 _"Tell him that the Headmaster is expecting him in his office at exactly eight tonight."_

 _"Why would the—"_

 _Snape had already turned and walked away._

 _"If you do not need anything else, Miss Granger, I would appreciate it if you would remove yourself from my office. Now."_

 _"Oh, sorry," Hermione said quickly, realizing that she was no longer welcome. She grabbed her bag from the floor and gathered the chart._

 _Hermione thanked Snape again as they returned to his office, but he was already acting as if she was no longer in the room with him._

 _Just as she made it to the door, Snape called her back._

 _"Yes?" she asked politely._

 _"Miss Granger, I am assuming you will be using this book as your personal reference and not for something sinister like cheating."_

 _"What do you mean?"_

 _"What I mean is that Professor Slughorn had been bragging to the faculty that your idiot best friend is at the top of his Potions class since the term began."_

 _His black eyes met hers, and she saw a gleam of hatred in his eyes. Snape crossed his arms._

 _"He's been telling us that Potter is a natural at the subject. We both know, Miss Granger, that Potter is almost as bad as Longbottom."_

 _"Professor, Harry has been—"_

 _"Cheating in class. However, I have no evidence, so we'll just say he's doing something rather peculiar for professor Slughorn. Miss Granger, you know better. Warn your friend. Cheating at Hogwarts is prohibited and will be severely punished. I suggest you take a look at his copy of Advanced Potion-Making. If you're as smart as everyone claims, you will not let yourself be outdone by a cheater."_

 _There was a long pause, and Hermione felt that his black eyes were searching through her soul. "Professor, Harry is just really—"_

 _"Get out, Miss Granger. I don't need to hear your lies to cover up that boy's shameful actions."_

Hermione's eyes were filled with tears as she stared at Harry's old Potions books. She had been cleaning their apartment all morning, and Harry had let her work her way through his small office, where she was free to go through his selections.

"Want to go to a muggle movie?"

She felt a pair of hands wrap around her waist, and his lips melted along the nape of her neck.

"Harry, please," Hermione whispered, pushing herself free from his grasp.

Harry blinked. He watched her turn away from him and return the Potions books to the shelf.

"It's quite cold outside, and I'm sure that the rain is terrible."

"It's just a drizzle."

"Harry, go if you want to watch a movie or something. I'm sure Ginny or Bill can accompany you after your Ministry duty. I'm not really up for it."

"You're not up to doing anything."

"Harry, I just want to—"

"When will you ever be up to do anything again?" Harry's eyes narrowed and grew dark.

"Harry, it's just that—"

"Forget it."

Harry turned away, and she quickly followed him out of his small office. She saw the frustration and anger in his eyes.

"Harry, wait." She caught up to him and grabbed his hand.

"Let go."

"Harry, it's raining. I just don't feel like going out. If you want I'll cook for us tonight, all right?"

Harry stared at her for a moment before pulling his hand back. He shook his head and gave her a spiteful look. "Eat here and read books again for the whole day, Hermione?"

His voice was growing angrier, and Hermione could tell that another row was about to begin. "Harry, it's not like that."

"Yeah, it's nothing that I could understand, is it?"

Her eyes watered, but she tried her best not to cry. She knew what he was pointing out and understood his frustration—she was also very frustrated with herself.

"Harry, I'm just trying to adjust. Just give me some time. I'm sorry."

"Have I not given you enough?" he demanded as he moved away from her.

Hermione didn't answer. She could see the hatred and disappointment all over his face.

"Harry, I'm sorry."

Tears started leaking from her eyes, and the moment this happened, Harry turned back to her and quickly took her in his arms.

"I'm sorry," Harry whispered, closing his eyes as she cried in his arms. "I'm sorry, Hermione. I didn't mean it that way."

Harry breathed heavily as he tried to calm her down—as he tried to calm himself down. He was losing it. He didn't understand their situation any longer. He thought that saving her from that criminal was enough to stabilize her life. But nothing he'd done since she'd returned had put her back to normal.

The deeper his frustration grew, the more he wanted the trial to finish so Severus Snape would finally meet his fate in the hands of the Dementors.

 _Snape threaded the dark corridors of the castle. It was past curfew already, and he was bound to go back to their cottage. This was his daily routine for the past few months. Since he had taken Hermione Granger—hidden her from the Wizarding World—he had crossed from the cottage, Hogwarts, and Malfoy Manor. Back and forth._

 _Most of the time he was either at their cottage or at the castle, and the rest of the hours were spent at Malfoy Manor when the Dark Lord needed him. Some hours were also spent in his laboratory._

 _He no longer took teaching duties at the castle—having been named Headmaster—and he had endured enough from Minerva and some of the school governors. But these little annoyances didn't hold his attention._

 _The teaching duties were given to the usual professors and to the Carrows. All he had to do was to make sure that no blood was spilled. At times, the Dark Lord would need him to brew a potion or he'd be called in for a meeting. But most of the time he spent in the cottage with Hermione._

 _He made sure that she was comfortable. He made sure that she was well-fed and that she was healthy. He wanted to make sure he took care of her as well as he possibly could. It was his duty. Of course it wasn't an easy task. She was constantly having tantrums and asking about the outside world, demanding to know the whereabouts of the people she loved and cared for. It was a struggle, but he needed to keep to his mission. There was no way in hell that he was going to let her out of his sight just because she wouldn't listen to him. And now he had to go back to the cottage and relay the news that her beloved best friend—Ronald Weasley—was already gone after an attempted attack and rescue with some of the Order members. He could only sigh heavily as he walked out of the castle grounds to return to the cottage; Hermione had no idea what the future years would hold._

The rain had not slowed at all, and the Wizengamot's trial was to commence in half an hour. Harry and Hermione arrived at the of the court. Other members and governors of Hogwarts had also come for today's trial.

Hermione was left standing in the hallway as she waited for Harry, who was talking to some Aurors and members of the Wizengamot.

"Granger?" asked a voice behind her.

Hermione whirled around. She gaped at the sight that greeted her. "Malfoy?" she asked with surprise.

Draco Malfoy was standing in front of her with a familiar daunting smirk on his face.

"How are you?" asked Draco as he halted in front of her. His grey eyes scanned her from head to toe and back again. "Didn't really expect to see you this close," Draco said as he folded his arms and stared at her.

Hermione stared back at the boy she had not seen in many, many years. Well, he was no longer the boy that he had been, nor was he the man she had expected. She didn't know what to say.

Draco looked like Lucius Malfoy more than ever—only a little taller perhaps, and he had kept his hair short and messy, very unlike the long and tended locks his father had. A better physique was obvious, but other than that, he was really a younger version his father.

"What are you doing here?" she asked after finding her voice. She felt it was a stupid question to ask. Of course the whole Wizarding World would want to know about this trial. It was another downfall of another Death Eater—this time one whose crime involved a member of the Golden Trio.

Draco's smile widened as he walked forward, and Hermione did not know why his presence somewhat scared her. She took a step back and stared at him with a look of fear on her face.

"Am I not allowed to watch the trial of my own godfather?" he asked her slowly.

"I didn't say that." Hermione said, trying to keep her ground. "I just didn't see you in the previous trials. I'm surprised to see you here."

It had been years since they last saw each other—more than a decade perhaps.

"Well truth is that this is my first time to attend," Draco said as he took a last step toward her. Halting only when he was a few feet from her, he looked down at her. "I was quite busy, but I can assure you that I will be attending from now on."

"I understand." She was still not comfortable with the conversation or anything to do with the Malfoy heir.

"You all right?" he asked her.

"I'm fine. How are things?" she asked, trying to sound interested with his life despite her annoyance.

Draco beamed at her.

"The family business keeps me busy. I've traveled around the world. I've learned a lot from it."

He looked her in the eye, and Hermione could swear she saw a flash of interest or curiosity in those grey eyes.

"I know that things have not been well since I last . . ." he paused for a moment as he chose the right words to use.

"Malfoy, I really need to go back to Harry."

"I want you to know that I am sorry to hear about what happened to Weasley."

Draco's voice sounded genuine, and it caught Hermione's attention.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"I know that we haven't really been friends," Draco admitted. "I know I was an arse in the old days, but that doesn't mean that I don't have—"

"It's fine, Malfoy," Hermione cut him off. "Nobody wanted the things that happened during the war. Look, I really have to go, Harry might be—"

Hermione's voice was small and soft, and she could tell that behind his smile and smirk, he had changed because of the war. She may not have been physically present in the outside world during the war, but she knew some of the things that had happened and could tell that some part of the destruction had hurt the Malfoys.

Hermione turned to leave him, but he grabbed her wrist and made her turn back to him. Her brow furrowed, and he quickly let go. She was glaring at him with both question and interest in her eyes.

"I really have to go, Malfoy. It was nice to see you."

"Where's Potter?" he asked her.

"I told you he's just somewhere around." Hermione made a hand gesture down the hallway. "He's just talking to some Aurors. I have to go. The trial will begin soon."

"Are your parents all right?"

Hermione stared back at him and realized that he was asking if they survived the war.

"They're fine, thank you. I hope Mrs. Malfoy is well."

"I'm not married, Granger." Draco quickly said, although upon answering, he realized that she was asking about his mother and not about a spouse. His eyes slightly widened just as hers did.

"What I meant—"

"My mother passed away." Draco said, and for the first time he could not look her in the eye.

The smile faded from his face, and Hermione's features turned melancholic too.

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"It was bound to happen. She was very ill. Nothing at St. Mungos could help her. It might have been some sort of incurable curse on our bloodline."

"I'm sorry to hear that. I didn't know. I wouldn't have . . ."

"I know you wouldn't." Draco simply said with a small nod.

They both looked away, and Hermione didn't know if it was right to leave.

"I'm still sorry about it, Malfoy. Nobody deserves such a fate."

"It's not something any of us would have wanted, and I know that not even you would wish her ill."

Hermione nodded at him and forced a smile. "I must go. It was . . . it was nice seeing you."

"It's nice to see someone from Hogwarts. Hope to see you around, Granger."

He held up his hand to her for her to shake. She was reluctant, but she took it anyway.

"Hermione," she corrected him. "You can call me Hermione."

"Draco then." He was once more wearing a smug look. "Call me, Draco."

Hermione nodded and quickly withdrew her hand. She turned to go. She took two steps, but Draco called to her. There was something solemn and sorrowful in his tone that made her halt and look back.

"Hermione, I don't know what to say." Draco was hesitant. "This whole trial. I'm not saying I'm here because of him or because I think that they are lying about what happened to you."

"Draco, I really don't feel like talking about it.'

"No, you need to know and understand."

Draco suddenly walked toward her, making her feel slightly frightened.

"Draco, don't."

"Hermione, they're trying to give you justice."

"I said, I don't want to—"

"I tried looking for you. Hermione, it was long ten years—everyone thought that you had died. The war had come and gone, and you weren't found."

"Draco, I said that I don't want to talk about it.'

"Hermione?" another voice called her name.

They both looked up and saw Harry striding toward them.

"What's going on here?" he demanded upon reaching them. He moved Hermione away from Draco and stood between the two of them.

"Malfoy?" he asked with a raised brow.

"Nice to see you, Potter." Draco simply said, backing away from the two.

"Yeah," Harry said, clutching Hermione's hand without taking his eyes off the blond man.

"Harry, let's go inside. I want to get to our usual place." Hermione could sense the tension between the two.

Harry and Draco stared at one another for a few more silent moments. The last time he had seen Draco was a few years back—the court trial of Lucius Malfoy and at the hospital when he heard about the death of Narcissa Malfoy.

Harry was there at the hospital when she was dying; she was being transferred back to the Manor to die in peace, per her wishes. He had been there for two reasons that day. The first one was because of his duties as an Auror, to trace the lives of those who had been connected to the Dark Lord. And the second reason was because it was the day Fleur was feeling ill, and he had to accompany her to St. Mungo's instead of Bill, who had been assigned on a three day trip to Germany.

Although he had made the decision to make all Death Eaters liable for Hermione's disappearance, he had to admit that the death of the famous Narcissa Black Malfoy was something he hadn't anticipated. And at the funeral, which he had attended, it was the very first time that he had felt the briefest pity for Draco Malfoy.

Draco gave them a last nod before he looked away and turned his attention to a wizard, whom Harry supposed was his assistant.

"Hermione?"

"I didn't expect to see him," Hermione said defensively.

"I didn't say you did." Harry stared at her, slightly annoyed.

"What happened to Mrs. Malfoy?" Hermione asked as they entered the courtroom.

"She died a few years ago. It was agonizing to watch the funeral. I didn't expect to feel pity for Draco that day."

"He seems happy now," Hermione pointed out. "He inherited all the Malfoy wealth and seems to be making more money."

"Just like his father, as Mr. Weasley pointed out," Harry said. "I heard he travelled a lot in order to fulfill his duties as the Malfoy business tycoon. But Mrs. Weasley said that it might be his way of forgetting and coping."

"I didn't hear that Lucius Malfoy died."

"Lucius Malfoy was sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban," Harry told her. "His mind gave away just a few weeks after he heard about the passing of Narcissa. Draco has never visited him."

Hermione wanted to ask Harry what else had transpired, but her attention was already taken by the Aurors and Ministry officials who arrived in the courtroom, dragging Snape along with the usual magical bonds.

Hermione's heart leapt at the sight of him. It pained her to see him like that. He seemed to be growing thinner every time she saw him. It was obvious that he had lost the will to live.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter VI**

 **The Island of Beltane**

"Do you mean, Mr. Snape, that you admit to this courtroom that after healing Miss Granger that night that you still refused to release her?"

There was long silence before Snape answered, "Yes."

"You refused to give her back to her family and friends?"

"Yes."

There were strong reactions from the crowd, and the attendee's eyes went wide at the confession.

When Hermione made a small movement, Harry grasped her wrist to still her.

Hermione looked at Harry with a woeful expression. She had been warned twice already since the hearing began to remain quiet or she would be sent out. She had twice interrupted the interrogation of the Potions master, and the Wizengamot was losing patience with her.

"Harry, they have to understand that—"

"Do you think they're going to let you stay if you make another move?" he whispered.

Hermione didn't say anything. She shifted back in her seat, and Harry released her wrist.

They watched as the attendee continued his interrogation.

"Why would you do that? Why would you keep her when you knew they would be looking for her?"

Snape didn't answer immediately. His head was down as if processing his thoughts.

"Mr. Snape, I asked you a question."

"Please don't do this," Hermione desperately thought as she crept to the edge of her seat.

"Because I wanted her," Snape's said clearly. "I wanted to keep her."

Another round of murmurs rippled through the room, and Harry made a sudden movement in his chair. Hermione turned to him and saw that his knuckles were shaking over his knees. "Harry?"

"I'm fine."

She knew he wasn't. Looking away, her eyes fell across the room. From where they sat, she saw that Draco was in the front row at the opposite side. He was staring intently at his godfather as if scrutinizing his answers.

"And your intentions, Mr. Snape?" asked the attendee. "What were your intentions for keeping Miss Granger?"

"Why do you think a man would keep such a beautiful, and young, lady under his wing for ten years?"

The crowd went wild, pointing angrily and cursing at Snape.

"SILENCE!" yelled one of the members from the front row of the Wizengamot.

The attendee stared back at Snape, whose black eyes unblinkingly observed him as if daring him to answer the question.

Harry leapt up, his wand out and at the ready.

"Harry, no!" Hermione cried, grabbing him by the arm.

"I'm going to kill him," Harry muttered as Hermione struggled to keep him in his seat. "I'm going to kill that bloody bastard."

"Harry, they're going to throw us out if you do something. Please sit down."

Harry stared back at her. He knew that compassion in her eyes wasn't for him. He slowly lowered his wand and returned to his seat, hatred burning inside him.

"Harry."

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Harry snapped as he straightened his robes.

Some people were staring at them, and Hermione was still worried about the wand in his shaking hand. She could tell that he was in no place to accept what she had to say, so she kept silent. Hermione saw Draco across the room, and they caught one another's gaze. There was a grave look on his face that she couldn't quite identify.

The crowd calmed and the attendee resumed his questioning.

"Mr. Severus Snape, do you know that what you have done is considered abduction? Forcing her to stay with you when it was clearly inappropriate is called kidnapping."

"I'm aware," Snape simply answered. "I assure you that I regret none of my actions; if anything, I enjoyed them thoroughly."

"I'm going to murder you!" Harry yelled, leaping out of his seat.

"No, Harry!" Hermione screamed, pulling him back down.

There was a commotion amongst the crowd because of Snape's answer.

"Harry, please."

"NO!" Harry spat at her. "He's admitting what he did to you. Did you not hear? Are you deaf?"

His fury was beyond anything Hermione could imagine. He was shaking in anger and on the verge of cursing Snape from where they sat.

"No, these circumstances are—" she started.

"Hermione, did you not hear what he said?"

"I heard what he said!" Hermione shouted. "I've heard everything that he's said, but—"

"But what?" Harry growled, pulling his arm away from her. "What?"

"They don't understand. You don't—"

"I don't understand?" Harry finished with mocking in his voice. He shook his head and scooted away from her. "And later when they question you, are you going to ignore all the evidence and tell them that he was trying to protect you all those years?"

"Harry, calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down!" He knew they were drawing too much attention.

"Harry, please, you don't need to—"

"No!" Harry yelled at her. "We're going to talk outside, and we're going to talk about what you're going to say later when they question you."

Harry grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out of their seats. Hermione struggled in his grip, but he ignored her. "Harry, you're hurting me. Please, Harry, don't do this. I'm going to tell them the truth."

"Truth?" Harry asked, rounding on her as they reached the double doors. He looked ready to punch someone.

"Yes."

"The truth? What truth Hermione? The reality you keep telling everyone? That one he planted in your heart, where he is the almighty protector who—"

"He is!" Hermione wailed at him as people crowded around. "He did protect me, Harry! He protected you and everyone else! I would have been dead by now if it weren't for him. You don't understand what happened all those years, and I'm only trying to make things right!"

"Things will _NEVER_ be right!" Harry screamed at her, and everyone near them openly stared

"Harry."

"Things will never be right again, Hermione." His emerald eyes glinted. He looked murderous, especially with his wand in his hand.

Hermione didn't say anything. She stood there crying in front of everyone.

"I know he's the goddamn reason you're not the Hermione Granger I used to know."

She could hear how hurt he was, but she was hurting too.

"I don't know what I've done wrong here," Harry said. "You were gone for a decade—a decade, Hermione!"

Two Ministry officials and an Auror approached and gently warned them both, especially Harry, to quiet, but Harry wouldn't stop.

"You were nowhere to be found and you have no idea how THAT felt! Ten years! Ten miserable years not knowing where you were—not knowing if you were still alive or if I was ever going to see you—if I was even waiting for anyone at all! I want justice for what he did to you!"

The crowd was silent as they watched the boy-who-lived lose it. Even the Wizengamot were all staring in their direction. The attendee was open-mouthed, standing in front of Snape and staring up at the exit door where the scene was taking place.

"To me, Harry?" Hermione's said through her tears. "To me? Are you looking for justice for me or for you?"

Harry didn't answer. He took a step forward, but the Auror behind him held him back. He clutched Harry's wand arm gently, but he wouldn't let his wand go.

"You're being selfish. You want an innocent man sent to Azkaban! You're only thinking of yourself! I hate you, Harry!"

For a moment, Harry just stared at her. The silence around the room was unnerving. Only Hermione's crying could be heard.

"Right." Harry nodded and pocketed his wand.

Hermione realized her mistake. She quickly reached out for him, but Harry backed out of her reach. "No, wait. That's not what I meant."

"I think I know what you meant." Harry said, shoving her hand away. He pushed the Auror aside and walked out without another word.

"Harry!" Hermione screamed several times, but Harry never looked back.

Severus Snape stared at the blank wall before him. The day had been long and the court trial had gone horribly. Not that he expected things to go better since he was really just waiting for the Dementor's Kiss. A life sentence in Azkaban was not going to happen—his crimes were worth more than that piece of mercy. He was going to die at the hands of the Dementors, and before that, he'd be spending the rest of his days within these four walls—forsaken and left for dead. He was going to die alone. Alone and miserable.

How had it gotten to this point? He couldn't imagine. He had done his best to live a life of solitude. All he ever wanted when he was younger was a life with Lily Evans, and that was taken from him. After school, he thought that being in the Dark Lord's league of power would bring him a life with her, but he was wrong; and he knew that his choices years ago had been foolish.

He mourned for the death of his best friend and the woman he had deeply loved. And then he'd become a double-spy both for the Dark Lord and Dumbledore. Life had never been easy, and he knew that death was his only escape. But even that mercy was being denied.

He knew he was guilty of many things, and he deserved the Dementor's kiss, but now things were complicated. He was on trial for the murders he had committed, for being the Dark Lord's follower, and his abduction—as they called it—of Hermione Jean Granger. But it wasn't that simple—or at least he knew that it wasn't the whole story. But he had made his decision. He deserved none of her goodness or the gift she had bestowed upon him. He was a bastard, and he did not deserve her—no matter what she said.

Hermione Granger was pure and innocent, and he'd ripped her from the world simply because he was a selfish bastard. But why would she choose a life with him? Was it not punishment enough that he was to die alone? Why would her memories— _their_ memories— still hunt him down? He deserved none of her, and he would learn to live with that until his dying day.

 _Hermione sat alone in their living room. She stared up at the old clock against the wall and realized that it was already late in the afternoon._

 _It bothered her greatly, because Snape was still nowhere to be found. Well, it wasn't as if it wasn't his usual routine._

 _It had been weeks since the ambush, or at least that's what her diary claimed. She had created a small notebook to mark the date and keep track of events since there wasn't any calendar in the cottage and the clock wasn't really to be trusted._

 _She wasn't sure if Snape would like it, but she hoped he wouldn't see her little notebook._

 _The war was far from being over; she knew through some of his stories and the newspaper clippings she stole when he wasn't around. The death toll was too much to bear, and she was unsure if hiding with him was a good idea. But so far, he has taken very good care of her._

 _She was fed more than three times a day, and the kitchen was open to her liking. The cupboards were always full, and he had bought her nice new clothes and even some books to pass the time. Her other necessities were also provided for. It felt as if she was just taking a holiday._

 _Once or twice—she'd lost count already—she had asked if she could go and just glimpse her loved ones. He told her the same thing over and over again—that it was unsafe, that he would tell her if there was anything important. He told her that she was safe in the cottage with him and there was no point worrying since there wasn't really anything she could do._

 _Hermione had begged to see her parents, even from afar, but his answer was the same. He promised he would immediately tell her or bring her to them if anything happened._

 _She trusted his judgement. Despite that, she was worried all the time. She kept her mouth shut though and tried to be as docile as possible. But as the days passed, she became impatient._

 _She knew that he was a good man, and he had proven that by taking care of her. But he had withdrawn all connections to the outside world. She wasn't allowed to send any owl post or Patronus. Nothing. It made her uneasy, at times giving her sleepless nights, but she hoped for the best._

 _She was well aware that whenever he left, he warded the whole cottage and made sure the grounds were secure. No one could get in. Or out._

 _She stayed in all day eating and reading. When she was lucky, he would allow her to borrow from his personal library in the laboratory. Some days she'd clean, make them food, and once or twice she washed his traveling cloak and shined his boots. He reminded her that there was no need for her to do such things._

 _Hermione tried her best to not argue or complain about how her boredom was bordering on insanity. But he didn't really have time for her when he was in the cottage. He would usually leave early in the morning and arrive late. He would be there, but it felt like he wasn't there at all._

 _In one of the first few weeks, she had a tantrum—wanting to know about her friends and family. It was raining and their fight had been a big one. She had tried for the door, and he hexed her ankle, causing her to trip on the carpeted floor. Then he had forced her back to the living room couch._

 _"First off," he said as he threw her down and held her in place, anger burning in his eyes, "you are safe here. You are safer here than any of the Order members and any of your loved ones."_

 _His black eyes glinted as he spoke. It scared her out of her wits, but she nodded vigorously to show she understood._

 _"Second, you will listen to everything I tell you from this point on if you do not want this scene repeated. Do you understand, Ms. Granger?"_

 _When she didn't answer, he tightened his grip and shook her._

 _"I'm going to ask you again, do you understand what I'm saying?"_

 _"Y-yes," Hermione cried, nodding at him and trying to free her arm._

 _Snape realized that he was hurting her and quickly let go but didn't drop her gaze._

 _He didn't want to scare her, and he wished he could take back what he'd just done, but it was too late. She was already crying. He could only take advantage of that fear._

 _"There will be no going out. No anything. I will be keeping your wand from this day forward and you are not allowed to step out that bloody door. There will be no spying around the cottage. You are to stay within these walls, and believe me I'll know if you dare defy me."_

 _"But, Professor, I can't just—"_

 _"No! You will only do as I say!"_

 _Hermione didn't understand the frustration and fear in his voice. It was as if her life really did depend on him. She was at his mercy. "But what about Harry? I need to go back."_

 _"There is no going back there!"_

 _He moved away as if to keep from physically hurting her. Hermione watched as he tried to calm himself._

 _"You listen to me." Snape walked back to her and pulled her from the floor then threw her back on the couch. "There is nowhere to go. You are not going out, not anywhere, until this bloody war is over; and right now it is far from being over! You are safe here, do you understand that?"_

 _"But—"_

 _"I do not give a damn if you rot in here!" he spat. "I don't give a damn if you are dying of boredom. Inside these walls you are protected, and that is where you are staying."_

 _Hermione didn't say anything. She continued crying, not caring how he might react to it; she had to let it out. It has been building inside her for days. She wanted to return to the others, but she was stuck with him until the war was over._

 _She cried on the couch until she heard him move toward her again. She felt a reluctant but gentle hand on her shoulder._

 _"I'm sorry," he said. "Hermione, I'm sorry."_

 _Hermione stopped crying for a moment. His apology sounded sincere and it frightened her even more. He sounded scared too._

 _Without warning, she turned to him and suddenly threw herself at him and cried in his arms._

 _"I just miss them. I'm worried about them. I want to know where Harry is, Professor. Please save them."_

 _Her arms dug into him, and Snape was taken aback. It took him a while to speak and move again._

 _"Don't cry, please don't cry," he said as he gently put his arm around her. He didn't really know what to do. "I will try and save them."_

 _Snape's voice was surprisingly comforting, and his long fingers began stroking her tangled hair._

 _"I'm going to protect you for as long as I can, but I can't do that unless you let me. So please, don't make this harder than it already is."_

 _Hermione didn't say anything, but she nodded her head as her crying lessened._

 _"I will do everything in my power to protect you. But you need to give me your word that you'll do as I say, because it is the only way you'll survive this war. Do you understand me?"_

 _He gently lifted her face and met her gaze. She stared at him, and her eyes told him how scared and helpless she felt._

 _"Miss Granger, I need your word."_

 _"I promise you," Hermione muttered. "I'll do what you ask of me, Professor."_

"Harry?" Hermione called out when she heard someone enter their living room. She looked up and saw that it was three in the morning.

Harry swayed as he entered the living room. He pointed his wand at the fireplace. It lit and he warmed his hands near the flames.

Hermione quickly rose from the couch where she had fallen sleep with a book. "Harry? Are you hungry?"

He didn't answer. She knew he was still angry about what had happened at the trial.

"I'm not hungry. Go to sleep," he finally replied.

She stared at him as he sat by the fireplace. He was obviously drunk. "Oh, Harry."

"I'm fine. Go to sleep."

But before he could do anything else, Hermione left the living room and returned with a warm basin of water and a pot of hot tea.

"Here, this will help you." She offered a warm, damp towel to him.

Harry glared up at her for a moment then took it without a word. She watched as he wiped it around his face and arms.

"Do you want honey with this?" she asked as she poured some tea into a cup.

"I don't want that. I'm going to sleep."

"Harry, wait. This will make you feel better," Hermione called after him, but he already heading for the stairs.

She sighed heavily and stared at the fire then took her wand and doused the flames. A tear slipped down her cheek, and she knew that there was no way Harry was going to feel better about her or about them until she gave him what he wanted. She didn't really want it, but it felt like she needed to do it. It might even persuade him to change his mind about putting Snape in Azkaban.

"Harry?" she called, going after him.

Harry ignored her, but he heard his door open and close. She lit the small fireplace in his room.

"It's freezing in here, aren't you cold?" she asked, standing next to his bed.

He closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep.

"Harry." Hermione waited for an answer. "Harry, I know you're awake. I want to apologize for what happened today, for what I told you."

"It's nothing. Forget it. Go to sleep," Harry said without looking back.

"No, I want you to know that I didn't mean it."

"I know you didn't mean it," he said with a sarcastic edge to his voice. "Go to sleep."

Hermione stared at him, and then slowly she climbed in the bed next to him and placed her arm around his waist.

Harry opened his eyes, but he didn't move. He felt her slide her hand beneath his and pull him closer to her. The only thing he could hear was the crackling of the fire in the hearth. Hermione remained silent behind him.

"Harry, I love you," Hermione whispered. "I love you."

Harry didn't say anything. He tried his best to keep his feelings controlled. What he felt earlier that day was a pain he could not endure every single time they argued. But at the same time, he knew that he couldn't let her suffer.

"I'm sorry for everything, Harry."

"No, shhh, Hermione. Stop crying." Harry turned to her and pulled her into an embrace. He lay there stroking her hair as she cried on him, her arms tightening around his body as if holding on for dear life.

"Harry, I wish I could just turn back time."

"Just go to sleep, Hermione. You're tired. We're both tired. Forget about today. It doesn't matter."

"No, I need you to know that I care about you, that I love you."

Suddenly, she moved closer. She gently grabbed his hand and placed it on her body.

"Hermione, you don't need to—"

"Harry, do you still love me?"

Harry stared at her. His heart was beating fast, and he could tell that hers was as well. It was a stupid question. "Of course I do," Harry answered, sitting up on the bed. "Hermione, I love you. I want you to know I'm here, I'm always here. I'm never going to leave you. Please, don't cry."

"Yes, I know," Hermione cried, moving closer to him. "Harry, please just understand me . . . please be patient with me."

"I love you," Harry whispered against her lips. "I love you Hermione. I need you to know that."

"I know you love me."

"It's not enough that you know." He gently pushed her back down the bed and placed himself over her. "I need you to remember."

Their gazes met. Hermione's heart was beating extremely fast, but as she gazed up at Harry's unwavering worry, she closed her eyes and placed her hand around his neck to move him closer. "Remind me, Harry. I need to remember."

It took him a moment to decide and once he did, Hermione felt his lips capture hers, and his hands began to undress her.

 _Hermione gasped as she tripped over the grass. It was nearly dawn, and she felt as if she was just going in circles in the forest. She looked back and knew that sooner or later, rain was going to fall again. According to her calendar, it was nowhere near summer yet. How long had it really been? Six months? Seven? Perhaps more._

 _She heaved herself up again. It was really a bad idea to bring along the cloak she'd found. But an even worse idea was getting caught if she couldn't find the right pathway out of the forest to get back to the cottage. Where the hell was she?_

 _The moment she managed to slip the Sleeping Draught into his drink the previous night, Hermione thought she was safe. She hadn't known that getting out would be a whole other problem. Snape was going to kill her for disobeying him._

 _"I need to see you," Hermione said, and she took out a small newspaper clipping from the inside of her robes. Her brown eyes watered at the headline: Harry Potter sighted. Violent clash leaves two Death Eaters dead, one in the Ministry's custody, and the Boy-Who-Lived badly injured._

 _The newspaper headline had been two weeks ago. It had been three weeks since she'd promised Severus that she wouldn't disobey him. But he had promised her that he would tell her if something bad happened, and he had not. She only found out about it because she saw this piece of newspaper in the trash bin._

 _"Damn it," she cursed, biting her lower lip. She didn't know where she was and had no idea how to get out. She knew that she was just going farther into the forest, and without a wand, she was doomed. What a great plan this had been._

 _And then she heard it. Twigs cracking behind her. "Who's there?" she asked loudly, turning about. Her brown eyes scanned her surroundings._

 _"Come out! Show yourself—I'm not scared of you!" she called out bravely, although her heart was already palpitating, and her knees were growing weak. "I said, show yourself!" she screamed angrily as the rain came down a little harder. She backed away against a tree and stared around her, waiting for something to come out of the shadows. Nothing appeared._

 _She closed her eyes and breathed heavily, trying to calm herself. The silence around her was unnerving, only broken by the sounds of the spattering rain. And then she heard it—that cackling laughter that came from a very familiar voice._

 _Hermione's brown eyes shot open and her panic rose. She knew that voice too well; there was no mistaking it. Now she was truly screwed. She had broken her promise to Snape, and she was going to die in the most gruesome way possible._

 _"I told you this is the most insane idea," came another voice. "This is ridiculous, Bella."_

 _"No, it's not. I've been observing him for weeks now. He hasn't been staying at Hogwarts, and he leaves the meetings early. I tailed him once and it led me nowhere. I tried several more times and it led me back here. I told you, that bastard is keeping something from our Dark Lord."_

 _Hermione backed as far away from the voices as she could. She didn't know what to do. There was no path or trail behind her, and if she tried to run, she might get even more lost. If she went another way, the two would surely see her, and by the sound of it, Bellatrix Lestrange was just looking for some excuse to murder someone tonight. The conversation suggested they were talking about Snape, and Bellatrix knew that Snape's loyalties lay elsewhere. What was she going to do now?_

 _"Bella, this is stupid," Narcissa said as their footsteps halted. "We need to get back. I need to tend to Draco. He's injured from having to duel with Potter during that last attack."_

 _"Well, he's a big boy," Bellatrix answered with coldness in her voice. "He should be fine. Potter's in a worse condition according to our contact in the Ministry. Come now, Cissy, this is more important."_

 _"My family is most important!" Narcissa snapped._

 _Hermione's heart was pounding. If they were distracted with their fight, she could might be able to escape. She'd do anything to be back at the cottage._

 _"May I remind you, Bellatrix, that the only reason your husband remains in the Dark Lord's good graces is because Severus made the Dark Lord see reason."_

 _"Sssh!" Bellatrix hissed. "Can't you hear that? Someone's out there!"_

 _Hermione, standing in the shadows, could clearly see Bellatrix pointing at the very spot she was hiding._

 _Hermione's knees quivered. Bellatrix advanced a few steps while Narcissa remained behind. Hermione could see her hungry black eyes staring curiously into her hiding place as if she already knew._

 _"Bella."_

 _"Quiet, Cissy!"_

 _The black-haired Death Eater raised her wand and pointed it directly at the bushes._

 _"I'm going to count to three," Bellatrix whispered in her most devilish voice. "If you don't come out, I'm going to send in a spell so strong that you'll never see the light of day ever again. One," her voice was cold and threatening._

 _Hermione tried not to move a muscle. She was helpless and hopeless, and she was about to die at the hands of the most sadistic Death Eater she'd ever met. If only she'd listened to Snape._

 _"Bella," said Narcissa, and Hermione saw her walk towards Bellatrix. She actually blocked the way, and Bellatrix screamed angrily at her sister._

 _"Get out of the way, Cissy!"_

 _"No!" Narcissa said, "You're being ridiculous. We need to go now. We're wasting our time here. So what if Severus visits this place? Does he not have the right to his privacy?"_

 _"There should be no privacy from the Dark Lord!" Bellatrix screamed, and Hermione saw jet of sparks come from her wand._

 _Narcissa drew her wand. "Let's go home Bella," she said reasonably. "This is pointless. If there is anything you need to know, I will tell you; Severus trusts me. And if there was anything, you are the first one I'd tell."_

 _"You're close to him," Bellatrix said, lowering her wand. "You were always soft when it came to Severus."_

 _"Blood is thicker than water," Narcissa answered, lowering her own wand. "Please, Bella? If he comes here, perhaps he's just got some memento of that girl he loved."_

 _"We're at the very edge of London," Bellatrix pointed out._

 _Hermione could tell that Bellatrix had begun walking to the other direction._

 _"At the very end of the country, Narcissa. What the hell would Severus be doing here? What is so important in this place that he'd bother to Apparate here every day, huh?" she asked in a mocking tone._

 _Narcissa didn't answer, but Hermione knew that Bellatrix had lost the argument._

 _"I'll figure it out if you'd like," Narcissa offered. "But leave it to me. Don't cause a scene. You know how the Dark Lord hates it when there's division among us. And he certainly doesn't want you dipping into the life of his most loyal servant."_

 _"Loyal my arse." Bella looked up at her sister. "If I find one good reason to expose his treachery to the Dark Lord, I will. And I won't think twice about casting a Killing Curse on him."_

 _And with that, Hermione heard a crack of Disapparition, but she remained where she was because she only heard one, meaning there was one left._

 _"I know you're there," came Narcissa's voice, and Hermione almost had a heart-attack. She was staring right into the bushes._

 _"I know you're there somewhere. You're free to come out if you like. I won't hurt you."_

 _Hermione stayed where she was. She was unsure if it was a trick or not. Narcissa was still a Black and a Malfoy after all._

 _"I don't know why you're here. I don't even know what's going on with Severus. I know you do not trust me, nor do you fully trust Severus." Her voice faltered for a moment. "I don't know anymore where Severus' loyalties' lie," she whispered softly._

 _Hermione saw the sadness and hurt in her eyes._

 _"All I know is that he would die to protect me and my son. Perhaps you know his reasons—perhaps you know him better than I do now." Her blue eyes leveled up exactly to Hermione's, as if she knew right where she was._

 _Narcissa sighed heavily, but Hermione still tried not to move. "If you're there, and I know that you are," she began, "listen closely to me. Tell him that the Dark Lord is winning and the war is a lost cause. Wherever his loyalties lie, he should follow the path that will win. People are dying. Stay with him," her voice commanded softly. "He will protect you the way he is protecting my Draco." She took another step back, "You are at the ends of Europe." She stopped for a moment as if not knowing whether she should continue."Beltane."_

 _Hermione's heart skipped a beat._

 _"You're on the island of Beltane. I suppose he brought you here to keep you protected." She scanned the forest around her."These grounds are littered with magic, and I think he has chosen this place to protect you, because the grounds are sacred."_

 _She paused for a moment and Hermione actually considered going out, but then Narcissa's voice became cold and her expression changed._

 _"You are safe here," she repeated. "Do not ever attempt to go back. You will live if you stay with him. There is no more life where the rest of us are. You're lucky to be protected by him. If only we were given the same luxury." Her eyes lowered to the ground. "There is a path to your right," she said as she pointed in the direction. "Thread it back. Walk at least seventeen steps. You will see two more paths. Choose the left one. Walk it straight and it will lead you back." She gave one last glance in Hermione's direction, "Until we meet again." And without another word, she turned and Disapparated right before Hermione's eyes._

 _"Beltane," Hermione whispered softly. She tried to think clearly. The Dark Lord was winning, and the Order members were obviously dying in great numbers. She stood frozen with her eyes still fixed where Narcissa had disappeared. "Beltane," she whispered again. Where had she heard of the place?_

 _A map, she needed a map, she thought._

 _As she remembered, it was still part of Europe, but as Narcissa had kindly pointed out, it was far from London. Her head spun as she tried to recall where the place was exactly._

 _The Dark Lord was winning, and Narcissa knew that Severus was not loyal to the Dark Lord. Or was he really not? Bellatrix seemed to be the only one who'd noticed Snape's disappearances from Hogwarts. And Draco had almost died during their last mission. Surely things were turning out so bad that even Narcissa, wife of the most useful Death Eater, was now desperately trying to save her family with Snape's help—the only one who seemingly didn't fear the Dark Lord._

 _"Beltane," Hermione muttered as she followed the path Narcissa had pointed out. She finally reached the fork where she was supposed to chose the left path. She looked ahead and from where she stood, she could see the silhouette of their cottage and she could hear the sounds of water again. Narcissa was right, she was on an island._

 _"Beltane!" she gasped, quickly looking around. She glanced down at the ground, and just before she chose the path, she heard movement behind her. Instinct told her it was neither Bellatrix nor Narcissa. Hermione slowly turned, fear creeping up on her senses again. She took three steps back to the left pathway as she turned and focused on the bushes. Before she could even run or make another move, there, slithering out of the bushes, was an enormous snake hissing dangerously in her direction. Her brown eyes filled with tears as the snake advanced on her. Before she could do anything, it reared up and lunged at her with a whip of its tail and a snap of its fangs. She felt a strong pain run up her leg, and before she fell unconscious, she heard an almost ear-splitting scream cast a spell that sounded like "Sectumsempra!"_

 _The voice was fearful, and she recognized him as he called her name._

"Severus!" Hermione gasped as she bolted upright from the bed. She was panting for breath, and she felt like something was struck on her throat.

"Hermione!" said Harry, who sat up next to her. "Hermione?" he called out, grabbing his wand from beneath his pillows. "Lumos Maximo!"

Harry sat next to Hermione, who was clutching her chest. "Harry!" she whispered, staring at him.

"It's all right, it's all right," he told her. "You're fine. You're with me. It's all right." He pulled her into his arms and gently massaged her back. "I'm here, I'm here. It's just a dream. Nobody's here to harm you." He couldn't believe she was still having nightmares after three months.

"Harry, I'm sorry. I didn't . . ." she whispered, embracing him. She closed her eyes and tried to calm herself, telling herself it was just a dream. It was a dream—well, more like a memory.

"Do you want water?" he asked as he slowly broke the embrace.

Hermione didn't say anything. She continued to stare at Harry as if she was still stuck in her dream.

"I'll get you water?" he offered again.

Hermione stared at Harry and realized that they hadn't been this close since she had returned. It had been three months, and it was the first time that she had allowed herself to sleep next to him.

"Y-yes. Water, please." As Harry left the bedroom, she lifted her nightdress and stared at the scar near her knee where the snake had bitten her years ago. She couldn't help but cry silently at the memory of Snape. She had lied and tried to escape him, getting herself into a dangerous situation, and yet he had patiently tended to the wound and saved her life. And now, she would do anything just to see him—a glimpse would suffice. She would do anything to see the man who had protected her for a decade, the man who had never left her even after everything she'd done . . .

"Court break?"

Hermione looked toward the familiar voice. The man approached and, even though uninvited, he pulled up a chair across from her at the café table and sat down with a smile.

"I didn't hear about the first part of the trial. I was at a business meeting earlier," Draco told her as he signaled the waiter. "Can I get you anything?" he asked.

Hermione shook her head. "I just had breakfast with Harry. He's back in the courtroom with some Aurors filing some evidence."

"Is that why you're alone here?" Draco asked, skimming the menu. He pointed to several things and nodded at the waiter, who left with a smile.

Hermione stared at him and finally nodded. Even though he seemed to be more friendly than she remembered, Hermione still didn't feel like getting close or talking to Draco. She was unsure of what became of Draco after the war, and she felt uncomfortable at his shifting attitude toward her.

"Draco, listen. I know you're trying to be friendly and all, but Harry said that—"

"I know what he said," Draco interrupted. "I know he still doesn't trust me and doesn't want me anywhere near you." Draco's grey eyes stared to her brown ones. "I'm not an idiot, Hermione," he told her as the waiter dropped off his coffee. "I know what Potter still thinks of me. But I'm not going to blame him."

An awkward silence settled between them. She knew that it had been hard for him—losing his mother and having his father in Azkaban.

"I'm still sorry to hear about your mother," Hermione told him. "I wish there was something I could do to make you feel better, Draco." Hermione was unsure if these were the right words, because Draco looked at her as if she was mad. But that look only lasted a moment. Before she could comprehend it, his lunch platter came, and he had ordered a nice tall glass of wine for her.

"Compliments from a Malfoy," he simply said, nodding at the wine glass in front of her. "Don't worry, that's not very strong. Just to lighten things up. It seems you're always tensed in the courtroom as if you're not breathing."

"What do you expect?" Hermione said with irritation in her voice. "They're accusing an innocent man and sentencing him to a fate he doesn't deserve."

"He doesn't deserve?" Draco said with lightness in his tone as he began his lunch. "Are you sure he doesn't deserve to be in Azkaban?"

Hermione's eyes narrowed, and all kindness vanished from her face. "It was nice seeing you, Malfoy," Hermione snapped and then snatched her book from the table as she rose to leave.

Draco grabbed her hand.

"Let me go," Hermione said, shoving his hand away. They both stared at one another for a moment.

"I'm sorry," Draco apologized, standing to stop her. "I shouldn't have said that."

Hermione looked up as he stood in front of her. He reminded her so much of Lucius Malfoy but his grey eyes were a lot kinder than his father's.

"I'm sorry, Hermione. Please. I didn't mean it. Please sit down." He gestured to her seat.

Hermione's fists clenched, but she slowly sat back down without breaking eye contact.

"He's innocent," Hermione said, and Draco returned to his meal. "He's innocent and you know it."

Draco observed her. The truth was that he didn't know the truth at all anymore. "If that's true then it'll come out at the trial," he gently said, reaching out for her hand.

"Yes, but the whole world is against him." Her eyes filled with tears. "I can't prove it if their evidence says otherwise." Hermione pulled her hand from his and stared down at the table.

He put down his fork and reached out for her again, but she shook her head.

"He's innocent, Draco. He's innocent and he's going to go to Azkaban because he tried to protect me for ten years."

"Hermione . . ."

"No," Hermione cried, "you don't understand. None of you understand. I'm telling the truth, he's innocent. And everyone only wants to believe he's guilty. Because of me!"

She ran from the table without warning, pushing through the café door and disappearing before Draco could say anything.

 _"How long do you plan on protecting her?" asked the blue-eyed woman in front of him._

 _He glanced around the café, unsure of how to answer._

 _"You have no idea," she answered for him. "You have absolutely no idea how long this is going to go on, do you?"_

 _Snape didn't answer, and his uncomfortable shifting indicated he was anxious._

 _"Is she doing well with the weather there?" she asked after a moment of silence._

 _"She's coping," Snape answered as he reached for his coffee. "She's used to it by now. It's been what, three or four months? I don't know, several more weeks or—"_

 _"Nearly seven months, Severus," she corrected him with a raised brow. "She's all over the news if you don't know." She grabbed something from beneath her seat and handed it across the table. "Clippings from the Daily Prophet since we last saw one another. I've collected these and more. I know the paper is hard to come by where you two are staying. Severus . . ." Her expression became grave. "If the war does not end, the Dark Lord will know of this soon. That Potter boy has almost had it. I tell you I know when the Dark Lord is near his glory."_

 _"What do you want me to do?"_

 _"I need you to give me your word that if worse come to worse, you'll protect my Draco."_

 _"I'll protect you and Draco," he said as he sank back into his chair, moving the packet of clippings closer his side of the table. "I've already given you my word."_

 _"Will you do the same for her? Or are you going to give her back to them?"_

 _Snape acted as if he hadn't heard her question. Eventually he sighed heavily, and shook his head. "I don't know what to do with her. I just need to make sure she's far away and protected. If I could only do the same for the rest."_

 _Narcissa cleared her throat. "I don't need to hear this," she warned him with pursed lips. "I don't want to hear this side of you and you know why."_

 _Snape nodded. "I need to go," he said, taking the package from the table. He began to stand and then pulled a small vial from his pocket and placed it on the table. "I'm finishing the rest. Twice daily—only two drops. This will suffice until I see you again." And without another word, he turned and left._

 _Narcissa stared the bottle in her hand, the bluish liquid swimming and glittering inside its glass._


	7. Chapter 7

_**Chapter VII**_

 _ **The Malfoy Heir**_

Draco Malfoy sat alone in the extravagant living room in the Malfoy Manor. As it was, the Malfoy Manor was something he has inherited together with other villas and assets of the Malfoys being the only heir of their lineage. He was worth about a few billions for their estates, businesses and lands they owned in Europe and their expanded businesses across Asia.

Despite that he was not his father who was known to a tyrant business man, Draco Malfoy had inherited the business skills of his father and less the iron hand. He surprised even himself as he made good business after another and made quite some good money by his own skills and charm. Given these attributes, he was able to give justice to the name of Malfoys in terms of businesses and was slightly able to diminish their tainted name back in the reign of the Dark Lord.

It had been years since he had visited his own father in the god-forsaken place Azkaban. He had no regrets. The moment his mother passed away, every penny of the Malfoys was passed to the only living heir.

Narcissa Black Malfoy died of an illness he had been unaware of. The death was thoroughly accessed by the government in case there was a foul play but given that she was living with a son she had loved so much all of her life, they had respected Draco's decision to eliminate the investigation completely and made it known and publicized that the woman of the Malfoy Manor had simply died of an illness that they did not foresee coming. Narcissa's inheritance as a Black all came down to be inherited by her only son, thus, making Draco Black Malfoy one of the richest bachelors in Europe. But despite the name and the worth of all his wealth, Draco felt empty and alone.

It was the first time he had seen Hermione Jean Granger since he had gotten back from his business travel around the globe. He was aware of the night they were ambushed and that she had been missing or believed dead. She had been missing for the span of ten years – even before the war completely broke out and after the war had been dismissed, she was not found. They had all thought – even him – that the most precious girl of the Golden Trio had disappeared and had died in pursuit of the war.

He had heard of it from his father and the Death Eaters that were assigned to attack and ambush Harry Potter and his friends and the Order the night of his transfer. He was not there for he had been forbidden to join any other Death Eater activity. But he knew of the plan and has heard of the outcome – the deaths that came after it, the sacrifices made and the lives taken – he had heard and known all of it. And he did hear of the attack that had pelted straight towards Hermione Granger. But he heard differently – she had been attacked by a spell and seen by Order and Death Eaters alike, she was drawn straight towards the country of London they were flying across with an inevitable death coming upon her. And that was it. Nobody knew for sure what has happened to her – no body was found – for which they assumed she had died when she had fallen across the waters from where they were flying above the night of the ambush. She had died with the spell or had drowned completely or maybe both. But nobody found a body which everyone presumed for her death. That was the last of what he has heard of the brightest which of their age he had ever known of. But three months ago, news broke of her being found after a full decade of being abducted by none other than Severus Snape – her mother's most trusted friend, his godfather, the so-called Dark Lord loyal servant and Dumbledore's man. He had taken her for the long ten years and had kept her for god-knows-what reason.

He was in a hotel at Russia when he heard of the massive news that came to be plastered all over the globe of Hermione being found in a small cottage at the very end of London. He could not believe what he has heard of or read and so he cancelled everything he had been planning to do in the coming weeks and had ordered his assistants to grab him all possible reading sources of the news of Hermione Jean Granger being found after the abduction for 10 years in the clutches of their own Potions professor. He had spent three days reading about it and learning about the news and he quickly asked his servants to find him more sources of reading and tell him further news and updates of the case whilst he could not yet returned to London.

By the time he was able to return to London, it had been a few weeks later and that the case of Severus Snape was being opened and will be heard at the Wizengamot. He was rotting for three months already at Azkaban and he was to be tried for the many cases for which he had been accused of.

Hermione Granger's case was only one of the many but it was pursued more popularly because of the demands and depths of the scandal.

All these years, he had thought that his godfather had died the same night of the attack – the ambush was a suicide mission as he heard of. There were many Death Eaters that attacked that night of Harry Potter's transfer, he knew that the Order's fastest and best members were taken that night to ensure the safety of Harry Potter. And despite the number of Death Eaters juxtaposed to the Order members, he knew death in their side was also inevitable what with the people willing to die for their only Chosen One – their only hope of defeating the Dark Lord to ensure a future for everyone.

When he first saw her in the court of the Wizengamot he could almost not believe his eyes. Ten years had passed and still, she was looking as young as he could imagine. Perhaps she was a little taller and some part of her hair seemed a little darker and her eyes were boring circles around and her weight had been thinner than he had last recalled or remembered of her, but definitely, she as the Hermione Granger he had grown up with from school. She seemed more quiet though than the know-it-all he knew of and had been annoyed of for years but now, he could not remember that part of her really that he hated. There brightness in her eyes had also vanished completely.

Draco could not help but think of her. How did the years change her? How was she when she was away? She had survived a full ten years living with only the Potions Master. He could not help what could have had transpired in those ten years. Not that it was really surprising what Snape could have done to her knowing the man but she had actually lived through it.

But what surprises Draco was Hermione's protest and rally against bringing the very man that abducted her for so long into Azkaban. She did not wish him to be thrown towards Azkaban or be sentenced to death or any harm at all. She was actually trying to rally for him to be freed.

What had gotten into her? Did he use potions of sorts on her for her thinking to be tainted or somewhat control her? But that long? She could be dead by now if the strength of potions and spells alike were used on her upon those long years. She would definitely not survive – not with her extremely strong will and strength of mind she bore. Unless..

"She had wanted it," Draco whispered to himself softly with his brows creasing at the thought of it, "Did she want to stay with him?" he thought to himself.

He was interested and he made up his mind. He was going to dwell and investigate personally between the two of them. Not that he wanted his godfather to be thrown and to rot and die in Azkaban or did he want him freed if he was really guilty of the crime. For all he knew, he was unsure for his reasons but definitely there was a reason. He knew there must be some sort of reason for what he found out a few weeks ago regarding Snape's role in her mother's foreboding and inevitable death.

"Harry?" Hermione gentle voice called out as Harry entered the dining room. "Yes?" he asked kissing her from the back of her neck and grabbing a toast from the platter she was making.

He grabbed a toast and grabbed some sausages and eggs and placed them on the table.

"Coffee?" he asked staring at the pot that was placed on the table.

Hermione nodded at him, "Yes," she said smiling and finishing the rest of the toasts and the sausages and placing them altogether on the table.

"Work?" she asked him as she grabbed a glass of juice for herself and was stirring the cup of coffee for him.

"Some stuff at the Ministry," he told her in a mouthful of toast, "I'm not sure what time I'll be home. I should be home early tonight, "he looked up at her, "you seem all dressed and early. Are you going somewhere?"

"I was planning to meet with Ginny and Fleur," she said with a smile, "we're going to talk about the business we wanted to put up. I'm not sure if Ginny or Fleur had-"

""The small school?" he helped out with a smile and nodded, "Charlie mentioned it to me before," he said with a look over his face, "not that he's against it. But Bill was really egging Fleur on it and Fleur found an ally in Ginny and so now I see they found ally in you," he told her with a smile, "where are you guys meeting?" he asked taking a sip from the cup of coffee that she made for him.

"Diagon Alley," she said with a smile as she sat opposite him and began on her toast and sausages, "Fleur reserved a café for us to meet. Then Ginny will be bringing in some of her materials she has brainstormed on and stuff-" she said with a glow in her eyes and such excitement was flourishing all over her face.

"I'm going to bring in ideas for the group," she told him with a coy smile and Harry smiled more. He was glad that her thoughts were being occupied despite that three days from now, another court hearing will take place and he did not want her to be bothered by it.

He wanted it this way – that she was beginning to be really functional again, that she was beginning to be exited again with things and was beginning to be with people around her – she was living a normal life again little by little and he wanted that more than anything else.

"Should I pick you up somewhere?" he offered her.

"No," she said, "after the meeting Fleur asked us to go with her to buy some clothes. We'll go and I thought of buying some for myself as well. Bill will be taking us back to Mrs. Weasley's right after. Perhaps you can go there and have dinner?" she asked hopefully. "I'll wait for you there until you finish work. I suppose you and Mr. Weasley might be going home together."

"Brilliant idea," Harry happily said, "Dinner then at Mrs. Weasley. Please just tell her I'd be there so she knows. Breakfast was good but I do need to go," he said swallowing the last sausage and grabbing another toast from the table.

He lifted himself off and kissed her over the forehead, "I love you," he whispered taking a close embrace around her, "I'll see you later?" he hopefully asked.

Hermione kissed him and nodded.

"Later, Harry." she said with a smile and Harry returned the gesture and lifted himself out from the dining hall and out of the house feeling completely blissful at seeing Hermione at this state now.

 _The rain was very cold and hard outside. She had not remembered hearing a storm like that in many weeks that had been. How long had that been?_

 _"Hermione?" Snape sleepy voice came in when he heard her reenter their room._

 _"I just grabbed some hot chocolate for you," she said placing the tray on the bed, she looked down at his exhausted and drunk form. Snape's black eyes settled on the mug as he moved from his stomach to turn to her._

 _"You did not have to Hermione."_

 _"I want to," she insisted, scooting herself back on the bed with him with the tray before them, she looked up at him, "I know you were really tired. And really drunk might I add-" she said with a small giggle, "But here, I want you to enjoy this. The storm outside is horrible. I also went down into the lab to make a potion to help with your headache, I hope you don't mind."_

 _"I don't," Snape softly said, he reached for her and kissed her on the forehead, he stared at her with all beauty and glory for him, "Thank you Hermione.." he whispered gently, kissing her again, he laid his hand over her porcelain skin and gently ran his hand over her skinny legs, "I know that it has been very hard for you lately and.."_

 _"I'm fine," she said with a smile and he could not tell if she was lying or telling the truth, "I'm really alright, Severus.. I mean.. we're doing well here – it's not like you're starving me here or anything.."_

 _"I know," Snape said with sadness in his eyes as he pulled her half-clothed body to his fully-naked one, "I know but it's been a few months since.."_

 _"Ron was meant to go," Hermione said with a forced smile and he saw the spark of sadness in her eyes, "and out there I know that soon things will become better too..and here," she moved closer him and nuzzled face beneath his neck, "here, I am safe," she placed her hand over his barechest, "I am safe here because I am with you. "_

 _Snape did not say anything. He could hardly tell her everything that was going on outside the Wizarding World. He could not tell her that the war was nearly over and truth be told, it seems that Harry Potter was going to win it after all. But with the relationship they now have, he was unsure if he was willing to even let her out of his sight._

 _"Do you?" he softly asked although he gently moved the tray to the side and pulled her into his arms, he moved his lips to her neck and she closed her eyes at the sensation of his mouth over her skin._

 _"Do you feel safe with me, Hermione?"_

 _"I feel loved when I am with you," she answered with eyes closed as he gently pressed feather-light kisses around her neckline, "I know I am safe with you, Severus.." she gasped as he slowly laid her down back on the bed._

 _"Severus," she whispered to him as she halted his movement over her, she looked up at him with such love and sincerity in her eyes, "Severus, I.." but he covered her mouth with his, her body readying for his entrance and her hands clinging around his masculine arms._

 _Snape's black eyes met hers and even though he knew that she knew that he was still shutting her out of his thoughts, he still reveled at the idea that she believed and trusted him._

 _Not because they had been sleeping together for weeks and months, not because she always showed her care for him, not of anything – but by the simple means and gesture of her trust with him. She had never shut him out of her thoughts and her life after all the things that came to be between them in the years of the war._

 _No, she had always been an open book for him – she had always been honest. Scared as she was with her thoughts, desires and ideas, but she had always showed it to him without hesitation. She had always trusted him no matter if she was blind to the true outcomes of the world around her. She had placed her heart and her life in his hands – it was enough for him to love her._

 _"I know," he answered back, tears threatening to come down from his eyes, "I know, Hermione." he whispered back as he hovered over her naked form and had lowered himself to her._

 _He looked gently at her._

 _"I know you do." Snape whispered back laying his lips over her and tasting her gently as if it was the first time they kissed. She closed her eyes but only before he saw the soft disappointment in them._

 _She had been telling him for weeks or months now how much she loves him and had fallen in love with him. But he had never – not in those many days and nights, weeks and months it could be counted – ever said the words he knew that she had been dying to hear._

 _No, he could not say it. Not that he did not feel the same way too or that the feeling was not mutual at all. But he was not brave enough to say it. No, he was a coward in that piece and part of him. He could not bear to tell her how much he has fallen in love with her. It would complicate things if things would go and end badly. He could not bear her hurt and the idea that she would left abandoned if he would die at the preceding of the war._

 _Hermione gasped and moaned when he felt her enter her. She spread her legs wider as he came down to her, his face buried around her neck and his lips teasing, sucking and kissing the life and breath out of her._

 _"Severus!" she gasped his name and he felt his emotions and his lust for her intensify as her lips uttered his name like it has never been called for before. He gasped in pain as he felt her nails digging and clawing behind his back out of the pleasure and pain they both endured in their leveled and heavenly intercourse._

 _Her lips were ravished by the Potions Master's love and lust for her. His thin lips savoured the tears and the sweet sensation from her mouth. Their tongues entwined and his lips taking and sucking each part of her skin that he could probably reach for. His tongue had lolled in and out of her mouth, sucking her to the state where she could probably forget her name in the morning._

 _He moved around her with intensity, his strong arms pinning her down on the bed and securing her within his grasp._

 _"I'm going – going-" she gasped, eyes tightly shut and she was biting her lower lip as she clung around his arms for dear life. Snape gasped as he moved back and forth inside of her knowing that sooner he was also going to come and inside of her._

 _"S-Severus!" she gasped loudly, "S-Seve-r-rus – Severus!" she gasped as his knees moved faster, buckling up and down, back and forth inside of her and rocking the senses out of her as hard as he could._

 _He let his eyes flew open despite that it was hard to do so in their condition. He breathed hard and heavy and moved his arms closer around her so that their bodies collided closely and perfectly well._

 _"Hermione.." he gasped her name nudging his lips towards her, "Hermione, open your eyes," he softly told her as he knew their climax was nearing and he will no longer be able to hold himself further._

 _"Hermione, open your eyes." he gently commanded her._

 _Hermione bit her lip and did not want to but she slowly opened her eyes._

 _Tearful brown eyes met the pair of saddened black ones. Her fingers clung tighter around him and she placed both her hands around his neck to pull his face closer to her, she spread her legs further and let Snape bury himself harder and deeper inside of her._

 _"Look at me." he whispered to her making sure they do not lose eye contact as he gave her the sensation of a lifetime._

 _"Look at me, Hermione." Snape gently whispered to her and their eyes met – words and feelings unspoken but they shared a bond that neither knew where was going but knew that it existed in the deepest and most dangerous form they never imagined possible._

 _"I love you.." she whispered back at him their eyes never breaking contact._

 _His black eyes seemed to glitter in tears._

 _"I love you, Severus." her lips muttered as tears streaked down from both sides of her eyes. Snape did not say anything. Instead, he slowly and gently took her mouth as if it was the first time he would ever kiss her._

 _He took her into a deep and passionate kiss and she accepted the kiss, closing her eyes at the sensation, her fingers closing in around his neck as he deepened himself inside of her, burying him as far and deep as he could possibly do so._

 _And in the moment that they both reached their climax and their feelings for one another reaching its peak and deepest distance, Snape's eyes gently shed tears just as he came inside of her, gasping and screaming her name, his voice echoing all throughout the cottage before he collapsed on top of her completely knowing that she had first passed out before he did._

 _"I love you." he whispered back at her knowing she could no longer hear him because she was already somewhere halfway down the road of dreamland and bliss of life._

 _He ignored the warm tears still streaking from the sides of his face, leaking thoroughly knowing he was doomed forever. He gently forced himself to move from her, his hands taking hold of her inside his arms in a protective and possessive way, "I love you, Hermione."_

Hermione sat up wide-awake . The thunder had awakened her from her restless sleep. She was alone I her dark room. The winds outside her windows were howling mercilessly and the rain was spattering hard against the roof as well. The storm was going nowhere tonight.

She sat on her bed and took out her wand and pointed it towards the fireplace. She walked towards the window to watch the mayhem caused by the storm. Inside their house she was safe and sound and warm but a part of her still felt cold. She was wondering how Snape was doing at Azkaban. It was the dead and dread cold of the night and she wondered if he was going to be alright. In three days time another trial was to commence. They were soon going to finish the twelve trials and after that they were going to decide if he was to receive the Dementor's Kiss or be a freed man. But at the moment, the trials' outcome was not meeting his needs. He was going to go to Azkaban judging by the way the way things were turning and she no longer knew what she could do. If only she could talk to him just one last time.

"No work today?" Hermione asked a few hours later. She walked down the stairs and headed for the kitchen where Harry was already having breakfast. He was still dressed in his night clothes and was reading what looked like a slightly damp copy of the Daily Prophet and drinking his morning coffee.

"Suspended." Harry answered her. "There will be no work for two days due to this storm." Harry smiled up at her and saw the slightly disappointed look over her face which she quickly flushed away by forcing a smile.

"That's great then." Hermine said turning away and pretending to make her own coffee.

"You can stay in and rest and all that. I'll be out with Ginny maybe later or with Fleur. I'm still waiting for their note where we are going to-"

"Hermione, there is a storm." Harry reminded her with a grin over his face. "Nobody is going in and out today or tomorrow." he pointed towards the window where nothing could be seen or heard but the storm he was describing.

Hermione swallowed hard. It meant that she was stuck at the apartment with Harry. It also meant that if he wanted to make love to her – for which she had been avoiding for god-knows-how-long there was no avoiding of it now.

"Oh, that's great." Hermione commented even though she felt the opposite. "I can general clean around here then and you can go sleep the day off and stuff. I'll make you a wonderful lunch later and a nice dinner." she told him while she finished making her coffee and attempted to make a toast for herself.

Harry stared at her for a moment as if observing her gestures. He didn't say anything.

"Actually," he began and he sounded as if he was planting his words carefully, "I was planning that later this afternoon. I have other plans this morning." Harry said and Hermione halted for a moment on what she was doing.

She looked up at him with a small smile, "Oh, that's nice. Are you going to-"

"I've brought files with me." he told her and pointed over the table by the living room. It was only now that Hermione noticed a large pile of folders and parchments over the table.

"What are those?" she curiously asked him.

"Snape's cases." Harry answered proudly. His green eyes settled on Hermione for a moment.

"Snape's-?" she asked reluctantly.

Harry stood from his chair and folded up his paper.

"Yes, I better start on them. It all the cases against him and that large pile is actually your case." He pointed at a rather taller pile from the rest. Hermione stared at him with question in her eyes.

"Harry, are you going to-"

"I'm going to study all of it today. I'll make a list and some thorough analysis on every case against him so I may understand yours better and be able to help them work on it."

"Help them?" Hermione asked in wonder. This time, she sounded alarmed.

She walked over to Harry who was just smiling at her.

"Harry, what's going on?" she asked him and there was distaste in her tone.

Harry rounded on her with the same determined look over his face.

"I've only figured there's no going out today and since I don't want to kill myself in boredom staring at books and at you the whole day, might as well put myself into good use."

Hermione's eyes lit up. She folded her arms and knew instantly where Harry was coming from.

"Harry, I already told you that I need some time before we can-"

"Take all the time you need, Hermione." Harry answered him and she watched as he gathered all the pile of files in his arms and carried them out. He stared at her with a defiant smile, "I'm going to work in my study today, Hermione. Have fun cleaning."

And with that, he walked away from her knowing he had infuriated Hermione's mood for the whole day.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Chapter VIII**_

 _ **The Secret of Narcissa Malfoy**_

The rain gave no absolute consolation to Hermione's feelings that weekend afternoon.

Days were passing and there seemed to be no solution to what she and Snape had to face at the trials.

On the first weekend morning, Mrs. Weasley invited them over for breakfast.

When Harry noted that they couldn't an owl returned and two hours later, Ginny, Fleur and Bill were by their apartment carrying with them a package for brunch.

Harry no longer refused but was glad of the effort they made in order to try and put Hermione's mind off the case.

Despite her excuses to get out of bed because she was 'feeling unwell', Hermione greeted them in the dining and joined them for the meal.

While Bill and Harry finished their meal and joined together in the living room for some drinks, the girls were left in the dining where Harry was convinced that Ginny and Fleur could take Hermione's mind off things and make her happy and cheerful even just for a while.

"You alright?" Bill asked Harry as he entered the living room carrying a bottle of wine with him.

"Fine." Harry lied opening the bottle and pouring drinks for the two of them.

Bill was intelligent and observant enough to know that things were not well at their end and it wasn't just because of the case.

"Harry-"

"All is well, mate." Harry said raising his glass and resting on the couch opposite Bill.

He looked back at Harry with a questioning glare.

"Really?" he asked. "Are things really well?"

Harry only mumbled and drained his first glass.

"I thought she wasn't feeling well." Bill said stating her refusal to her mother's invitation that morning.

"Well, you've noticed it already." Harry said with resignation in his voice. "She's completely different since she's returned."

"Maybe she needs time."

"I don't know." Harry said staring over his glass and refilling it again. "It feels.. different. She's completely changed. I've really been trying but there's just something amiss."

Bill looked concerned over his story but he was more concerned on how alcohol was becoming Harry's occasional bestfriend.

"Fleur and I are here for the two of you." Bill suggested taking the bottle from his hands as he refilled his third glass already.

Harry nudged his hand and finished refilling it before handing it back to him.

"You want some more?" he asked him with a hiccup. "There are more bottles in the kitchen-"

"I think we're already fairly well with just one." Bill said taking the bottle out of his reach and staring at him.

He looked at his friend and could tell that things are not well even as early as this stage.

They've been friends and they know of the suffering he's endured since Hermione's disappearance.

Now she's back, despite that they anticipated adjustment and changes, he seemed to sense that something worse was still to come.

"Harry, we're here and you know that, right?" he said staring closely at Harry who seemed too occupied thinking if he would open another bottle.

"Yes, I know." Harry mumbled at him. "And I thank you for that. Cheers mate."

He raised his glass to Bill and waited.

Bill stared at first then toasted his glass to him which he's barely touched at all.

 _"It's still raining so hard." Hermione commented. "Is there news of a storm or something?"_

 _"It's September, Hermione. What do you expect?" Snape answered without looking up from what he was reading._

 _"I'm not sure." Hermione irritably answered him. "I'm all locked up here it's not like I can track everything down perfectly well."_

 _Snape ignored her._

 _It was half past eight in the evening._

 _Although he left very early that morning, he had arrived later than she had expected of him._

 _He left her a good breakfast and lunch and left her a note._

 _It usually scared her to just see a note from him telling her that he'd be back with no specific time._

 _She fear that he'd just abandon her for some ungodly reason._

 _He arrived late but atleast he arrived._

 _He was drenched in his traveling cloak but with large bags of groceries and other tools and kits and box complete of new fresh potions ingredients._

 _He left the living room and walked to their kitchen where she soon followed_

 _"Where have you been?" she asked him._

 _He didn't answer her._

 _He began organizing the table to prepare their dinner._

 _"I asked you a question." Hermione demanded._

 _Snape looked up at her for a moment._

 _"I bought groceries, obviously." Snape returned to the table and pointed his wand around where plates and utensils appeared and began arranging themselves over the table._

 _"Just groceries?" she asked him._

 _Her voice was somewhat accusatory but still, Snape managed his own temper._

 _He was silent but he was curious what answer she was seeking exactly._

 _"Just groceries?" she asked again._

 _"Is there something you would like to just ask me?" he lashed back at her finally losing his patience._

 _Hermione looked taken aback but she didn't hold herself down._

 _Usually, she was never really allowed to inquire about his whereabouts and about anything at all._

 _But it had taken him hours to return and she was smart enough to know that it wasn't just grocery shopping he had gone to._

 _Hermione didn't answer him but he could tell that her eyes were still on him._

 _He continued to fix the table._

 _"I had to run a couple of errands."_

 _"Errands." Hermione repeated blandly._

 _"It was last minute." Snape said in a restrained voice. "I also saw a book in one of the bookstores I've passed when I crossed the town. I thought you might like it."_

 _Snape moved away from the table and went back to the living room._

 _Hermione soon followed him._

 _Hermione watched quietly as he rummaged for something in one of the paper bags._

 _"Here." Snape said taking out something and walking back to her. "I thought you might like it."_

 _Hermione stared up at him and stared over the book he was offering her with a small smile over his face._

 _Without warning, she threw it away from her where it pelted off from his hand and landed back onto the carpeted floor._

 _Snape's black eyes widened at what she had done._

 _His fists clenched and he stared down at her shaking in anger._

 _"Bloody hell." he muttered, he bent over to pick it up but Hermione was fast and she quickly kicked it far from him._

 _His black eyes shot right up at her burning gaze. He sighed heavily and tried to hold his patience and he moved away from her._

 _"I don't have time for this." he muttered but Hermione was really trying his patience. She moved about and Snape heard her throw away the bowl of food she had been eating from before he arrived._

 _He halted on his footsteps, rolling his eyes and sighing heavily, he slowly turned to her._

 _She was sitting on the couch and staring scathingly up at him._

 _"What the bloody hell is wrong with you?" he asked her and with a whip of his wand, he cleared away the mess she had made._

 _"That's it?" she asked him as she watched Snape move away from her after cleaning her mess._

 _"You're just going to say that and walk away from me?" she asked with a smirk, "You're not going to say anything else? Do anything else?" she asked provoking his patience further, "You're not even going to punish me for this?" she asked crossing her arms._

 _But Snape moved away from her waving his hand up in the air and ignoring her as best as he could._

 _"Really?" she screamed after him._

 _When he continued walking away, Hermione stood from the couch and with an angry stance, she launched herself behind him and nearly knocked them both onto the slippery kitchen floor._

 _"Bloody hell, Hermione!"_

 _With a fierce movement, he snatched her arm and held her up painfully, "What the hell is wrong with you?" he angrily snapped at her._

 _"YOU!" Hermione angrily screamed at him her eyes burning with anger, "You – you bloody hell – you bloody liar-"_

 _"Liar am I now?" he angrily spat at her, "Last night I was nowhere near-"_

 _"You liar! You told me that everything is alright!" she screamed against his grip, "You told me that everything is alright but it's not!" she angrily screamed at him._

 _Snape stared at her in anger and then she angrily pulled something from beneath her pillows. It was a crumpled piece of paper and she threw it right at his face._

 _"What the hell-"_

 _"Hell, that's what this place is!" Hermione breathed out angrily watching him bend down to pick up the piece of parchment she had thrown right at him, "You tell me that you're not a liar."_

 _He bent over and picked it up and smoothened it all over and read thoroughly._

 _The question in his sides had spread all over and a horrified look came over his face._

 _He looked up at Hermione who had tears in her eyes but was giving him a mocking smile._

 _His face turned pale._

 _"Hermione, wait. I can explain-"_

 _"Now you would like to explain?" she angrily said, she backed away from him._

 _Snape tried to reach for her but she moved away from him._

 _"You liar – you told me-"_

 _"Look, if it was something sort of horrid, I would have told you-"_

 _"It says in that goddamn letter that you've been seeing Narcissa Malfoy secretly!" she screamed angrily at him, "You told me we are far from everyone – that it would be safe that way – but you're seeing her – you've been seeing her!" her eyes were wild in question and in anger and Snape was unsure how to calm her down._

 _Snape did not know what to say. She was breaking down in front of him and he could understand why._

 _"Severus, I have not seen my friends, my family – my parents in ages because you said it is unsafe if we go anywhere near any of them – any of the people you know!" she cried at him with such despair and hatred in her eyes._

 _Snape was at loss for words._

 _"Hermione-"_

 _"And now.. now you would.. she was.. " she shook her head, her whole body shaking in anguish, "You said.. I don't understand, I don't.."_

 _"Hermione, wait," he said trying to follow her around the room to reach for her, "I can explain to you, it's not what you're thinking – please, just listen o me and I will explain to you why I've been seeing Narcissa, yes, I admit it now – I have been seeing her but there's nothing to keep-"_

 _"Nothing to keep?" she wildly asked him back, she sighed heavily trying to dry her eyes from the tears that were streaming nonstop, "Now you're going to tell me the truth because you've been caught?" she asked incredulously, she halted from moving around as Snape caught her arm and was staring at her in a pleading manner._

 _"Hermione please.."_

 _"If I've not known of the letter would you tell me?" she asked him turning suddenly, her brown eyes glinted as her gaze pierced his heart._

 _"Would you have told me had I not read this letter?" she asked him shaking in anger, "Answer me, Severus!" she screamed at him with her fists clenched as she hit him over his chest._

 _"Hermione, please-"_

 _Hermione cried and he was sure that the sound of the pain was as unpleasant as how it felt._

 _"Please."_

 _Hermione's whimper brought a heavy chain over his chest._

 _"Have I not been enough for you?" Hermione had asked sorrowfully. "Have you been keeping me just to be your plaything?"_

 _His black eyes suddenly showed fear like he had never shown her before._

 _"No." Snape quickly answered her advancing towards her and reaching out for her._

 _"Hermione, please." Snape begged her.. "It's not what you think of-"_

 _"Are you just keeping me because you need someone to sleep with?" she cried at him._

 _"No, please." Snape softly said. "Hermione, it's not-"_

 _"Severus, I cannot.."_

 _"No, I have not been keeping you for that reason, Hermione, please."_

 _He grabbed her with both his arms and tightly placed them around her, keeping her in a forced and tight embrace._

 _"Let me go – get your filthy hands off me – if you've been touching her, if you've been kissing – if you have been having-"_

 _"I have not been having anyone but you," he struggled to say as Hermione fought against his tight embrace but to no avail, "I have not been lying to you – I might not have told you I'm seeing her but please.. please believe when I say that I have not been with anyone but you-"_

 _"You've been seeing her!" she cried in his arms kicking herself free from his grasp, "You've been – you've been keeping me here and you have been having that Malfoy woman-"_

 _"Narcissa is dying," he suddenly said in a constricted tone that suddenly halted Hermione's movements and protest, "Narcissa is dying, Hermione. I've been seeing her to keep her alive with the potions I make for her."_

 _There came some silence and Hermione completely went limp in his arms. He took a harder hold on her and began brushing her thick brown hair and gently kissing her forehead._

 _"Please, I have not been lying to you." he whispered against her skin._

 _"Dying?"_

 _"I couldn't tell you because I swore to her that I would not tell a soul that she's dying.."_

 _Hermione didn't say anything. Her thoughts of his lies were suddenly diminished and were replaced by thoughts of question._

 _Narcissa? Narcissa Black Malfoy?_

 _The powerful Malfoy woman was dying?_

 _How could that be possible? She had last seen her perhaps at the battle or when she was at the Malfoy Manor a lifetime ago and she was nowhere sick-looking for her to just be dying right now._

 _"Draco does not know." he whispered against her ear._

 _Hermione seemed to lessen her struggle against him._

 _"Nobody knows about it Hermione. Not anyone else.. but not it's just me and you."_

 _"But.." Hermione croaked out. "It can't. Narcissa Malfoy.. but she's.."_

 _"A deep and old cruse embedded in her blood." Snape slowly explained to her as he continued to grasp her._

 _"A curse?"_

 _"She's dying. Anytime soon she can die. I've been keeping her life longer with the potions I am making for her. That's wy she knows where we are – that's why she knows of my secret."_

 _"She knows about me?" she softly asked him._

 _There was silence._

 _"Severus."_

 _"Yes." Snape admitted to her. "She knows you're with me."_

 _"But-"_

 _"I keep her alive and she will keep my secret."_

 _"She trusts you? And you trust her?" Hermione asked with a definite anger in her tone._

 _"She expects me to protect Draco in any way I could."_

 _Hermione was silent._

 _It was one of those revelations again that she didn't expect._

 _What was really happening out there in the war?_

 _Did the enemies she thought of are the real heroes?_

 _They could only hear one another's labored breathing._

 _"Does Draco know?" she slowly asked him. "Does Draco know about me?"_

 _"No." Snape answered after a while. "Draco does not."_

"That's a nice book," came a voice next to her. Hermione shook her head and turned to her left side. Her mouth fell open upon seeing Draco next to her holding a copy of the one book she was holding.

She shook her head, closed the book and quickly returned it to the shelf.

"I have to go, I'm sorry." Hermione said quickly closing the book and turning away from him.

But she wasn't fast enough.

Draco had reached her in time and had blocked her way.

She looked up at him and then he let her pass.

"Granger." Draco called after her following her aisle after another

Hermione didn't answer him.

"Isn't there a hearing?" he called after her. "At three? Why are you still here?"

"It was cancelled." Hermione simply answered him. "They owled us two hours ago. I'm not sure when it would commence."

"That's good to know then." Draco said. "Would you like to have lunch or coffee with me?"

"I'm not hungry." Hermione answered him truthfully. "And I also don't think it's a good idea to be with you."

Draco looked hurt for a moment and Hermione realized her mistake.

"It's not entirely what I meant."

"I get what you're trying to say." Draco said with a small smile.

"Malfoy-"

"Maybe just a few minutes?" Draco offered her. "Just a coffee or something."

She looked up at him with a reluctant look over her face.

Draco could tell that she was completely avoiding him and thinking of a reason out of his offer.

"I'm sorry, Malfoy. I have to go." Hermione said completely turning away from him.

Draco didn't know why, but he followed her and grasped her arm upon reaching her again.

Hermione turned and looked backed at him.

She looked uneasy so he quickly let her arm go.

"I'm sorry." Draco quickly said realizing that he might be reminding her of some trauma she's endured from Snape.

Hermione didn't say anything but was rubbing her other hand over the spot around her arm that he had touched.

"I didn't mean to." Draco apologetically said. "I just thought that-"

"If I give you this hour while I wait for Harry will you promise not to bother me every again unless it's entirely imperative?"

Draco's eyes lit up.

That was new of her but he quickly accepted nevertheless.

"I swear." Draco answered her. "Where do you want to go?"

"I don't know." Hermione said looking away from him. "I haven't been here for some time."

"The same here." Draco said with a smile. "But there's a café that my mother takes me to when I was a child. I think it's still around. Do you want to check it?"

"Lead the way." Hermione said quietly.

He offered his hand to her but Hermione refused to take his hand and only nodded for him to move forward.

 _"Happy Anniversary!" he greeted her with a small smile._

 _He placed his arms around her and kissed her neckline as she received him in her arms._

 _Her eyes were wide at the red bouquet of roses._

 _She was beyond delighted._

 _It's been so long since she held anything so beautiful and so fresh at the same time._

 _"Thank you." Hermione answered him with a soft kiss. "This is beyond beautiful."_

 _"Well it's something to be celebrated." Snape answered her. "And you are beyond beautiful than anything or anyone else."_

 _Hermione didn't say anything._

 _She only smiled back at him._

 _It has been two years now._

 _Many things had come to pass and changed in the outside world._

 _Things has also come to pass and changed between the two of them._

 _Ron Weasley had come to pass away together with Order members and many other nameless casualties._

 _The Minister of Magic had been replaced by Kingsley himself._

 _Things were changed into order and despair in the outside world._

 _And yet to all these things, Hermione had been quiet oblivious and unknowing._

 _She knew only the things that Snape wanted her to know._

 _And she was aware that it wasn't everything to be known out there._

 _It has been two years as she had traced down._

 _She kept a hidden spot in the cottage for which she created drawings and timelines and charts of events in accordance to whatever things Snape were telling her._

 _Some of the things aligned together which she concluded were truth._

 _But there were a lot that didn't._

 _And so it confused her and she knew that there were things he still refused to tell her about._

 _It devastated her deeply but she knew that she had no choice._

 _It was this way of surviving or some worse situation she may come across with._

 _No real news ever reached her._

 _No newspaper nor any owl post – nothing._

 _She was in absolute isolation from the outside world and her life solely depended with Snape and everything she knew were only the things he preferred for her to know._

 _She had been so used into this kind of living that she even surprised herself that she was surviving this way._

 _But it was still survival and she desperately needed to survive._

 _They ate dinner and drank the expensive wine he had bought for them._

 _They kissed and she knew that things were to remain as it were for the coming days._

 _She knew he had some sort of job somewhere across town, some two hours from where the cottage was._

 _They never discussed it fully._

 _No, they never really discussed things over._

 _He would come and go and get back home to the cottage bringing in everything they or she needed – food, clothes and even books._

 _He tended to absolutely everything she'd ever need and look for._

 _He seemed to never run out of supplies as they were always abundant of everything they needed._

 _She got tired of asking as their discussions would always not end well._

 _"Sev?" she asked looking up at him._

 _He laid her over a beautiful white mattress by the fireplace for which he filled and scattered with both red and white roses._

 _He wanted to make sure that their anniversary wasn't something she'll likely forget._

 _"Yes?" he answered kissing her gently._

 _"I was thinking. It's been quite long and perhaps we can.. you can allow me to see them?"_

 _He stopped from kissing her and he looked down concernedly at her._

 _"Are you not happy here?" he asked her softly._

 _Hermione's eyes quickly narrowed in panic._

 _"No, it's not like that." Hermione said reaching up to him. "It's just.. I miss my mother and.. well the others as well-"_

 _"I don't think it's the right time to talk about this." Snape said filling her mouth with wine from the glass next to them._

 _Hermione swallowed and stared up at him._

 _"But I was – "_

 _"The last time I checked they were alright." Snape simply said and she could already hear the irritation in his voice._

 _She kept quiet then._

 _She didn't like it when she angered him._

 _She bit her lower lip and looked away from him._

 _He drained the glass first before returning to her._

 _He repositioned himself on top of her and began kissing her neckline again._

 _"It's been two years. I thought maybe we can visit them on Christmas or something – "_

 _"There have not been much changes, Hermione-"_

 _"Not much changes?" she asked unable to stop herself from reacting._

 _He looked down at her and stopped kissing her again._

 _"Not much?" she asked him irritated. "Was Ron's death not of any significance and difference?"_

 _Her eyes were wide as she spoke and she pushed him off from her._

 _Snape was silent as he looked back at her stricken state._

 _"Of the deaths of the people out there? Of the fall of the Ministry of Magic? Of Gringotts? The attack on those Muggle states you've told me about – what about those? Are these things not important? Are they not big differences in the span of two years, Severus?"_

 _He was silent as he looked back at her._

 _"I'm sorry." Hermione angrily said. "I can't toast tonight."_

 _Snape watched as she grabbed the blanket from the end of the mattress and began covering herself with it._

 _"I'm sorry." Snape whispered grabbing her by the wrist._

 _"I want to go to bed."_

 _"Please, don't go. I'm sorry."_

 _"Severus, let me go."_

 _"No." Snape answered. "You're staying here with me.. please.. Please don't ruin the night"_

 _Hermione stopped moving._

 _His hand had turned gentle as his voice did so._

 _She looked up at his black eyes that were seemingly longing deeply for her presence._

 _He began to move his fingers over her legs and gently caressed her at her most sensitive parts._

 _"Sev-" Hermione moaned as he moved his arms around her and began kissing her again._

 _"Please, please don't ruin tonight." Snape whispered gently._

 _He placed soft kisses around her and soon enough, Hermione felt her body relaxing and responding to his touches._

 _The moment she did, he quickly captured her lips and once again enamored her into his passion for her._

 _Capturing her attention and her will easily, he kissed her deeply and gently pushed her back down on the bed of roses he had made especially for her._

'Happy Anniversary' Hermione read over the envelope in her hands.

"Well what do you think?" Harry asked watching her reaction at the large chocolate in her hands and the pair of tickets to the international book fair they were going to.

"Happy anniversary?" she said back with a reluctant smile back at him.

But before she could do anything else, Harry moved to her and captured her lips to his.

"Harry, stop-" Hermione said pushing him from her.

His eyes narrowed at her sudden refusal.

It wasn't like they hadn't slept again since she returned to him.

"What's wrong?" he asked her restraining the anger in his tone.

Hermione looked up at him.

"Nothing." Hermione said. "I'm not – I haven't washed up and all-"

"It doesn't matter." Harry said advancing towards her again but Hermione moved herself away from him.

"Stop it." Hermione said pushing him. "I'm serious, Harry."

"I'm also serious." Harry shot back at her. "Hermione, please-"

"Stop it." Hermione said moving away from the bed. "I'm serious. I'll meet you downstairs."

And then without another word she left him in silence in the room.

The book fair was the best offer Harry could think of that would cheer Hermione up. But to his utter astonishment, it did very little to cheer her mood.

He was able to purchase tickets for the fair that granted them special access and purchase discounts in all the books in the great book fair.

Great selections after another were placed all over gigantic aisles – the Hermione he knew would have bought almost everything in within sight at the first few steps upon entering the large arena.

But they've already been walking for almost an hour, has met some old Hogwarts professors and renowned Ministry officials and some Hogwarts governors as well as some old friends from Hogwarts but still, Hermione had not decided on which book to get.

"The tickets will grant us the largest discount, 'Mione." Harry reminded her as they've barely bought anything at all. "Are the books not good?"

"They're fine." Hermione dryly answered as they walked down another long aisles at the book fair.

"I'll buy you anything you want." Harry cheerfully said taking his hand into hers and placing his other hand around her waist.

Hermione shifted and moved away from his arm.

"Yeah, I will tell you if I want something." Hermione said.

Harry didn't say anything as they continued to walk down the aisles of selections.

He didn't understand it.

This should have cheered her up.

"Harry! Hermione!" someone had suddenly called from the other side of the aisle.

They both stopped and turned.

Old Quidditch Captain Oliver Wood came towards them with his wife behind him and a small toddler tagging along his arm.

"Yours?" Harry happily asked.

"Mine." Oliver said in reply as he shook hands to the both of them. "My wife."

They both nodded and smiled at the woman who smiled cheerfully back at them.

He took the toddler into his arm for a kiss and handed the child to his wife who left them.

"How are things?" Oliver asked them.

He had been away for years and he was in town for vacation.

"Getting better." Harry replied taking Hermione's hand into his.

Hermione smiled and nodded at him.

Ofcourse Oliver was aware of what has transpired to Hermione over the years.

He only smiled back at her.

"Just in the country for a short vacation. We'll be back in Russia soon."

The two others nodded noting that's why she looked not like an English woman and had a different accent.

"I met her on a tour." Oliver said. "She's very patient and all."

"She's very beautiful." Hermione commented.

"Thanks." Oliver replied. "She's half British. She's writing about my team when I met and well we dated and that's where it all began."

"Good for you." Hermione commented. "I'm sorry, I would like to check something over that aisle."

Hermione squeezed Harry's hand and then she walked towards the other direction.

Harry nodded at her and they both stared at her disappear behind aisles of books.

"Everything good?" Oliver asked Harry.

Harry shook his head.

"I'm trying." Harry replied. "I'm trying to make things better but I'm not sure if it's working."

"Give her time." Oliver said patting him over the shoulder.

"Have you read the papers?" Harry asked him "Have you heard?"

"I've heard." Oliver answered him. "I don't understand too why she's defending him."

"The fucking bastard manipulated her mind, that's what." Harry coldly said.

Oliver looked concernedly up at Harry.

"We've got all evidences down." Harry continued. "But I don't get why she's all over into protecting him."

"Maybe there is a reason?" Oliver suggested.

Harry gave him a glare but he didn't say anything.

He shook his head.

"I don't know." Harry said. "I'm going crazy thinking of things to cheer her up but nothing seems to work."

"Is she well though?" Oliver slowly asked him in fear of offending him. "Like is she well?"

"She's fine." Harry answered brushing his hand up in the air. "We've had her check and all."

"To be honest I'm as surprised as everyone else to find her alive." Oliver said shaking his head. "Everyone thought that.."

"Everyone else thought she's died." Harry said and there was something else in his tone.

"I don't want to say anything because we all don't know what really happened, Harry." Oliver said as he reluctantly stared back at Harry. ."But you've got to admit that he did take good care of her and had helped her survive the war."

 _"Mother, are you in here?" Draco opened the door and entered her mother's bedroom. "Father is looking for you."_

 _His eyes scanned the empty room as he entered._

 _His burrows furrowed as he saw two open luggage over the bed, a paper bag of dresses and two other bags of goods and necessities._

 _"Oh, Draco." Narcissa gasped as she entered the room from the bathroom._

 _She looked slightly stunned at the presence of his son in her bedroom._

 _She crossed the room and quickly closed the bag with dresses._

 _"Are you going somewhere?" he demanded of her as he walked closer to her mother._

 _"I was just.. I'm just packing some things.." Narcissa replied. "Do you need anything?"_

 _"Father is looking for you." Draco only repeated staring at her and then looking back at the bag she quickly stashed away._

 _"I'll be right out." Narcissa said._

 _"You're going somewhere." Draco pointed out at her._

 _Narcissa looked up at him unable to hide it any longer._

 _"I'll be back in two days. I just need some fresh air."_

 _"Fresh air?" Draco asked back. "You need to bring bread and blankets to get some fresh air to wherever you're going?"_

 _Narcissa watched as her son scrutinized the contents of one of the bags and he even bent down and picked up a fallen clothing from the floor._

 _"I don't think this will fit you." Draco pointed out yet again._

 _He lifted up what looked like a night dress that was way smaller in size than of her mother's tall physique._

 _Their eyes met._

 _"Draco-"_

 _"Where are you going?" he demanded again and this time there was hatred in his voice. "Where are you going mother? Where are you bringing all these things?"_

 _Narcissa didn't answer. Her gaze upon her own son was wavering and her hands were slightly shaking._

 _"It's for a friend. I'm only visiting them for a few days."_

 _"A few days." Draco repeated, folding his arms he watched as her mother packed away the rest of the objects. "Do I know this friend of yours?" he asked her._

 _Narcissa didn't answer._

 _She continued rearranging the bags at the other side of the room and turned only when he heard Draco cross towards the end table at the side of the bed._

 _"Do I know this friend of yours?" he asked, staring at the small bottle in his hand with bluish liquid inside it. "Do I know these friends of yours, mother?"_

 _Narcissa's eyes turned to slits._

 _She stared at his own son who reminded him a lot of her husband._

 _Draco suddenly picked a small bottle from the bed._

 _Narcissa's eyes widened as he held it in his hand._

 _"You see, that's the thing, mother. You used to tell me everything. Now, you seem to lie to me."_

 _He threw the bottle up in the air –_

 _"Draco, no!" she screamed at him but Draco caught the bottle back in his hand and stared from her mother and to the bottle and back again._

 _"What is this?" Draco asked her opening the lid and smelling its contents. "What is this mother?"_

 _"It's nothing." Narcissa lied to him. "It's nothing, give it back to me."_

 _Draco's eyes turned into slits this time. He placed it closer to his mouth._

 _"You're not going to tell me?" he asked her lowering it to his lips. "What is this mother?"_

 _"That's – Draco, put that down this instant." Narcissa ordered coldly._

 _She tried to look authoritative despite that Draco already knew that she was lying and fearful that he was going to drink it._

 _"You're not going to tell me?" he asked him with defiance in his voice._

 _"Draco, I am warning you." Narcissa took a step forward._

 _"Well then." Draco smirked at his mother. "If you prefer not telling me might as well-"_

 _"ACCIO!"_

 _Both Draco and Narcissa turned and saw Lucius by the doorway with his wand. He was closing the lid once more and was staring angrily at Draco._

 _"I asked you to call your mother and not waste time dwindling on some nonsense." Lucius entered the room and handed Narcissa the bottle._

 _Draco stared at his own father with pure hatred in his eyes._

 _"I also asked you to stay in the library because your dear aunt Bella will teach you a special spell today after our meeting."_

 _Lucius stared at him for a full moment before turning to Narcissa._

 _"I need the key to the West Wing's door that leads to the gardens. The Dark Lord has requested to make that area a place to store in some artifacts. I will wait for you downstairs." And with that, he turned away from her and gave Draco a stern stare before leaving the room._

 _Narcissa was silent._

 _She breathed heavily and pocketed the bottle._

 _"Do what your father asks of you." Narcissa quietly demanded of him._

 _She crossed the room to get the key from the drawer when Draco spoke._

 _"You know where he is." his voice was low but meaningful. "You know where they are mother. I'm not stupid. Why are you helping them?"_

 _Draco suddenly turned and faced her mother who looked both angry and stricken at him._

 _"What are you talking-"_

 _"Mother, they're looking for her!" Draco angrily said. "They're going to kill you if they find out that you've been helping him keep her-"_

 _"I don't understand what you are talking about – Draco, let my hand go-"_

 _"Mother, please. Let her go. I don't understand why you're keeping her – what's going on - why he's keeping her-"_

 _"Draco, let me go this instant!" Narcissa angrily said._

 _They stared at one another for a long while and Narcissa could see the desperation and fear in her son's eyes. He was scared and unsure of their fate in the war._

 _She was seething in anger. Draco was stunned by the look that her mother was giving her. He had never seen her so angry with him before._

 _"Mother, you're going to kill yourself if you help them." Draco told him, walking to her he reached his hand out to her._

 _"Draco, stop this inst-"_

 _"Mother, please." Draco softly said and he got down on his knees and without warning, he had placed both hands around the hem of her mother's dress._

 _"Draco-"_

 _"Mother, I beg you." His voice was filled with worry. "Mother, please don't help them. Don't tangle yourself up to this war. Please, I don't want you to die. Please, let her go. Let them find her. There are enough reason for those Order people to kill us –"_

 _"Draco, I said let me go-" she stopped dead as he looked up at her. There were tears in Draco's eyes._

 _"They will kill you if they find out that you've been helping him keep her. Mother, please tell me where they are. I'm going to free her, I'm going to let her go."_

 _They stared at one another for a long while. Draco looked like he was a very young boy begging for some toy he had found in a shop._

 _"I don't know what you're talking about." Narcissa simply said. She pulled her dress away from Draco and turned away from her own son._

 _"Mother, please-"_

 _"This is nonsense, Draco. I don't understand you. I shall pretend we never had this foolish conversation. Go and follow your father's order of you before he returns here."_

 _"They're going to kill you if you-" Draco cried at her. "I don't want you to die!"_

 _But Narcissa didn't say anything. He couldn't tell what she was thinking and she certainly wanted to keep her facial expression hidden. She didn't turn to face him again._

 _"I told you to follow your father's orders. A good son never disobeys her own mother."_

 _There was a long pause._

 _And then she heard Draco move behind her._

 _He still waiting for her to face him but she did not._

 _Soon after, Narcissa heard Draco leave the room without another word._

 _As the door snap shut and his footsteps faded away, Narcissa suddenly dropped to her knees._

 _"I'm sorry, Draco." she burst out. "I cannot let her go for that precise reason. I do not want to die. And only Severus can extend my life."_


	9. Chapter 9

**_Chapter Nine_**

 _ **Wrath**_

The whole hall was quiet as they continued to listen to the attendee of the Wizengamot who was questioning Snape at the witness stand.

"Miss Granger tried to escape your custody in a two time occasion and you have consequently thwarted both circumstances. The war has been won over and stil you kept her in the far islands of Beltane. A decade Mr. Snape if we would specify it – the time for which you have kept Miss Hermione Jean Granger under your custody. The Dark Lord has been defeated only months after the incident of the ambush to the Order of the Phoenix. Tell me if these details are correct?"

There was silence as they waited for Snape's answer.

His black eyes scanned the attendee first before putting out the word.

"Obviously." Snape silkily answered him without blinking.

There were strong murmurs in the crowd around them.

"You kept her?" the attendee asked. "And nobody knew about it? Nobody until you were discovered?"

"Nobody." Snape's casual answer.

Hermione was silent across the room where she sat next to Harry.

He was going to lie again.

He was going to keep from everyone that someone else knew where they were.

He was obviously not going to drag in another name in the case – not that it was no longer relevant.

But he was obviously torturing himself into turning himself as a lone criminal into this.

He wasn't going to drag in the name of that Malfoy woman – he was going to keep her name clean from all of it just as he had promised her.

For Narcissa Malfoy, Draco no longer deserved an additional shame onto his already lifetime smeared resume.

"Ten years into your custody – you had provided her with things and clothes, food and a good shelter. By all means, where did you get all these resources?"

Snape didn't answer but the attendee continued as he walked around the hall making himself heard all over the large room.

"A secure and almost, completely isolated island Mr Snape – where would you get your means to survive? Yes, let's assume that there is a small town across it but where – where in the name of heavens did you get resources to sustain everything that the both of you would need?"

They were obviously trying to find out if he had other accomplices.

Hermione was sure that he'd rather die than tell them the truth behind that.

"I had a post at Hogwarts before." Snape simply answered him. "I had a good position at Hogwarts as an instructor."

The attendee almost laughed at him but Snape ignored it.

"I do not supposed that teaching could provide you such wealth Mr. Snape."

"You undermine my skills and intellect in a profession-"

"No." the attendee impatiently cut him off. "You had an outside resource. Someone from the outside was obviously helping you. Who was it?"

There were a couple of murmurs around the room again.

Hermione could tell that Harry had shifted from his chair but his eyes were focused on Snape.

That thought didn't seem to occur to him or anyone else for the matter but it interested Harry.

"I had no one else." Snape answered quietly. "I was able to provide everything by what I had already and by selling custom-made medicinal properties – potions in our world – across the town. We didn't need much – enough clothes and meal were all we needed. Miss Granger was certainly not demanding of anything else."

"And if she was sick?"

"I provided her with whatever potions were needed to tend to her."

There was another silence.

Hermione wanted to say something but knew that it wouldn't do any good anyway.

The attendee moved away from him with a heavy sigh.

"So it seems you really did take good care of Miss Granger."

"She was well attended too." Snape said in a mocking tone. "And much more."

The attendee sharply turned to Snape who had given him a smirk and a knowing smile.

Even if it was a small gesture, Harry caught sight of it from where they were seated.

"Harry." Hermione whispered holding his arm that was slowly curling into fists.

"I'm fine." Harry said through gritted teeth shoving his hand away from her.

"Was there any time Mr. Snape that you had physically hurt Miss Granger?"

"Harm her?" Snape slowly repeated. "Physically?"

"Yes."

His black eyes turned into small slits as if he was asking him something stupid.

And then he slowly relaxed over his chair as if taking his time to answer the question.

It was challenging the patience of the attendee.

"Did you not read her medical records?" Snape slowly asked.

Gasps were heard across the room.

"Mr. Snape please answer the question directly." one of the members of the Wizengamot had spoken.

"Was there any time, Mr. Snape, that you had physically hurt Miss Granger despite that you have taken good care of her welfare?"

Snape looked back at the attendee and then nodded at him.

"She was physically well when she was found, was she not?"

"A few pounds less than normal but she was in a good state."

"Because I took care of her." Snape simply said. "If any, I only relished to what a man would certainly desire and lust for a –"

Reactions from the crowd were heard once again.

Snape only smirked.

The attendee looked back at him with wide eyes.

Something that was glinting in his black eyes somewhat angered the attendee.

He knew what he was targeting but he had to continue with his questions.

"You admit that you have physically hurt her?"

"Yes."

The attendee stared at Snape for a moment.

Never has he ever questioned a man willing to answer and admit the accusations.

"Will you specifically tell us how you have physically hurt her?" the attendee asked.

Snape stared at him for a moment with his black eyes boring to the attendee's gaze. And then without a mistake, a small smirk appeared across his face again.

"You would like me to specifically give you in detail how I had.. _enjoyed_ our stay at the cottage?" he slowly asked with such pleasure in his silky voice.

A robust of reactions came from the crowd once more.

"You would like me to give you in detail how I had successfully manipulated her mind or how I physically and sexually assaulted Miss Granger?"

" _NO_!" Hermione had loudly screamed from the audience.

Everyone stared at her direction and Harry struggled to keep her back to her seat.

"No! _You're lying!_ Severus! You're going to Azkaban, don't do this!" she cried strangling herself free from Harry's grasp.

One of the members stood up and nodded for a few Ministry officials to go over to the side where Hermione and Harry sat.

"Mr. Potter, please restrain Miss Granger or she will be taken out of this courtroom."

But the crowd became harder to sustain as well.

They were all pointing at Snape's direction and throwing off words at him.

"Harry." Hermione struggle against the officials. "Harry, do something-"

"Keep quiet, Hermione!" Harry warned her nodding to the officials to let her go.

"But Harry-"

"If you do not keep your voice down and behave we are both going to be thrown out of here-"

"I don't care!" Hermione screamed at him with wide eyes. "I don't give a damn!"

Harry stared at Hermione with tears struggling in his own eyes.

He couldn't understand it. He saw her medical records and had read and seen all the evidences and traces that Snape had indeed physically used her.

Did she lose her mind?

How could she not understand reality from fantasy?

" _Harry, please help him –"_

"I'm not going to help him!" Harry suddenly said.

He suddenly grabbed her by the arm and pierced her painfully as he pushed her down back on her chair.

"Harry, you're hurting-"

"Keep yourself together!" Harry angrily said and people began to stare at their direction.

"I can't believe you're doing this to me-" Hermione screamed as she stood up and pushed Harry backward.

Harry was able to steady himself and then he angrily grabbed her by the arm and she screamed in pain.

People now openly stared at them and even the Wizengamot's attention were on them.

Hermione's cries echoed all over the hall.

"You're not being fair!" Hermione cried at him.

Harry was losing his patience as his fingers painfully dug around her arm.

"He's going to be in Azkaban for what he did to you." Harry breathed out. "He's going to rot in that godforsaken place for what he did to you."

And with that, he stormed out of the courtroom leaving Hermione crying by the chair and being contained by the Aurors.

Hermione remained at the coffee shop across the building.

The hearing had finished and Harry had not returned.

Harry was so pissed with her that she wasn't sure if he was going to attend the next hearing or if he was even coming home that evening.

" _May I_?" asked a voice.

Hermione looked up and saw Draco standing with a cup of coffee in his hand.

The café was quiet and wasn't that crowded when her eyes discreetly looked around her.

He obviously wanted to sit with her.

She didn't say anything but she sighed and nodded curtly.

She backed away a little from the table and grabbed her book with her at her end of the table.

"Thanks." Draco said with a slight nod and he sat comfortable in front of her.

She nodded and continued to ignore him.

She reopened her book to return to her ready but was well aware that Draco was staring closely at her as he stirred the small added shot of caffeine over his cup.

"Where's Potter?" he casually asked her.

"Do you see him around?" Hermione answered without even taking her eyes from the book.

Draco looked up at her dead-pan of an expression.

He knew that reaching out to them wasn't going to be easy.

Draco didn't say anything but Hermione seemed to have a bit of a conscience to realize that there was no reason for her to lash at him.

"He went home, I think."

Draco looked up at her slightly surprised but he didn't say anything.

"I'm sorry." Hermione said. "I didn't mean to sound crappy and all. I'm just not feeling well."

"That's alright." Draco returned curious at what she was reading. "It's understandable."

Her love for books has never vanished from her no matter of the years that had passed.

Hermione continued with her reading as if she was alone by the table .

"It's understandable, you know." Draco said at his attempt of some sort of small talk.

Hermione still didn't answer.

"I mean, it's been very hard for him lately." Draco said taking a sip from his cup.

This time, Hermione's eyes slowly left her book and she looked up at him with a narrowed glare.

"Well, it's not like it's not hard for me, is it?" she snapped at him.

Draco stared and reached his hand out to her across the table.

Hermione closed her book shut and shoved it back to her bag and was ready to leave.

"It's not what I meant." Draco said and it was evident that he didn't want her to leave.

"I'm sure you meant something else." Hermione said ignoring his attempt to stop her.

Draco extended his hand to reach across her over the table.

"Granger, you need to understand that Potter is going through a lot-"

"I am also going through a lot!" Hermione angrily said shoving his hand away.

Both their cups of coffee nearly toppled over the table.

Her brown eyes were so cold and her face red in anger.

Draco stopped in mid action staring quietly at her.

He has never seen her that angry before.

She had a point.

"Granger-"

"I'm also going through something, Malfoy but do you see me losing it all over in front of the Wizengamot?"

She was beyond furious as she held her hand up towards the other direction.

Her anger towards Harry had obviously found someone else to vent on.

He didn't say anything.

He didn't want to put more wood on a fire that was already more than enough to burn him alive.

He tried to ignore her by changing the topic.

"I heard they're warning." Draco said sitting back over his chair. "Even if he is Harry Potter, they are going to ban him from the trial if he doesn't learn to restrain himself if he loses it again."

Hermione didn't say anything this time.

She was staring down at him and how comfortable he looked over her table.

"He listens to nobody." Hermione said sitting back again.

Draco tried his best to hide the smallest tinge of smile that appeared over his lips as she sat back down.

"Are you sure about that?" Draco asked casually. "Have someone to talk to him like – you know, professor Lupin? He's with your lot isn't he-"

"He listens to no one." Hermione repeated emphasizing the last word.

Draco didn't say anything.

He began to talk what looked like a sort of small planner from his bag and an elegant looking quill from the inside pocket of his robes.

"Aren't you going home yet?" she asked curiously seeing his actions.

"I have a business deal in two hours." Draco answered. "Aren't you going to go home yet?"

Hermione looked slightly irate again.

"I don't want to go home yet." Hermione said settling her book back over the table again.

Draco only nodded at her.

"I want to be away from Harry. To stay somewhere where Harry's not all over the place spreading his anger."

Draco looked up at her and could not only hear but also see the frustration over her face.

He's heard that she's been living with Harry since she was out of the hospital since she was found.

For about half an hour, they just sat quietly across one another.

Hermione had gone back into reading her book again and Draco kept his attention over his planner.

But he wasn't really writing.

He was just sitting across her, pretending to be doing something when he was actually observing her closely.

She obviously could stand him now than when they were younger.

"Granger." Draco quietly said.

"Hmmm." Hermione said changing the page of her book..

"He's not hurting you, is he?" Draco slowly said.

Hermione didn't answer but he caught sight that her eyes had stopped moving.

She had stopped reading and was obviously contemplating on what to answer him.

Hermione slowly looked up at him, staring with careful eyes.

Draco sighed and slowly reached out for her hand across the table.

"I know it's not my business but I just wanted to-"

"I have to go." Hermione said shutting her book again and shoving it back into her bag.

"I'm sorry. I didn't – Granger-" Draco said trying to stop her but she was determined.

He watched wordlessly as she put her things back inside her bag and wore her scarf across her neck.

"Granger-"

"I need to cook for Harry before he gets home. I totally forgot." Hermione said avoiding his gaze. "I have to go. I lost track of time-"

"I'm sorry."

Hermione stopped and stared over his hand that caught her wrist.

They stared at one another in mid-action.

"I'm really sorry, I have to go." Hermione said pulling her hand back from him.

Draco gently let her go.

"I'll see you again, won't I?"

"At the trial." Hermione said moving away from the table.

"I mean for coffee! Granger, wait-" Draco called out after her as she immediately walked away from the table to the point that she was running already.

He stood there, staring after her wake and curious with her actions after hearing his question.

He could almost swear that he could smell the fear coming out from her well-groomed features.

"The only reason that you are here is because your father had gone a great deal of favor for my family."

"Understood. And I am more than grateful." Draco quietly replied as he bowed towards the Ministry personnel who let him enter the high-security tunnel that led down the corridor and towards a completely sealed room.

He opened the door for Draco and let him inside without meeting his eyes.

Draco nodded and quietly entered.

"You have only an hour to stay here and ask him what you need to." the official had said.

"Thank you."

"This is the first and last time I will ever do this for you, young Malfoy."

And with that, he left Draco alone in the room.

Draco pulled up a chair inside the sealed room and stared around him.

His footsteps ebbed away down the corridor and then nothing.

The silence in the room was almost dementing.

Draco quietly sat and waited for the door opposite him to slowly open.

It took a few moments and when it did, a man garbed in prisoner's clothing came out.

The man just stared at him for a moment, still in what looked like a frozen state of shock upon being taken out of his cell and brought upon into that room.

It has only been three months and years had already been added to his facial features.

Their eyes met.

The look of shock slowly faded away from the man with black eyes.

"It must have taken you a great deal of money and favors to get me out of my cell to meet you in this secluded room."

Draco stared up at his godfather that he has not seen up this close for so many years.

Sitting across him now and hearing his cold and snarky voice slowly returned him at the point in time where he used to scare the wits out of him.

"You have to eat." Draco said waving his wand across them over the table.

A large tray slowly appeared filled with a full meal.

The black eyes lingered lazily over the tray and then back at Draco.

"Bread and butter will not change my fate, Draco." Snape quietly said sitting straight over his chair.

"But at the moment, it will change your state of hunger." Draco said. "Eat."

Snape didn't move.

He was just staring at him, carefully studying Draco and trying to read through his mind which he has found to be open and vulnerable for him to read through.

He wasn't there to hide anything from him or was there for any sort of sneaky agenda.

"What do you want, Draco?" he asked in a clear voice. "What is it you want from me?"

"The truth." Draco gave the straight answer staring meaningfully back at him.

There was silence.

Then Snape gave out a hoarse laughter.

It sounded as if his voice had not been used for this long.

"The truth, Draco?" he asked him waving his arms over his dirty and dangling prisoner's clothing.

He was giving his godson a mocking smile.

"This is the only truth, Draco."

Draco didn't look amused at all.

Draco didn't look amused.

He shook his head.

He did not understand him.

"I can get you out of here." Draco seriously said.

He moved closer across the table and rested his arms over it

"Severus, I can get you out of here if you would like to. I am one – if not the only – of the richest man in all of Europe."

Snape stared back at the determination glittering over his godson's eyes. .

"I can get you out of here." Draco whispered. "But you have to let me. You have to help me get you out. You have to tell me what has happened all those years."

Snape's black obsidian eyes met Draco's.

He could also see the desperation in his eyes.

There was sincerity to help but there were things he didn't understand as well.

For him, despite of all the years that has passed, Draco was still too young to understand everything.

And he was too old for a new life.

He was never going to be with Hermione anyway.

"I am tired, Draco." Snape said.

He moved closer to the table and rested his hands on either side as he slowly stood up.

"Severus-"

His black eyes lingered over the sandwiches but he did not touch them.

He noticed his eyes lingered longer over the cups of tea before them.

He could tell that he was reminiscing some of the old days where he brewed for passion and hatred.

"I am a tired and old man, Draco." Snape quietly said. "Let me be. Leave me alone. Leave me here. There is no life for me outside-"

"That's a lie." Draco interrupted him. "You know there's a life outside of these-"

"There is no life for me out there, Draco!" Snape suddenly said.

His black eyes were filled with anger this time.

"You're lying-"

"You of all people should understand that." Snape said. "There is no life-"

"Don't you want to be with Granger?" Draco asked him. "Were you two not in a relationship?"

Snape stopped.

He suddenly blinked and looked away from him.

Draco was only second-guessing but his reactions were already revealing things he wanted to know without even asking.

Draco stared at him, determined to get the answers he came for.

"It's Granger, isn't it?" Draco said. "There was something in those years-"

"You don't understand what you're talking about-"

"To hell with that!" Draco suddenly yelled at him. "You can foold the world but not me – no, you cannot-"

"Enough of this, Draco!" Snape lashed out at him banging his fists over the table.

Draco's eyes widened in alarm.

He stood away from the table and was struggling to kick the chair.

His fists were clenching at his sides as he tried to avoid Draco's gaze.

Draco waited for him to calm down a little.

"I can get you out of here." Draco said yet again. "I can assure a future for you and for Hermione – all you have to do is-"

"There is no future for the two-"

"You are a _hero_ of this war if you have forgotten!" Draco angrily yelled at him.

"I am no hero of this-"

 _"Dammit!"_

Snape's eyes widened.

Draco had banged his fist over the table and his godfather glared at him as if he was mad.

They stared breathing heavily against one another.

Snape looked furious but it was nowhere near how Draco looked at the moment.

"I can bloody get you out of this hell." Draco breathed out. "I can goddamn give your life back if you want to. But you need to tell me – you need to make me understand what happened in those years."

Snape didn't answer him.

If any, he only looked like he wanted to avoid his gaze.

"Why did you take her? Why did she stay with you for that long only to come back and end up this way?"

Still, there was nothing.

"I can get you out of this hell." Draco said in barely a whisper.

His godfather stared back at him.

Snape could swear that he could see the same begging eyes from Narcissa many years ago. .

"Please." Draco's voice broke the silence. "Let me help you as you have saved my mother and loved her as if she were your own sister."

Snape looked away from him, the pain in his eyes very evident.

And Draco was nowhere giving up.

"If you have loved the both of us, you will let me help you. She would want it. Please let me help you."

 _The rain was so hard that it made it very difficult for Draco to see where he was going exactly._

 _His travelling cloak was so drenched that it weighed heavier than usual over his shoulders._

 _He looked around him as he reached what looked like a very old village._

 _It was almost midnight and he wasn't sure where exactly he was._

 _He was only sure of one thing – he had been travelling for seven hours – following the trails of magic of his own mother as she Apparated and Disapparated place after another._

 _He tried so hard to keep himself hidden from her but not too far that he'd lose sight of her._

 _She was very careful that he could swear that she was doing something along the lines of stealth._

 _He followed her carefully and as quietly as he could possibly do so._

 _And she had stopped in front of what looked like an old-looking inn and pub._

 _He entered ten minutes after she did._

 _The bar was full and the wizards and witches inside were foreign looking people._

 _He may be at a side of London that he's never really visited or so._

 _No familiar face greeted him and so he entered quietly and looked around his surroundings beneath his hooded cloak._

 _He went straight towards the bar where the bar man was cleaning several glasses._

 _"May I help you?" he asked Draco as he reached the counter._

 _"Have you seen a woman walk here?" he asked not really knowing how he was going to describe her._

 _The barman stared curious at him as his eyes continued to scan the room._

 _"A woman in black cloak and emerald robes?" he asked him._

 _"Yes." Draco said. "She entered a few minutes before I did."_

 _The bar owner just stared at him._

 _Obviously perplexed and annoyed at Draco's inquiry as he seemed uninterested in ordering anything._

 _"Are you going to buy a drink?" he asked him._

 _Draco looked back at him, annoyed._

 _And then he realized that he was asking for some money for the information he needed._

 _"Bloody hell." Draco muttered rolling his eyes._

 _He pulled out several galleons from his wet pocket and tossed it across the table._

 _"What would you like to drink?" the bar owner asked casually._

 _"Whatever you have." Draco said impatiently. "Now, have you seen her?"_

 _The bar owner stared up at him as he prepared him something to drink._

 _"The woman with the blonde hair?" he asked her with a raised brow._

 _"Yes." Draco answered in gritted teeth. "Where did she go?"_

 _"Why would you want to know?" the barman asked him as he tossed vodka and some other things over his glass._

 _Draco glared at him._

 _"Because I already paid you for the answer." Draco angrily said adding a few more galleons across the table._

 _The barman smiled as he collected over the additional coins._

 _Draco impatiently waited as he finished his drink and placed it carefully in front of him across the table to drink._

 _"She exited the bar the moment she got here." the barman answered. "She used the back door and went to her usual place at the other side. Her usual habit. She visits every three months. "_

 _Draco's eyes widened at the answer._

 _"Do you know her?" the man asked him_

 _"Where's the exit?" Draco asked back getting himself off the stool he sat on._

 _The man stared blankly at him for a moment_

 _"Bloody hell." Draco spat at him. "Are you kidding me?"_

 _The barman only smirked as Draco tossed another pouch full of galleons across the counter._

 _"Straight to that corridor. Turn left and then a door across the back – the black one. There is a staircase that will lead you to the private rooms. She hired the third door at the left side. Only employees are allowed. However, sicne you've been very generous like that woman-"_

 _"Keep the bloody change." Draco spat and before the barman could say anything else, he hurriedly left the counter and followed the given direction._

 _Draco followed the man's directions and has quickly reached the black door that led to the staircase._

 _His heart was pumping so fast._

 _He was unsure of what he was going to see and why he was even there in the first place._

 _And most importantly, he knew that he was betraying his own mother's trust._

 _He had been doing it for weeks now._

 _Draco had been following her whereabouts and trying to know who she was talking to or writing the anonymous letters to._

 _But he had failed time again._

 _But tonight, he was going to find out about his mother's deepest secret._

 _He had been very determined for a long time now and he has never gotten this far as tonight._

 _He had a hunch, but he couldn't be very sure until he sees it with his own eyes.._

 _She was seeing someone._

 _And he had a terrible idea on who it might have been all along._

 _All the anonymous letters, the things she would sneak out of the manor or packages she sends out and disappears without a trace._

 _It felt as if she was feeding some secret family._

 _But that secret will no longer be tonight._

 _Draco breathed and entered the black door he'd reached._

 _As instructed, he found the staircase that led to the door and the private rooms area._

 _He found the seventh door altogether and counted the third at the left side._

 _As instructed, he found the staircase that led to the corridor with private rooms._

 _He found seven door altogether and counted the third at the left side._

 _His ears were agile and he was vigilant for any type of movement at all from any of the rooms and doors around him._

 _He halted at the third door at the left side._

 _He wasn't sure now what to do._

 _Should he knock?_

 _Should he blast the door open?_

 _But before he could even fully decide, he heard noises from the inside of the room - like something had been yanked away that caused the heavy sound._

 _"You're endangering yourself! You have to give her up!"_

 _A voice had screamed fully._

 _Draco's eyes widened._

 _He knew that voice too well._

 _And it made him fearful to hear fear in that tone that was usually in command or proud._

 _Draco slowly took his wand out and held it tight in his hand._

 _He has decided to draw himself inside the room and use Stunning Spells._

 _But before he could even begin counting before he blasts the door, it suddenly burst open right at his face._

 _Draco nearly dropped his wand._

 _His blue eyes met very wide and surprised pair of black eyes._

 _Severus Snape, his ex-professor and godfather was standing right in front of him._

 _"You…" Draco whispered unable to move a muscle._

 _His godfather looked as surprised as he was._

 _And then at one glance, her mother suddenly appeared behind him and was looking over Snape's shoulder to see what was happening._

 _Her eyes widened upon seeing Draco._

 _Draco's eyes ran from her then back at Snape._

 _He had a moment to take in his image._

 _He had not seen him for about a year now and he looked as if he had aged many years already._

 _He was wearing a travelling cloak that looked old and shabby._

 _He was bearded and his eyes were sunken too deep as if he barely slept at all._

 _He was even thinner than Draco had ever seen him._

 _Draco opened his mouth to say something but then, a sudden flash of light appeared before him and a spell he knew too well had been uttered before he could even take one step backward and defend himself with a spell that would counter act on, "Obliviate."_

"Should I _Obliviate_ Harry then?" Draco asked as he stood in front of her across the table.

Hermione looked up at Draco Malfoy and nodded for him to have a seat.

"You don't have to." Hermione dryly replied.

"Then pray tell why you had invited me for coffee?" Draco asked.

It has been two days since the trial and Draco had been walking around Diagon Alley when he saw her inside a bookstore.

He entered in the hopes of stalking her to see if she was alright.

But she saw him thinking that it was a chance upon encounter.

Hermione then asked him if he wanted to have coffee with her.

"I told you." Hermione replied. "I'm bored at home.

Draco stared at her.

Hermione Granger was never bored with her books.

There was always something to read or something to do for her.

"I would have believed that if you had been in Slytherin." Draco said signaling for the waiter to give them two cups of cappuccino and a platter of sandwiches.

Hermione didn't say anything at his comment.

She looked like she wanted to say something but didn't want to continue.

Hermione only bit her lower lip, avoiding his gaze and pretending to look for something inside her bag.

"Pray tell brave Gryffindor – if you're really brave, then tell me the truth."

Hermione looked up at his mocking tone.

"Why did you ask me to accompany you here?"

She looked away and placed down the book she took out from her bag.

Draco stared and waited and for some reason, her brown eyes were suddenly intimidating him.

He tried not to blink away.

"Is it wrong to see you?" she asked. "Is it really wrong to want to see an old schoolmate?"

"I would have been fooled if I'm an idiot." Draco said with a small smile at her.

Hermione bit her lip and looked annoyed.

"Slytherins are not stupid, Hermione."

She rolled her eyes at him and opened her mouth for a backlash but Draco suddenly grabbed her arm.

It was a sudden but gentle movement.

She looked sharply up at him as if she had been electrified.

She tugged and pulled her arm back but Draco refused to let her arm go.

"Malfoy-"

"I'm sorry." Draco said letting her arm go.

He watched as she touched and rubbed the area he had touched as if it was a painful grasp.

Did she not want to be touched by any man?

Was she still traumatized at being touched by a man?

"It's nothing." Hermione said avoiding his gaze again.

"I'm just wondering why." Draco said. "It's not that it's wrong. I'm just slightly confused and all. It may be wrong for Potter."

"Everything is wrong for Harry nowadays." Hermione suddenly said.

She returned her attention to her book and Draco quietly observed her.

There was spite in her tone.

"Hermione?" Draco slowly said. "Can I call you that?"

"Yes." Hermione answered without looking up at him.

"Are you and Potter fighting?"

"He's a changed man." Hermione sighed heavily. "He absolutely hates everything now. He's a stranger. It's as if I don't know him anymore. He's sour all the time. He barely smiles and he wants nothing and talks nothing but –"

"Putting my godfather to jail." Draco ended the sentence.

She didn't say anything.

She turned her head the other direction and just as the waitress returned for their order.

Draco watched her depressed eyes as she moved forward for her cup of cappuccino.

"Hermione, I will try to help the two of you."

Her eyes slowly lit up but she didn't say anything.

Draco didn't know why but her attention towards him seemed and felt so important at that very moment.

He slowly reached forward her hand again.

His fingertips touched the back of her wrist.

She didn't withdraw this time but she didn't react either.

"Hermione."

"Draco, look." Hermione heavily breathed looking up at him. "Just try."

He stared at her with a questioning glare.

"I will do my best."

Suddenly, Hermione let her coffee go and placed both her hands over his extended hand across the table.

Draco was too shock himself to move at all.

"I'm begging you now." Hermione said looking back at him with a saddened gaze. "I know I am in no place to ask you anything. But please.. please, Draco."

"Hermione-"

 _"Severus is innocent."_ Hermione quietly cried at him. "Severus is innocent and that as much I can tell you."

" _Where have you been?"_

Hermione quietly entered their darkened living room space.

The whole house was dark and it started raining again outside.

"I just wanted some air." Hermione answered without reluctance.

She removed her travelling cloak and dropped the house keys over at the small end table next to the sofa.

She carefully placed a small paper bag on the sofa.

"I bought us some dinner so you don't have to cook tonight."

"Really?"

Hermione didn't say anything.

Harry's tone was one of mockery and she was sure that they'd end up fighting again.

"Yes, _really_ , Harry."

Harry stared up at her with eyes that were ignited with anxiety.

"Nothing else?" he had asked her. "You did not go anywhere else?"

"Where would I go?"

There was some silence between them and they only exchange glares.

Hermione did not like how Harry was treating her recently and she will definitely not tolerate it.

"Tell me if you're going to have dinner so I can prepare it for you."

Hermione began picking up the paper bag again and was about to turn to leave when Harry grabbed her thin wrists.

He looked up at her with mixed emotions of anger and question in his eyes.

"I will ask again." Harry quietly said. "Where did you go?"

Hermione stared down at him.

She did not understand what answer he wanted.

Was he following her the whole day?

"I already answered you."

Hermione tried to grab her arm back but Harry didn't let go.

"Harry-"

"You're not going to tell me?" he challenged her.

Hermione's eyes darkened down at him.

She angrily snatched her hand back.

"I already answered you." Hermione angrily said pushing herself away from him. " I don't have to explain myself."

Without another word, she turned away from him with the bag she was carrying.

But before she could reached the door Harry had suddenly launched from the chair and had closed it before her face.

"What the-"

" _WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!"_ he suddenly yelled at her pushing her against the door.

Hermione's eyes widened in shock and pain.

Harry was standing before her seething in anger.

She had never seen him like that and it scared her.

The look in his once warm emerald eyes had gone.

It was like he was being possessed.

"Harry-"

"I'm not going to let you cheat on me-"

"I'm not bloody cheating on you!" Hermione screamed at his face.

Hermione turned away from him and tried opening the door but it wouldn't budged.

She looked up at him and knew that he was using wandless magic to close and lock the door.

"Harry.."

"I asked you and asked you nicely, Hermione. I just want to know where you have been-"

"I've gone out for air and bought groceries and dinner for us-"

"Bloody liar!"

Harry angrily screamed and he shoved the paper bag away from Hermione's hands.

Two platters of packaged food scattered all over the floor with bottle of warm Butterbeers spilling all over.

Hermione stared up at him but before she could react Harry had shoved her back against the door.

She fell hard and painfully towards the floor.

She cringed in pain as her knees hit the marble floor painfully.

Harry angrily grabbed her arm and shook her.

"Why are you lying to me!"

He pushed her back on the floor.

Hermione closed her eyes, stunned as Harry angrily raised his arm ready to hit her.

She coward and whimpered in fear but the blow never came.

She slowly looked up and saw him staring at down at her with tearful eyes.

"Harry.." Hermione softly whispered.

It took him a moment for Harry to regain composure.

He blinked and stared at the mess around them as if not aware of what he has done.

He straightened himself breathing heavily

"I'm not hungry." Harry simply stated straightening his cloak.

He walked over the spilled food and kicked the empty bottles of butter beer.

"I'll be back before midnight. I need to finish a work at the Ministry."

"Harry-"

Without another word, Harry had moved away from her and towards the door.

Hermione was left on the floor, stunned and scared at what had just transpired.

She remained unmoving until she heard their entrance door open and close and lock and she heard the familiar sound of Disapparation.


	10. Chapter 10

**_Chapter X_**

 ** _The Enchanted Glass_**

It was nearly midnight when Draco received a note from one of his associates.

He sat waiting in the large library in the Malfoy Manor waiting for the man to arrive.

"Brandy? Whiskey?" Draco offered the wizard the moment he arrived in his drenched travelling cloak.

"I'm alright, Young Master Malfoy." The man declined and sat opposite Draco.

He stared at Draco's exhausted physique.

"Losing some sleep, Young Master?" he asked with a curious smile.

"A lot of it actually." Draco said returning the smile.

The man nodded and he slowly pulled out an envelope from his cloak and placed it across the table between the two of them.

He pulled an envelope from his cloak and handed it across the large mahogany desk towards Draco.

"Are you sure about this?" Draco asked staring at the Ministry seal over the envelope.

"Positive,

He read it a couple of times before folding it back again and placing it over the table.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yes, Young Master."

Draco looked reluctant to open the envelope.

He inhaled sharply and took hold of it.

"If you will act, you must act fast." the man reminded him. "Mr. Potter is doing everything in his name and power to speed up the process of Mr. Severus Snape's trial."

"I know what he's doing."

"No, not this Potter." the man said "He is no longer the man he used to be. As I've heard, he seems to be willing to go for the resources of the old ways to win the Wizengamot over."

Draco didn't say anything.

He seemed to be expecting that fact already.

The man stared back at Draco with a mournful look over his face.

"He does not differ from my own father if he would take on that path."

"You must understand that a desperate man will go to any length to gain what he wants."

Draco's eyes turned up to the man across him and they exchanged a meaningful glare.

The sealed envelope contained information on reports on Harry's late-night visits at the Ministry talking to people after another who can possibly ensure a faster process for the trial no matter what the jury will decide for Snape's fate.

It was so unlike for the Boy Who Lived to be working this way.

But he was desperate.

And love could truly make a person insane.

"How long do we have?"

"A month, Young Master." the man answered.

Draco's eyes widened.

"A month?" Draco repeated, aghast.

"I'll give you two if we get lucky."

"I'll give you two if we get lucky."

He was speechless.

Draco knew he did not have much time.

This would only mean that he would also have to take drastic measures if he really wanted to help Hermione and his godfather.

But the main problem was that Snape does not seem to want his or anyone's help.

He seemed determined to rot at Azkaban.

Draco sharply turned to the man.

"What arrangements must be made?" he seriously asked. "I will pay – no matter how much. Tell me what it is that I need to do – anything and everything – whatever must be bought to win this one."

The man looked back up at Malfoy.

He was carefully studying the boy before him.

He seemed only slightly concerned of his offer.

He knew the Malfoys since the old days.

His own family had worked for Draco's great grandfather and he himself had worked for Lucius Malfoy.

He stared at the boy that he knew before he could even learn to walk and talk.

He had watched Draco grow up from in his constant visits at the manor doing his father's biding.

He was a kind boy and a son who had no choice for the choices his own parents forced upon him.

"What is it that we need?" Draco asked again disturbing his trail of thoughts.

"Time, Draco." the man said standing up to meet his gaze. "Time is the resource that your godfather is in desperate need of. It is the only defense you have at the moment."

 _"We don't have enough time." Snape said. "You must allow me to do this."_

 _"I can't!" Hermione cried painfully. "Please, don't."_

 _Severus Snape stared at his wounded student._

 _She has been bed ridden for seven days now._

 _Seven days exactly since the ambush of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix._

 _Seven days and the damage it inflicted upon the Order members would certainly last a lifetime._

 _The ambush had been overwhelming, too much to the expectation of the Aurors._

 _Their main goal was to attack and kill as much Order members as possible and if lucky enough, take Harry Potter to be handed alive to the Dark Lord._

 _The Order's attempt of saving and transferring the boy to another location was so futile that it was as good as a suicide mission._

 _Snape had been there amongst the other Death Eaters at that fated event._

 _He tried his best to do what he had to do that night – to try with his best and ensure the safety of the boy he swore to protect to his mother's grave – and to save anyone else he could._

 _Deaths did become inevitable._

 _He could not save them all._

 _But he was able to save one – the only one within his reach at the time._

 _Hermione could barely remember everything that took place._

 _Her whole body was in pain and a deep wound was still fresh at her side._

 _She opened her eyes and found herself on a four-poster bed encased in a circular glass case created by her professor._

 _She had been healing within it for the past days._

 _She had been too weak to even question him why she was kept inside a glass._

 _Snape had asked her what she could recall._

 _It took her days to remember and yet the memory was quite vague._

 _They were partnered each with an Auror or so but instead, Harry proposed they ride together._

 _Despite Lupin's reluctance for such a plan, they agreed that she go with Harry Potter._

 _The ambush took place and Harry soared across the skies in order to save both their lives while trying to evade the spells trying to kill them off._

 _She recalled someone tailing them in the speed of light, determined to kill them._

 _And then there were a spell that hit them both and another sharp pain seared her._

 _Her visions blurred and she could only remember Harry's voice screaming her name out and that was it._

 _She could hear the screams of people around her, she could see the blurred lights of spells being hit and thrown at different directions._

 _She could feel her pulse losing as she felt the fast draw of London wind across her face._

 _She was going to die._

 _But she didn't die._

 _Snape didn't say anything as she finished her recollection of what has happened._

 _He had seen everything from his airborne position._

 _He had tried so hard to fly as close as possible to them without having to look like he was actually waiting for someone to attack them so he could counter-act the spell._

 _It was very difficult to try and save them when it was Bellatrix tirelessly tailing on them._

 _Bellatrix had hit them with a spell so hard that the light was blinding enough for him to take in a moment to adjust his flight to see what has happened._

 _And then he saw it – the pair had bit hit squarely and he had to use some maneuver to save the both of them._

 _But Hermione was closest to him and it would raise much suspicion if he saves the boy's life should anyone seen him take the boy instead._

 _So he took Hermione instead._

 _It occurred so fast that next thing he knew, he found himself landing straight over the ice-cold waters of London with Hermione in his grasp._

 _"Am I dead?"_

 _Were the first words she uttered the moment she woke up._

 _She was within a glass case of some sort on some comfortable bed._

 _"You're not dead, Miss Granger."_

 _"Professor Snape? Is that you?"_

 _Snape didn't answer._

 _He wasn't sure he wanted her to remember who had healed and rescued her._

 _After all, the war out there was far from over._

 _"Rest. That is all that you need to know right now."_

 _"Wait.."_

 _A hand clasped around his._

 _It was a weak grasp but it had stopped him from walking away from the bed._

 _Snape stared down at his weak ad badly wounded student._

 _He had been tending to her for days now._

 _He did not understand why the usual potions and spells he used for healing were not working on her._

 _Something was amiss, something was terribly wrong._

 _"Am I going to die?"_

 _"You're not going to die." Snape firmly said wishing he could really confirm it. "Now, rest."_

 _He had been firm with his word._

 _No, he was not going to let her die._

 _He was going to save her in any way he could._

 _He gently pulled her hand away from him and rested it on the bed next to her._

 _He did not want her to inquire any further about anything._

 _He did not want to answer her questions he knew she would tend to ask sooner or later._

 _He must figure out first what is wrong with her so he could heal her thoroughly and then he could probably talk to her about how he was going to get her back to the Order or much better, Obliviate her and secretly bring her back to the doorstop of the Order safe and sound._

 _That was the plan he was willing to go for._

"Ten years' worth of evidences have been laid out, Miss Granger." The attendee said as he walked around the trial room pointing over some pile of thick parchments over the long table in the middle of the room.

"Dialogues, statements and physical evidences – most of them if not all – are telling the one fate that Mr. Snape may soon face. The man in question even admitted all of these."

Hermione didn't say anything as the attendee walked around the room.

She sat as quiet and as well-behaved as possible in the witness' stand.

"The cottage at Beltane had been swept and found more than enough evidences of the ten years you've been under the wing of Mr. Severus Snape. Statements of those who rescued you that day – or those there to witness taking you out of the cottage – would only point to one fact and reality – that you have indeed been taken and abducted by the man in question."

The whole courtroom listened to the attendee's opening remarks regarding today's trial.

The first on the stand was Hermione herself.

Both Harry and Draco were present at the audiences and Snape was held at the other side of the courtroom guarded by Aurors of the Ministry.

"Please do not deny all these as it would be a waste of time."

Hermione was gritting her teeth and giving the attendee dagger-like stares but she didn't say anything.

The attendee continued and he laid out a couple of parchments over the large table in front of the judge and the jury.

"These are medical and _physical statements_ – verifying that Miss Granger had been physical used by the accused in those ten long years. There have been evidences of a few potions that remained in her blood. These various of potions contain the following: healing potions for both external and internal wounds, essences of Sleeping Draught, various traces of potions used to heal physical deficiencies such as fever, colds, sore throats, etc, etc. And there is also a trace of a strong potion called _'Enamortia'_ found in her blood."

There were several whispers to the last statement.

Everyone knew what the potion was and what it was for.

Draco stared across the room for Harry's reaction.

He was quiet but he could tell that he was seething in anger.

The last mentioned potion was a strong potion to prevent one from bearing a child.

It was evident to everyone that Snape had indeed been physically using Hermione and had been feeding her such a strong potion to prevent her from getting pregnant from his advances.

"A few if not many." The attendee continued his statements. "Evidences of your failed attempts of escape has also been stated within this court and heard by both audience and jury. Concluding these altogether, the jury and Wizengamot will have to decide their final jurisdiction to this case within two or three final trials."

Hermione looked up at the attendee who turned to her with an utmost smirk over his face.

"Miss Granger, we are but at the near end of this trial. Please bear with all the people within this courtroom and cooperate accordingly. Do you understand?"

Hermione stared up at the man with pure hatred in her eyes.

Since the first day of the trial, all evidences had indeed pointed at Snape and all her attempts at saving the man was futile.

There was nothing she could do to save him.

If only she could talk to him or if only they will be given a chance to talk – she would understand what was really going on – why was he doing this to her?

Did he not want her anymore?

Did he not love her anymore?

"I understand." Hermione quietly answered.

She looked up across the room and saw Harry relaxed a little in his seat.

He was quiet but his eyes were on her.

It slightly scared her to see him stare at her that way.

She unconsciously reached over her painful arm where he had grasped and pinned her angrily against the wall a few days ago.

"We shall go back then to the events of the time he had taken you."

The courtroom was silent as the attendee opened another folder.

"These are statements sworn to by Miss Granger and Mr. Snape."

Hermione's eyes turned to the parchments being laid towards the jury's long table.

Harry even straightened up to his seat to have a closer look at the parchments being handed over across the room.

"According to both statements, Miss Granger have been taken in by Mr. Snape the night of ambush in the year of 1997. It was the night where the Order was planning to transfer Mr. Harry Potter to a safe house in order to keep him from He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named-"

"From Voldemort you mean." Hermione clearly said.

The room gasped and stared at Hermione.

The attendee tried to ignore her and continued as if she did not say anything.

"The Order and Aurors alike were attacked by the Death Eaters the time. Killing one of the most successful Aurors of all time, Mr. Alastor Moody."

Hermione tried her best not to recall that night.

It was one of her worse nightmares.

"Deaths from both sides have been laid out. Miss Granger had been hit by spells and that is where Mr. Snape had come into the situation. He was among the Death Eaters that ambushed the transfer and it was that very opportunity that he had taken to abduct Miss Granger."

"He _rescued_ me." Hermione angrily corrected him.

The attendee ignored her and made his voice a little louder than necessary.

"Mr. Snape admits in his statement that he had taken Miss Granger. Yes, he had healed her for the several days that he had taken her in and this statement has been validated by Miss Granger herself. Is that right, Miss Granger?"

"Yes." Hermione answered at the corner of her mouth.

She was giving the attendee dagger like stares but she did not say anything else.

The attendee smiled and continued.

"Seven days – these are from both their statements. She was unconscious for the first three days and then had come into consciousness for the rest of these days accounted for. Seven days, my respectable Wizengamot. This is the crucial part of the investigation. For from this point on, their statements began to vary at different parts of our story or rather their stories."

Draco sat straight and listened to the continuation of the trial.

Apparently, there really were lapses between their statements and listening here now may give him clues as to what really happened.

"Miss Granger's statements says that after the seven days or so weeks after that, she had noticed that Snape had been asking her to drink something and that he had encased and kept her in the circular glass case from which she had woken to. His previous statement to her was that it was a place to keep her as he healed her. However, her stay within this magical glass case had been longer than she had expected. She had stated herself that he had asked her to take in several more potions and had kept her locked in the room for reasons she did not understand. And in Mr. Snape's statement, he has still been healing her by this time. This discrepancy is very obvious – Mr. Snape had begun doing something against Miss Granger's will and wants at the time."

"I already told you that this statement is not what I have given you!" Hermione angrily said almost shouting ."After the seven days, he had kept me still and locked up in that cottage because he was experimenting on some potion for me because he thinks something is seriously wrong and ill with me!"

"Silence, Miss Granger!" The attendee had lost it and had pointed a finger at her.

The Wizengamot held the people down from their reactions but gave blessing to the attendee to continue reading the statements at hand.

"As this continued for weeks and months, this were the time that she had attempted two of her failed escapes from the cottage and from Mr. Snape. And to Mr. Snape's statement, this was the time that he had admitted of keeping extra incantations around the cottage as to prevent her from escaping him."

 _"This is insane!"_

"As months would pass," the attendee continued ignoring Hermione's tactless banter. "Miss Granger's statements become more and more different from Mr. Snape's. As an example, she kept her statement that he had been feeding her well, giving her clothing and a well-kept shelter she needed as he healed her. That he has been giving her potions that strengthened her and helped her regain her old weight and her physical activities that she had failed to do so at the first days and weeks after the attack. She also stated that despite being bored and secluded from the Wizarding World, he had been giving her enough if not scarce news of the Wizarding World and the war's on-going and such and such. In Miss Granger's eyes, she is under a protected environment by a man whose will is nothing but to heal her, protect her and give her back to her loved ones."

Harry didn't say anything.

He continued to listen and watch the trial and its transition today. He had been trying so hard all afternoon to keep his cool and his nerves under control despite of all the things he had been hearing.

"And this is where it is differed in Mr. Snape's statement. He had admitted that by this time, he had been administering potions to Miss Granger – not just healing potions, but potions to keep her from remembering things, potions that would prevent her from being fully well or potions that gave her enough strength to move around and about to think she's gaining back her strength but weren't really. He admitted into feeding her false information to many things – from the potions he fed her to the news of the WIzarding World. He stated that gaining her trust was his first step into making sure that she trusts no one but him so she would stay for a few more weeks until his plans were complete."

"Plans? There were no plans! He was just trying to keep me alive – he was trying to keep all of them alive!"

"Restrain the lady." The attendee calmly called for the Aurors who began holding Hermione down over her seat.

Harry didn't say anything.

He did not even flinch when the two Aurors stayed behind Hermione and kept her arms down to keep her from standing up again.

The attendee looked furiously at Hermione but he did not say anything else.

He straightened his clothes and continued walking around pointing and holding various of the parchments of the statements of the two.

"We all know – and history would agree with us – that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had been defeated by none other than Mr. Harry James Potter only months later from the night of the ambush. This would give enough time for Miss Granger to completely heal at the place she had been kept and would give more than enough time for the accused to bring her back to her loved ones especially to Mr. Harry Potter who as sources said, had a relationship with her at the time."

Harry sat straight and proud from his seat.

There were glances and whispers.

He was wholly proud of this information and knew that he had the upper hand in this case.

"The hero of this war survived. The world may be victorious but he was not. For he knew that he was missing someone – the love of his life, Miss Granger. She had been missing from the said night of the ambush. There was no body found in the waters of London nor any trace to tell of her death, therefore from then henceforth, she was presumed to be missing. As time had passed, even Miss Granger's closest loved ones believed her death and that there was no one they were waiting. In vain, Mr. Potter had looked, had searched and waited and all for nothing. Nothing until they were recovered at the island of Beltane."

Hermione kept her head down and her mouth quiet.

Her eyes were filled with tears now. Everything were true. She could almost feel Harry's pain in those ten long years and therefore she understood the hatred he had for the man accused.

"Ten years _– a decade_ \- dear jury and Wizengamot." the attendee loudly said. "Ten years would be more than enough time to heal Miss Granger completely of the injuries she has sustained from the attack in the night of 1997. You Know Who has been vanquished and defeated by Mr. Harry Potter just a few months after that night. These are enough evidences to suffice the idea that Miss Granger is already healed and safe enough to be returned to her loved ones. Why then, why then would Mr. Severus Snape still keep her! Six months may be an excuse after the ambush of the night, a year may be given as the most excuse – but to be extended for ten years! Ten years!"

The jury and the audience were both in chaos.

Reactions from all sides could be heard and Hermione had given away to crying.

There was no way she could save him.

There was no way they were going to win this trial.

There was no way they could ever be together again.

She had tried her best to keep him safe and alive.

She promised to tell all truth and she thought he was asking her that to save them both but she was wrong. He had ensured that she kept her word as to ensure that he would be guilty of this trial if the day would come. But why? Why?

"Ten years, Wizengamot. Ten years to keep a young woman in an almost isolated island at the ends of London with no legitimate reasons to do so. It is against ANY law – may it be the Muggle Law she is also under or the Wizarding Law they are both withheld. There is no reason for this man to keep Miss Granger for ten years if she is not his student any longer and if there is no existence of a dark wizard to endanger her life any longer!"

 _"I LOVE HIM!"_ Hermione suddenly screamed. "I LOVE HIM! PLEASE DON'T DO THIS! WE LOVE ONE ANOTHER!"

The stunning silence that followed was nothing short of the deadly from the glare that Hermione had received from Harry from across the room.

He was silent but he was staring at her as if she was mad.

His fists were clenched at his sides but he did not move a muscle.

The attendee stared at Hermione as if she had completely lost her mind.

Even the head of the Wizengamot had his mouth hanging open at this revelation.

Draco's eyes went wide as she stared across the room from Hermione to Snape and back at Hermione again.

She was crying as she stood there before everyone's gaze.

Snape was silent from where he sat.

He was unmoving and he kept his head down.

The attendee looked at them both, lost for words.

It was like everything he had prepared for to declare and state for that trial had gone out of the window.

But before anyone else could say anything a deep and dark voice had spoken.

 _"She is lying."_ Snape had said enough for the whole room to hear. "Miss Granger is out of her mind. She is lying. There is no such relationship between the two of us."

 _"NO!"_ Hermione angrily yelled.

She turned the other way and faced Snape.

"Why are you doing this?" she cried at him. "I'm not letting you jail yourself in Azkaban just because you think we can't be together!"

Snape ignored her.

He kept his gaze away from her as if he did not hear her.

Everyone stared at their directions, confused with the whole scene taking place.

"I have diluted her mind enough with various of potions in those ten long years to make her think there is a relationship of some sort that existed between the two of us. There was no relationship between the two of us. I have taken her from the night of the ambush and had kept her even after the war simply because I was interested with her. I have kept her – used her, abused her – abducted her in every sense there could be far and away from her loved ones without any intention of bringing her back to them."

Snape was unblinking as he said this words with his eyes straight towards the eldest member of the Wizengamot.

"There should be no trial anymore. I believe enough evidences has been laid out to you. Miss Granger's mind has been confused in those many years she had stayed with me and these things inside her head may be due to the potions I had administered to her in order to keep her and control her within those years. I assure you, there is no special relationship between the two of us. I had complete control over the situation and complete control over her in that span of time she had been lost in the eyes of her loved ones. I admit to all these crimes accused of me. I will await and accept whatever fate this jury and the members of the Wizengamot will put upon my head."

Silence and then commotion broke from every direction.

Draco stared across the hall and saw Harry silent and unmoving from where he saw but there was an obvious glow in his face that told nothing but a triumphant feel inside of him.

The head of the Wizengamot stood up.

"Please restrain Miss Granger and put her back in the witness' hall." the old man had said. "Two hours of break will be given before this trial resumes today. New witnesses or statements will be considered within the day."

The head of the Wizengamot stood and left the room using the back door before the people from the Daily Prophet could question him and the rest of the Wizengamot.

People still talked, pointed and whispered but Draco and Harry both stood up from their seats to follow the Aurors that will take Hermione to the holding area where she was kept whenever she needed to be questioned for the trial.

Draco hurriedly followed Harry out of the courtroom.

He was walking hurriedly talking to two Minsitry officials.

"Potter!" Draco called out to him. "Potter, wait!"

Harry continued walking, ignoring his calls for him despite that he was all aware of Draco's presence.

"Potter!" Draco called out as they turned hallways and staircases after another.

Finally, Harry seemed to have lost his patience.

He handed the two Ministry officials an envelope and halted in a crowded corridor.

 _"What do you want?"_ he demanded from Draco.

He straightened his robes and glasses and stared at the boy he had loathed all these years.

"I need to speak with you."

"Oh yeah?" Harry sarcastically replied. "About what?"

"About Hermione and this trial."

"You heard and saw what took place today. I have no time for you, Malfoy."

"You need to make time for me, Potter." Draco snapped at him. "You're making a wrong decision."

"Excuse me?" Harry asked walking towards him. "Who are you to tell me this?"

"I'm telling you this as-"

"As a friend? I don't recall us being friends, Malfoy. You are in no position to tell me what to and what not to do. Besides," he gave him a cold stare, "I want you away from Hermione. Do you understand that?"

Draco didn't say anything. It felt like all his anger for the boy were coming back. He tried to control himself to be the better man.

"I'm not your friend." Draco said. "But I am here in behalf of an innocent man. We both heard it from Hermione. He is innocent and-"

"We both heard it from _your_ beloved godfather." Harry said shaking his head with a smirk. " He admitted to the whole Wizarding World what he did to her and what is causing all these bizaare thoughts and imagination she has in her head-"

"She is _not_ insane and you know that." Draco pointed out. "You're using it as an excuse to bring this innocent man to Azkaban and accept a fate he does not deserve-"

"Does not deserve?" Harry walked towards him, fists clenched.

"Potter-"

"Do you hear yourself, Malfoy?"

He was seething beyond anger.

He was ready to strike him in this crowded hallway no matter of the consequences.

"You know Snape will never do this, Potter. You know what kind of man-"

 _"I know exactly what kind of man he is_." Harry interrupted him with such hatred in his own eyes. "He killed Dumbledore. He killed a lot of other nameless and countless of men. He made my life at Hogwarts miserable. He made –"

"He rescued Hermione from an ill-fate in this war. He has done something we do not know yet and understand but we will. Visit him, Harry. Visit him and perhaps he will tell you why he has kept her-"

"Visiting him will only make me murder him. I do not think he deserves that mercy yet."

Harry turned away from him but he was already holding his wand in his hand.

"You are blinded by hatred, Potter. You are blinded by your hatred for a man who did nothing-"

 _"A man who stole everything from me!"_ Harry angrily screamed at him.

He had lost it.

He turned back and grabbed Draco by the neck and pointed his wand right up at his face.

People scattered and gasped and stared as they both drew out their wands.

Even though he held Draco against the wall, Draco did not retaliate.

He held his wand in his hand but he did not attack Harry.

"Are you going to hurt me?" Draco drawled at him with a smirk.

"I'm going to kill you if you do not stop meddling."

"So you're going to hurt me just like you're hurting Hermione?"

Harry did not say anything.

He stared at Draco in complete shock.

He has not hurt Hermione – well, not intentionally anyway.

"I'm not hurting Hermione."

"Is that why she's keeping a bruise under her arm?"

Draco smirked at him and he slightly lessened his grasp of the blonde boy.

"I'm not an idiot." Draco said straightening his robes. "She does not need to show me nor tell me. _I can tell._ I have seen the same fate of my mother from my own father's hand, Potter."

Harry stared at him for a long moment.

And then he let him go completely.

"I am nowhere like your father."

Harry started walking away from him.

"I can help you Potter."

"I don't need your help."

"I will help him then. I will help them, Potter."

Harry halted but he did not look back.

He pocketed his wand and straightened himself up.

"Help them with what?"

"With everything that I have in order to let the truth come out. He is innocent and you know that. You are only blinded by your hatred and jealousy."

 _"I am Harry Potter."_ Harry responded quietly. "That is all the world needs to know for me to win this case against that bastard."

 _"I'm gonna kill that bastard."_

 _Hermione stared at her fresh wound at her knee._

 _Snape had left her a bottle of potion to apply over her fresh wound._

 _He had not wanted to administer it to her in his reluctance to touch her or get any closer to her as she had notice in the past week that she had been staying with him._

 _He had kept her in the circular glass-like room like some guinea pig under an experiment._

 _He told her he needed to keep her there in order for her to be completely healed and in order to isolate her from other people as it seems to him she was still bearing some deep embedded curse that may be harmful to others._

 _He promised to get her out of it the moment he finds out what is keeping her from healing completely._

 _She had been stubborn._

 _In the past week she had stayed with him she refused to eat properly and drink the potions he told her to drink to regain her energy._

 _She demanded news of Harry and the rest of the Order._

 _He had simply refused._

 _He told her that it was not yet safe to go outside in the world and that he would tell her any news of them._

 _He had lost his patience and had now resorted into leaving her food trays and healing potions outside the glass case for her to reach._

 _It was difficult for Hermione to move around and about but she had refused to follow his orders and now she had made him lose patience with her._

 _She could not wait to heal and get out of that place._

 _Despite the idea that he had rescued her from sure and instant death the moment she had lost control of her fall from the broomstick, she still refused to believe that he was in their cause._

 _He had explained to her that he was still a spy, watching out for all of them._

 _He needed to prove it by more than words._

 _And right now, until he has allowed her to contact Harry and the rest of the Order, she would refused to trust him completely._

 _Hermione's days comprised nothing but counting the minutes and hours of the day._

 _Thrice or more, Snape would come to the room and bring in food, water and potions she needed to drink._

 _He would also come and bring her new clothes and her until the doorstop of the bathroom across the hall where she's all by herself at the other side._

 _This routine went on for about two weeks as she had counted. They would not talk as she refused to give in to his inquiries on 'how are you feeling' or 'is this wound still hurtful' because of her personal vendetta against the man for refusing to let her out and be back in action in the war._

 _One afternoon however, Hermione had was no longer able to go on with her own game._

 _"How's Harry?" she had asked Snape._

 _He had entered._

 _He brought in a tray of warm pastries, a glass of water and juice and two bottles of her healing potions._

 _"The boy is strong enough to live through this." Snape answered her._

 _He knelt next to the fireplace and began igniting it._

 _"So he's alive?" Hermione slowly asked, fishing through his words._

 _Snape mumbled something then pointed his wand over the fireplace. Fire came to life and it began warming the room._

 _"As if you would even bother answering." Hermione bitterly spat._

 _She pulled the tray over and took the two bottles of healing potion and stared at it._

 _"How come they look different?"_

 _"Because they are different set of potions."_

 _Snape stood up and walked towards the circular glass case._

 _He pointed his wand around and muttered some things and light surrounded the glass._

 _"How long am I staying here?"_

 _"As long as you still need to be. There are two more test I need to try on you, Miss Granger. We would soon get to the end of this. Be patient."_

 _"I'm being patient, professor."_

 _Hermione's answer was nowhere near truth and Snape could tell how much she was itching to get out of the place. In truth, he wasn't sure how long he would have to keep her there._

 _He could not tell her yet what hunch he was having about what must be wrong with her._

 _"Talk to me." Snape had said. He sat by the glass and stared at her pale and weak figure. "Tell me how are you really feeling this past days?"_

 _Hermione stared up at her professor._

 _She hated him for keeping her there and keeping her out of news of the war that was happening outside but she had no choice._

 _She was weak and wandless and she needed him and his skills in healing her._

 _"I'm not really feeling that well at night. I sometimes feel I'm having some sort of deep fever. Then I would have some sort of nightmares and all and then.."_

 _"Then what?" Snape asked her moving closer the glass. "Miss Granger, then what?"_

 _She looked up at him as if reluctant to continue._

 _She was not sure how to tell and describe it exactly._

 _"I keep on dreaming of killing Harry, professor." Hermione admitted._

 _She closed her eyes, shaking away tears._

 _"Killing Potter?"_

 _"Dreams. Dreams or nightmare but it feels so real, it feels like.. Like I'm really there, strangling him. I don't know.. I don't understand.. and then when I refused to kill him in my dream, there's some sort of pain inside of me. Like.."_

 _"Like what? What kind of pain?"_

 _Hermione stared at her professor._

 _She wasn't sure how to describe it even more._

 _"Professor, I don't know how to describe it."_

 _"Tell me what it is like and how it feels."_

 _"I can't." Hermione answered him._

 _She looked away then she breathed deeply before continuing, "But I can show you."_

 _Snape stared at her. She stood from the bed and walked towards the glass case._

 _For a moment they stood tall against one another with just the glass case in between them._

 _There was silence between them._

 _Snape opened his mouth to ask her again but had stopped because Hermione began undressing herself._

 _"Miss Granger.."_

 _"You need to see, professor." Hermione whispered._

 _She began untying the white robes she wore as she walked closer to the glass so that Snape could take a closer look to at her body._

 _Snape gritted his teeth._

 _He had been trying to avoid physical contact with her and now he would have to stare at her bare body._

 _He did not want to see this._

 _This was not something he was prepared to see but before he could do anything else, she had unveiled her skin towards him without any further hesitation but question and worry deep in her brown eyes._

 _But she trusted him enough to let him see her whole being without having second-thoughts that despite that he was her professor, he was still a man._

 _He breathed out heavily and stared back at her porcelain skin._

 _It were all smooth until it had reached her neckline._

 _There were traces of her veins along her neck that drew right down across her chest._

 _It was like her veins were popping out of her skin only it was the colour of deep red like blood._

 _Snape's mouth dropped open and went dry._

 _He had noticed slight marks for the first few days when he cleaned her that she was unconscious but they weren't this deep nor obvious._

 _"Do they hurt?" he managed to asked her._

 _Hermione turned to him and looked up at his black eyes as if searching for answers._

 _"Hermione?"_

 _"Yes." Hermione said._

 _She turned fully to him and moved closer to him._

 _Snape stood rooted at the spot now knowing what to say or do._

 _"Please help me." Hermione begged him. "What's going on with me?"_

 _Snape stared closely at the deeply embedded marks._

 _He knew it._

 _But he did not know how strong it was._

 _The traces along her skin was that of dark magic._

 _It was an old and ancient curse – one that only Purebloods would know how to use._

 _One where the Dark Lord and his followers would only dare to use._

 _But he wasn't that sure – he needed someone else's opinion about it to make sure it was that curse he has been thinking of._

 _"Please help me, professor." Hermione cried at him as she walked further the glass and held her hands against it._

 _"I do not know and understand what it is but I know something is wrong with me."_

 _Snape stared at her._

 _His hands shaking at his sides._

 _His mind was almost blank as he stared at the curse he knew too well._

 _He was one of the ones who had practiced it and taught it even to the Dark Lord's followers._

 _Only Bellatrix Lestrange was able to perfect it in no time._

 _He walked away from the glass thinking hard._

 _Hermione had began crying at the other side._

 _He fidgeted around for his wand to lower the enchantment holding the glass case around her._

 _"Move away." Snape sharply ordered her "I need to break the glass."_

 _Hermione was crying and was confused._

 _She nodded at him and moved backward away from the glass case._

 _Snape waved his wand several times, muttering enchantments._

 _Gold lights sparked out of his wand and slowly engulfed the glass between them. In no time, it slowly vanished out of sight._

 _He looked at her with a pitiful glance._

 _She was half naked in front of him – crying, scared and desperate._

 _She was so confused at what was happening and here was another problem._

 _"What.. what is it.." Hermione asked him as she walked forward the Potions Master._

 _Snape stared up at her and her almost-perfect body._

 _It was no longer perfect._

 _In fact, it was presently marred and scarred by a deep curse that the Dark Lord has created and that which he has enhanced himself._

 _He never imagined that any of the Death Eaters he taught it to would ever dare use it._

 _Not even Bellatrix._

 _The woman was obviously mad.  
"It's a curse." Snape answered her after what felt like ages. "It's a curse but we would figure a way to heal it." _

_"What curse?" Hermione softly asked him._

 _He didn't answer her._

 _She stared at his black eyes._

 _"What curse, professor?"_

 _Snape looked back at her unable to answer._

 _He could not lie to her._

 _She was an intellectual witch. It was futile to attempt to lie to her about a non-existent curse or something that was not._

 _He was sure she has read as many about curses as he had done so._

 _"I'm not yet-"_

 _"Don't lie to me." Hermione begged him. "Please tell me what it is!"_

 _Snape did not say anything._

 _He would not be able to tell her yet._

 _Not until he has a solution for it._

 _"It's dark magic, Hermione." Snape slowly answered her. "That's as far as I could tell you."_

 _He tried avoiding her gaze and instead focused his glare onto the traces and lines of red across her neck and chest._

 _"Dark magic?" Hermione asked him. "But you would be able to heal it, won't you?"_

 _He did not answer._

 _Worry crossed Hermione's eyes._

 _"Professor?" she cried at him. "YYou can counter-act whatever dark magic this is, right?"_

 _Snape stared up at her._

 _He did not want to lie to her._

 _"I can't promise you anything." Snape said unable to lie to her. " Not until I've figure out how you got it-"_

 _"How I got it?" Hermione repeated in despair. "How I got it?"_

 _Their eyes met and he could see the hatred in them._

 _"Were you not there?" she asked incredulously. "Were you not there when the Death Eaters – when those monsters attacked us?"_

 _"That's not what I meant."_

 _"Then you bloody know what I also meant!" Hermione almost screamed at him. "They attacked us, professor – they attacked me!"_

 _Snape did not want to look at her eyes._

 _It pained him somewhat deep inside that she was suffering for something she did not even deserve._

 _"Miss Granger, please calm down. I'm going to find a way to cure this dark magic that has been-"_

 _"They attacked us. They attacked us professor and-"_

 _"I need to know first whose wand this enchantment came from!" Snape told her without hiding the anxiety and anger in his voice._

 _Hermione blinked._

 _She wasn't sure she heard him right._

 _He was more concerned on knowing who had cursed her?_

 _"What?" Hermione asked her, confused. "What do you mean?"_

 _"Figuring out whose wand was used to execute this curse will help me find out how strong this is. And.."_

 _Snape had paused for a moment._

 _He looked reluctant._

 _"And what?" Hermione impatiently asked him. "And what, professor Snape?"_

 _He looked uncomfortable._

 _"And I might be able to figure out how to undo it in that way."_

 _For a moment Hermione just stared at him._

 _He did not make sense._

 _And then Hermione understood what he was trying to tell him._

 _"You're going to try and convince the Death Eater to undo the curse?" Hermione asked with a brow raised._

 _Snape did not say anything._

 _It did sound stupid._

 _"Well, that's thick of a plan, professor." Hermione muttered withdrawing herself away from him._

 _She began closing her robes again._

 _Hermione walked back to her bed._

 _"Miss Granger-"_

 _"No Death Eater will help you undo a curse they've done so purposely." Hermione said spitefully. "Especially one they have used on a Mudblood like me."_

 _"Don't use that word."_

 _"It's true." Hermione whispered._

 _"Miss Granger-"_

 _"I'm a Mudblood."_

 _"Hermione-"_

 _"Go away, professor."_

 _"Look, Miss Granger, I'm going to figure out a way-"_

 _"I said, I want to sleep, professor."_

 _"Miss Granger, there is no use of not talking about it. We have to talk about this sooner. Until I find out what this really is and how we can undo it, you're staying here and you're going to do whatever I ask of you."_

 _Hermione stared up at him as if he was mad._

 _"If we're not going to talk about how you are going to tell them that I am alive and how you are planning to bring me back to them, there is no point of talking."_

 _Snape stared back at the brat with hatred in his eyes._

 _He was trying to control his temper in order to avoid unnecessary judgments and decisions._

 _"I want to sleep, professor. Please go away. "_

 _Snape did not say anything._

 _He did not know how to comfort her._

 _There was no way of comforting her when she was obviously no in the mood to talk to him._


	11. Chapter 11

_**Chapter XI**_

 ** _The Urduja Curse_**

 _"What the fuck is wrong with you_." Harry spat at her pushing her hard against the large crimson couch.

The witness' waiting room was empty except for Harry and Hermione.

Hermione's wail of pain echoed throughout the large room but no matter how loud it could get, they were not to be heard outside.

Harry kept his wand back inside his pocket after muttering a Silencing Charm inside the room.

Hermione stared up at him with pure hatred from her eyes. He had literary dragged her from the courtroom up a staircase and into that room.

People stared on their way but nobody dared to stop Harry from what he was doing.

Nobody would dare defy the Chosen One, the Auror who killed the Dark Lord in his time. Nobody would defy the boy who vanquished the Dark Lord who was currently seething in anger holding out his wand and dragging his fiancé back into their waiting room.

"Harry, please stop this madness."

"Madness?" Harry incredulously repeated. "Madness? No, Hermione. I'm not mad. YOU are."

Harry turned away from her. He walked towards the window to avoid seeing Hermione's figure on the couch that he wanted to hurt even more.

"Harry, listen to yourself, look at yourself-"

"No, Hermione. Look at yourself and listen to yourself!"

Harry screamed at her. He kicked one of the chairs within his reach and angrily turned back to her.

"Did you hear what you just admitted to the whole courtroom? How mad is THAT Hermione?"

"I'm not mad!" Hermione cried at him. "Harry, please, I've been meaning to tell you-"  
"Tell me what?" Harry scolded. He walked back to the couch. "Tell me what?" he challenged her.

Hermione shook her head. She bit her lip and cried even more.

"Harry, please.. Just.. just let this go. Please we don't need to.. the man has.."

"You told the courtroom lies, Hermione! Lies!" Harry yelled back at her.

"I have never lied in that room!" Hermione angrily screamed back at him. "I have never uttered any lie in the stupid room-"

"Never lied?" Harry yelled. His eyes were wild in anger and he looked murderous.

"I have never –"

"You just told the whole courtroom that you love that bastard! That you're bloody in love with him!"

"Because I am!" Hermione screamed back at him. She stood tall and angrily pushed Harry back.

"I am inlove with him, Harry! So what? What are you going to-"

Hermione screamed as she fell back on the couch again.

A hand so hard slapped her right across her cheek that the side of her lips had bled.

"Harry-"

"I'm going to leave and get some fresh air, Hermione." Harry simply said as he turned away from the couch.

Hermione stared as he grabbed his travelling cloaked and pocketed his wand. He turned back to her and smiled as if nothing had happened.

"When I return, I'm going to pretend that everything that has happened in that court room today did not happen and no non-sense have been uttered from those mouth of yours."

His emerald eyes turned into slits and a scary glint appeared for a brief moment.

"When I come back, I want to see the Hermione Granger I've known for years. My Hermione Granger, that is. Do you understand?"

 _"I don't understand what you're doing."_

 _"You don't need to. Stay away from the glass."_

 _Snape ordered her as he took out his wand._

 _Hermione moved away from the circular glass around her bed that has been keeping her for the past few days from roaming round the room._

 _"Is it safe to be out of the glass?" she had asked as the Potions Master uttered the right enchantments and the glass slowly dissolved and disappeared._

 _"As of now, it is." Snape answered her._

 _He stood up and straightened himself and stared at her weak and thin figure._

 _"Professor?"_

 _"I've prepared dinner downstairs. Some clothes are also at the ready at the bathroom – two doors from the hallway. Once you're done, come have dinner downstairs."_

 _"I'm not really hungry."_

 _"It's not a question if you're hungry or not. We need to talk."_

 _"About what?"_

 _But Snape didn't answer her. He quietly walked out of the room he has been keeping her for days since his rescue from her from the ambush._

 _Hermione didn't say anything else but stood staring quietly at the closed door. She did not understand what was happening but she had no choice as her only contact to the outside world was the Potions Master whose actions were as impossible to read as his mind._

 _Snape quietly waited downstairs in the small dining room. He wasn't sure what to do with his life now. He had been bestowed by a task that was not part of any deal at all._

 _The headmaster had asked him to save anyone he could and it happened to be Hermione Granger. However, her injuries were making things impossible for him to bring her back. And to think of it, that was not the only pressing matter he has at hand._

 _Harry Potter had been badly injured in a collision at a train station at London just few days after their ambush. He had been following said Death Eaters in hopes of finding Hermione. He was lucky to be alive after the Death Eaters fought back. But it wasn't the problem – it was the Weasley boy._

 _He really fought against the Death Eaters and ended himself with a curse that was presently almost incurable. Chances of surviving was so slim especially if they did not have someone who can brew miracle concoctions for them._

 _And a few hours ago, he received news from that the Weasley boy had passed away._

 _He was unsure how he was going to rely that news to Hermione Granger that one of the Golden Trio did not actually make it through the war._

 _The Dark Lord was winning most of London and with Hogwarts, Gringotts and the Minsitry at his hands, it wouldn't take too long for him to secure the whole of London._

 _He needed to escape while there was time. He had done what he had been tasked to do and for sure, the Dark Lord would not mind if his favourite minion would be out for a little vacation himself. It was his only chance of getting Hermione Granger out of harm's way. Getting him back to Potter was a matter he would have to meet later. The priority right now was to ensure Potter's and her health._

 _"Miss Granger, I need to run some tests on you tomorrow. Then you would have to stay here alone because I need to take your tests in my laboratory."_

 _"You mean you need to go back to the Dark Lord's lair?"_

 _Hermione's voice was almost cold. He knew she was tired of not knowing things for the couple of days she had been kept there._

 _"I need to get some things as well. We won't really survive this long here if my equipment are not completely."_

 _"How long are you going to keep me here, professor?" Hermione asked._

 _Hermione placed her knife and fork down and sat straight. She looked at her professor straight in the eye._

 _"I already told you I'm feeling better."_

 _"I'm the one to know if you're alright or not. We're not going to argue about this."_

 _Hermione stared at him. She hated the man._

 _"Atleast tell me where Harry is." she almost begged him. "I want to know if they're alright."_

 _Snape could not eat anymore. Not with all her questions and with his conscience banging things at the back of his head every now and then._

 _"That is what I wanted to talk to you about."_

 _Silence followed. Hermione was almost not breathing._

 _"Harry.." she whispered standing up. "Where is Harry?"_

 _Snape gently pushed his plate away from him._

 _"Mr. Potter is alright." he quietly answered her. He looked up at her straight in the eye._

 _"But I'm afraid Mr. Weasley did not make it."_

 _For a moment, Hermione just stood there with her eyes transfixed at the man._

 _She almost did not understand what she had just heard. Was he kidding?_

 _"What do you mean.." Hermione whispered._

 _She swallowed hard and gave him a stern look._

 _"What do you mean that Ron did not make it?"_

 _"I'm afraid Mr. Weasley has been hit hard after another crossfire down at London the other day. He, together with Mr. Potter and another Auror had gone down to London and chased a suspected Death Eater in hopes of finding you."_

 _Hermione listened in silence but tears were already threatening to fall from her eyes._

 _"Mr. Potter was badly injured but he is currently at St. Mungo's. The Auror is still in a critical condition and Mr. Weasley…"_

 _"What about Ron?" Hermione asked him. "What about Ron?"_

 _Snape stared up at him and shook his head._

 _"Mr. Weasley passed away from deep injuries from the spells executed to them and after jumping off a few heights of floor from a building that he and Mr. Potter tried to escape from."_

 _Hermione did not really hear further details after that. All she knew was that her surroundings turned black and she felt her chest growing painful by the moment._

Harry entered a nice-looking bar. It was full of witches and wizards alike and some had greeted him in recognition.

"Mr. Potter?"

Harry looked up and saw a waited walking up to him.

"Yes?"

"This way to the private room."

Harry stared at the old man but nodded and followed him.

"Mr. Malfoy had been waiting for you. A wine shall be serve in a moment as you study our menu for your orders."

The old waiter led him to a private room at the very corner of the bar.

He opened the door for Harry and carried two large copies of the menu with him.

Harry entered and saw Draco talking to a wizard. He quickly nodded at the old wizard who nodded at Harry and quickly left.

"You do look like you love fancy things, don't you?"

"And you do look like you've already had a drink or two before coming in here?"

Draco stared up at Harry who sat opposite him.

He gave Draco a smug stare and rudely grabbed the menu from the old waiter and pointed on a couple of things from it.

The waiter turned to Draco but he shook his head and the waiter left them to get the orders.

Draco stared at Harry and for a brief moment, he had thought how he'd never seen Harry as pathetic before.

He sat before him, half-drunk and dazed and he looked like a lost boy.

"I've had some drinks down at Diagon Alley." Harry admitted staring back at him with half a smirk.

"You're not looking bad yourself. You know.. Draco Malfoy.. all shimmery and shiny.."

Draco smirked and shook his head. He did not want to say anything to provoke Harry even further.

"What do you want from me, Malfoy?" Harry had asked. "I'm quite sure you did not want to meet in this fancy and private place just to get some old school catching up?"

Draco opened his mouth to answer but the waiter had returned.

He brought in two glasses of wine and whiskey and then a bottle of wine and whiskey.

He opened the red wine and poured some for Draco and was about to pour some for Harry but Harry had grabbed the whiskey bottle and had poured his glass almost full with it.

"Let him." Draco muttered to the old waiter.

He watched as Harry half-filled the glass and raised it to his nose.

"To life, Malfoy!" he raised and he swallowed half of it in one go.

The waiter turned back and laid a long platter of small servings of different dishes for the two of them.

Malfoy nodded at the waiter and they were left alone.

"Well?" Harry said grabbing some grapes from the platter and then drinking another fill of whiskey.

"We're all alone now. You can talk to me what kind of thingy you wanted to talk about."

"I want to talk about my godfather." Draco bravely said.

Harry stared at him for a moment. A glint passed his emerald eyes.

"Your godfather?" he asked him. "You mean old ex-professor bastard Snape?"

Harry asked him. And then he started to laugh hysterically at Draco.

Draco watched as Harry took turns swallowing a grape, refilling the whiskey bottle and dawning it all over all the while laughing at him.

"What do you want to talk about him?" Harry asked.

He laid down his empty glass and sat straight on his chair. He moved closer the table and settled his hands on the table.

"Do you want to free him? Do you want me to free him? Because honestly that is an impossible task."

"No, I don't think that is possible from you anymore." Draco quietly said.

Draco moved himself closer the table and rested both his hands on the table as well. He poured some whiskey for himself and drank in one go all the while that Harry was staring at him.

"Then what do you want?"

"I want you to give him a fair trial, Potter." Draco said without even blinking.

"It's only a few trials left and I want you to leave it fair and hands free from you."

"Hands free?" Harry repeated. He shook back his head.

"You think I am manipulating the Ministry? The Wizengamot?"

"Are you not?" Draco challenged him. "Are you not, Potter?"

Harry stared back at him with pure hatred from his eyes. He had suddenly remembered why he hated this blonde boy so much.

"I'm nowhere like you and your father."

"You're acting no different from my father, Potter."

"I will never be like any of the Malfoys." Harry whispered coldly. "I am no Death Eater."

Draco stared at him for quite some time. It looked as if he was fervently fighting inside of him if he would just curse Harry or punch him right then and there.

"Fine." Draco had said. He pushed his chair from the table and threw the napkin on it.

"Does it hurt you to hear what your father was?" Harry asked him. "Or what you were?"

"There's nothing here to talk about." Draco said. He moved away from the table but Harry continued talking.

"You can fool the world, Malfoy but not me. This façade you have – this businessman, a changed man. You are still a Malfoy and a Death Eater. Good clothes will not hide your precious mark nor the read you deep inside."

"I'm not going to say anything against all these as it is the alcohol you've taken talking."

"Really?"

"Really." Draco turned to him. "But I am warning you, Potter."

"Warning me?"

"If you hurt Granger one more time. I'm telling you that I would personally send you to Azkaban for the abuse."

"You?" Harry laughed at him. "You? Who are you? You are no one. You are a disgrace of our world. You've fallen from grace, Malfoy. There is nobody to believe in you."

"Don't be too sure, Potter."

Draco took his travelling cloak towards the door. He turned back at Harry.

"This is the first and last time I will warn you. Do not attempt to hurt Hermione again or this will be a case against you. Do not tempt me, Potter."

"No, don't tempt me to do what you will regret." Harry said. He stood from his chair and he drew out his wand.

He pointed it directly at Draco's chest but the other boy did not flinch.

"Over were the days when I would cringe at the sight of your wand, Potter."

"And over were the days when I would be threatened by any of your lot."

 _"We both know the war is not yet over."_

 _"No, really?"_

 _Narcissa stared at her dearest friend who was taking books from the shelves of the Malfoy library._

 _She stared with interest as he scavenged for books after books in the most precious collections of the Malfoy family._

 _"Would you like something to eat at least?" Narcissa asked him. "You've been here for three hours."_

 _"No, thanks." Snape answered without looking up from a book he has been scanning. "I will also leave in a while."_

 _It has been two weeks since the ambush and she has been worried for her friend's safety. She knew that Snape was part of the team to ambush Harry Potter's transfer._

 _She wouldn't show it around, but she had always been worried for his safety especially at the assignment the Dark Lord gives him._

 _"You've been away for days, Severus."_

 _"I've tended to some of my injuries."_

 _"You weren't at Spinner's End. I visited three days ago."_

 _Snape didn't answer. He didn't have time to explain everything to her._

 _"I had been elsewhere." Snape said. He closed the book and opened another one._

 _"How's Draco?" he had asked her to change the subject._

 _Narcissa crossed her arm and sat in front of him and watched his progress closely._

 _"Draco's upstairs. He's already resting. He's alright. I'm trying my best to keep him out from all these as you know."_

 _"I know." Snape said. "And Lucius?"_

 _"Lucius is with the Dark Lord. They are trying to infiltrate some more connections of the Ministry to ensure a strong grasp of the bigger part of London."_

 _"I'm quite sure that will take some time."_

 _"And I'm quite surprised myself that you have not been in those missions."_

 _"I asked the Dark Lord to let be spared from those missions as he knows that I need to brew him potions in order to heal everyone that has been and might be injured still."_

 _Narcissa stared at Snape and knew that he was avoiding her gaze. She leaned across the table and handed him another book from the pile across the table._

 _"The Dark Lord seems to be soft on you lately."_

 _"Not really." Snape answered her._

 _He continued copying something from one of the books to another parchment._

 _"The Dark Lord does not seem to bring you around."_

 _"He knows my duty has been fulfilled. I'm more of someone he needs at the back to heal his most precious army."_

 _Narcissa stared as Snape continued to copy something from another book._

 _"You can bring them, Severus." Narcissa said. "Lucius will not be here to look for what is missing in his precious library."_

 _"I can't carry them all." Snape simply replied. "I can only bring what I really need. But thank you."_

 _Narcissa continued to watch him silently._

 _"Won't you tell me where you are staying?"_

 _Snape stopped writing. He lowered his quill and pocketed another parchment. He closed three books from across the table and pulled another one._

 _"When it is safe, I will tell you."_

 _"Is there anything else you would need from me?" Narcissa slowly asked him._

 _She knew him and knew too well that he was hiding something from her._

 _"Let me help you, Severus. What exactly are you looking for here?"_

 _For a moment, Narcissa thought that Severus would refuse her help. And then suddenly, he closed the book he was reading and he pulled out a parchment from his pocket._

 _Narcissa quietly watched as he edged her towards a parchment where he drew something on it._

 _When he finished, he looked up and showed it to Narcissa._

 _"Do you know what this is?"_

 _Narcissa slowly took the parchment from him and glared closer at the drawing._

 _It was a drawing of the mark that was alike the one across Hermione's neckline and down across her chest._

 _"Narcissa?" Snape quietly asked. "Can you confirm if this is what I think it is?"_

 _"Where did you see this?" Narcissa slowly asked back._

 _She slowly lowered the parchment and flinched at the sight of it. She looked up at Snape._

 _"Where did you see this mark?"_

 _"Do you know what it is?" Snape urgently asked her. "I need to know what it is."_

 _"I need to know first where you've seen it."_

 _"I can't tell you." he answered knowing it wasn't going to help them. "But it is imperative I find out what it is."_

 _Narcissa stared at him for a moment. She was studying the lines across his face and the look in his eyes._

 _"Get away from the mark." Narcissa gravely said. "There is no information in these books in here that will help you from getting rid of it."_

 _"Narcissa, please." Snape whispered._

 _It wasn't the painful grasp he gave Narcissa's arm but the urgency in his voice that made Narcissa turn to him._

 _"Narcissa, please. I will not be here if it wasn't important. I wouldn't be begging you now if it isn't a matter of life and death. Please. I need to know what this is and how I can undo it."_

 _"Who casted it?" Narcissa asked him. She looked deeper into Snape's eyes._

 _"I don't know."_

 _"You need to tell me who casted it."_

 _"I don't know. I have no idea who might have casted it-"_

 _"If not him, only a high-ranking Death Eater can cast something as strong as-"_

 _"I don't know. I have no idea, Narcissa. It was chaos, there were so many spells and-"_

 _"Severus, please, calm down. Focus, tell me who has-"_

 _"I don't know – there were only few high-ranking Death Eaters-"_

 _"Severus, you have to-"_

 _"It might have been Amycus or even that stupid werewolf and perhaps even Bellatrix-"_

 _Narcissa grabbed his hands and made him face her. She grabbed his face and forced him to focus on him._

 _"Severus, you need to tell me who it has been casted upon."_

 _Snape's black eyes met Narcissa's blue ones._

 _He tried to keep it to himself, he tried to let her through his mind._

 _"Narcissa, I can't tell you."_

 _"Severus, if you don't tell me who this curse has been casted upon I can't-"_

 _"I can't tell you-"_

 _"That person will die slowly. Not only will that person die slowly and painfully but that person will also kill everyone who gets in close contact."_

 _Snape stared at Narcissa as if they have a sudden understanding._

 _"The Urduja Curse?" Snape slowly asked her with grave worry in his voice._

 _Narcissa slowly nodded at him. The colour faded from Snape's face._

 _"A powerful one. The lines across your drawing – the marks are together – they are usually apart when casted. Bella must have casted it because it is too strong."_

 _Narcissa held him closer._

 _"But the Dark Lord has said that.." Snape paused for a moment as if remembering a memory._

 _Snape shook his head._

 _"He told me that the incantation is not yet perfect the last time we discussed it. He needed more research, more information from me on this. The Dark Lord wouldn't use it unless it is perfected and he trusts me to perfect the curse. The information he needs about it is not yet complete as I have not yet handed it to him."_

 _"The looks of your drawing Severus tells the both of us that the Dark Lord has found a way to perfect the curse and has actually had one of his favourite minions execute it for the first time."_

 _Narcissa held him closer and firmly pressed his hand. She looked up at Snape's pale face._

 _"Tell me who it is."_

 _"Narcissa.."_

 _"Severus, who was it casted upon?"_

 _Snape stared back at her with hesitation in his eyes._

 _"You don't have much time. You can't undo the curse. Not only it is too powerful but there is no undoing it. It is dark magic therefore it gets stronger over time."_

 _"The Urduja Curse does have a limit, Narcissa."_

 _"It depends on the strength of the curse, Severus."_

 _Snape looked at loss for words. His face was drained of colour._

 _"Severus, who was damaged by the Urduja curse?"_

 _"Narcissa-"_

 _"You need to tell me. We don't have much time. We can't stop it, there is no stopping it. But we can make remedies, we can study if its effect may be limited depending on how strong it has been casted. You've help create the beginnings of the enchantment I'm sure we can find a way out of this and a way to break it. I promise I will help you. But you need to work with me, Severus. Tell me now, who has been affected by this deadly curse?"_

 _It took a while for Snape to be shaken back to their conversation. The scariest possibilities were driving his mind at the moment and he looked as if he was going to throw up._

 _He has been living with Hermione for almost two weeks now only to find out she has been bounded by a curse almost as deadly as the Killing Curse._

 _"The Muggle-Born. Granger. Harry Potter's fiancé." Snape answered her. "Hermione Granger."_


	12. Chapter 12

**_Chapter XII  
Nightmares _**

Hermione was woken late that morning by the good smell coming from the kitchens.

Curious, she wore her slippers and walked down the stairs only.

She took a glance by the kitchen door and sure enough, Harry was there humming to himself in aprons and preparing a big breakfast for the two of them.

 _"Goodmorning, sweetheart_." Harry greeted her when he noticed her by the doorway.

Hermione looked back at him with question in her eyes.

He walked to her and kissed her on the cheek.

She was too shock to move away or react at all.

"The bacons are nearly done." Harry said as she laid two platters over the table.

She watched in silence as he placed a platter of toasts, jars of jam and cream cheese over the table, another platter of scrambled eggs and sausages

"Would you like coffee?" he asked her as he finished up the bacons and placed them as well over the table.

Hermione only stared as if she had lost her ability to speak.

"Or maybe some juice or milk?" Harry offered her as he placed a pitcher of freshly made orange juice over the table and a carton of milk over the table.

"I'm fine." Hermione said as he pulled a chair for her to sit on. "I'm fine, I'm alright with any."

She looked around her, very conscious of her surroundings and careful with her actions.

No trace of the monstrous version of Harry could be found in that room.

He was very much like the Harry she had always known.

Reluctant, she walked to the kitchen in her night robes and sure enough, she found Harry in the kitchen fixing the table.

He kept on humming as he placed an empty plate before her and started serving her with helpings of each platter he laid over the table.

Harry kept humming.

Hermione knew that he was joyful about something whenever he did that.

"How was your sleep?" he casually asked her as he settled a napkin over her lap before sitting across her on the table.

Hermione was too taken aback by his actions that she barely realized that he had actually kissed her on the cheek one more time.

"Not that well." Hermione said finally finding her voice and realizing that nothing was normal in his attitude at the moment.

Harry didn't say anything as he placed some helpings of sausages and toast over his own plate.

"Where have you been?" Hermione worriedly asked him. "I've stayed up waiting for you."

Harry continued to ignore her as if he didn't hear her.

"Harry-"

"Eat." Harry simply said giving her a look and continuing on placing jam over his toast.

"I asked you-"

A momentary glint crossed Harry's emerald eyes as he threw his toast back over his plate.

Hermione stared unblinking at him although beneath the table her fingers were tightly holding her nightdress already in fear.

"I've had a drink with Kingsley." Harry simply said sighing heavily and taking a sip from his glass of orange juice.

"A drink with Kingsley?" Hermione repeated looking at him like she didn't believe him.

A smile reappeared over his face.

He nodded and then he reached over the platter of bacons and placed some over her plate.

Hermione only stared at him.

What was going on exactly?

"You need to eat up." Harry said with the same kind smile again. "You need to gain all the weight you've lost."

Hermione stared confused at him.

It was like she was dealing with two persons across the table – one was the Harry she had always known and the other, a version of Harry she never wanted to ever see again.

She wasn't sure how to make a conversation with him if he was acting this way.

She wanted and needed to talk to her.

Hermione cleared her throat as she casually went over her breakfast.

"Harry.." she softly began.

"Yeah?" he asked taking a large bite from his toast and grinning at her.

Hermione looked up at him nervously.

"About yesterday.." she nervously began closely observing his reaction.

"What about yesterday?" he asked her in the same casual tone.

Her eyebrows quirked at him.

"What about yesterday?" he asked yet again.

Hermione stared at him and there it was again – the strange glint in his eyes that was never there before.

Did he not want to talk about yesterday?

Was he making up for yesterday's fight?

Either way, Hermione did not want to ruin Harry's mood.

She does not want to see the Harry she had seen the previous day.

"Nothing." Hermione quickly said, forcing a smile she began helping him around the table.

"Exactly." Harry said with a devilish smile over his face as he reached out across the table and wiped the bit of toast that hung at the side of her lips when she bit on her food.

She moved away in her reflex and they exchanged expectant glares.

"Sorry." Hermione said consciously wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

She looked up at Harry who was staring quietly at her.

He slowly sat back down.

She swore she heard him mumble the word with a smirk over his face before turning away from her.

"I'm finishing some things today at the Ministry." Harry said returning to his plate. "I've been missing out on some work."

"I'm staying in today." Hermione simply told him. "I feel like catching up on sleep and perhaps some of the books you've bought me."

"Good." Harry simply said with a smile over his face. "Perhaps tomorrow we can go to Diagon Alley?"

"Diagon Alley?" Hermione asked swallowing her buttered toast.

"I need to buy some materials." Harry said as if reminding her of something. "Come with me?"

Hermione stared at Harry.

His words did not seem like an invitation nor a question.

They sounded more like some sort of demand.

She stared up at him with slightly worry.

He was smiling at her but there was something in his tone that made her cringe.

"Y-yes." Hermione answered. "Sure, ofcourse."

"Great." Harry said. "It's settled then."

He moved across the table and placed a soft kiss over her cheek.

"I like this, Hermione." Harry whispered with a smile caressing her face with the back of his hand.

"Harry.."

He was smiling kindly at her – no trace of anything vile or monstrous at all.

"I like this." Harry commented. "The idea that you're here. Just here with me and having breakfast and making plans. Just like the old days, yes?"

Hermione stared at him with a slight smile over her face.

There was something in Harry's eyes and tone that made her worry despite that he was smiling at her.

"Yes." Hermione muttered, "Just like the old days."

 _"Just like the old days." Snape muttered staring at Hermione's deadly stare. "As foolish and stubborn."_

 _"I've done what you've asked of me, professor." Hermione said through controlled anger. "I've been staying here as you wish - drinking all these potions you are giving me to heal and I've been as docile as I can ever be. Why won't you allow me to write to Harry?"_

 _Snape stared up at her from across his work desk._

 _He folded the parchment in his hand and stared up at Hermione who was standing before his table._

 _Snape was obviously not pleased._

 _He sighed heavily and Hermione saw his hands turn into fists over the table._

 _"First of all, it is six in the morning." Snape began. "You are disturbing me because this impatience of your just like in my classes before. You are as insolent as ever despite our current situation – or rather your situation."_

 _Hermione glowered down on him._

 _"You've been awake since three in the morning." Hermione pointed out folding her arms._

 _Snape raised an eyebrow at her._

 _"I heard you arrived." Hermione added smartly._

 _He breathed deeply and tried to ignore her comment that was true anyway._

 _Hermione still didn't move from where she stood._

 _Snape stared at her with a raised brow._

 _He sat straight on his chair and lowered his elbows on the table._

 _"Secondly, these potions I've been feeding down your throat – did they not make you feel better? Did they not heal your wounds or any ill-feeling over you?"_

 _"They do not taste well-"_

 _"You've studied potions under me for years. You should know by now that not all Healing Potions would taste like Butterbeer, Miss Granger."_

 _Hermione continued to stare at him._

 _He shook his head and returned to his work._

 _He reopened the parchment and reached over for a quill when Hermione snatched it out of his hand._

 _Snape's eyes flashed in anger and he stood angrily over her._

 _"Why you little-"_

 _"I want a parchment and a quill!" Hermione demanded. "I want to write to Harry!"_

 _Hermione had demanded it so furiously that Snape looked like he was ready to murder her._

 _How dare she demand anything._

 _He did not even want to be there in the first place._

 _"It is not safe!" Snape yelled back at her. "How many times do I bloody have to remind you that?"_

 _"I don't want to stay here any longer!" Hermione wailed at him as he reached forward for her wrist._

 _Hermione gasped as he twisted her wrist painfully so as to let her go of the quill._

 _"Which part of it is not yet safe out there do you not understand-"_

 _"I want to go back home!" Hermione screamed back at him._

 _They struggled against one another over the table as Snape tried his best to take the quill back from her._

 _Hermione did her best to take his hand off from her but he was strong enough._

 _Soon, the pain was too much for her to take and she opened her hand to let the quill go._

 _It dropped back over the table and Snape angrily pushed her away from the table._

 _Hermione fell back on the floor but before she could recover, Snape turned from his side of the table and went over to her._

 _"Professor Sn-"_

 _"You little insolent-" Snape breathed out as he bent over her._

 _He painfully grasped her by the arm and dragged her back to the door of his small lab._

 _"I want to go home!" Hermione screamed as she struggled against his pincer-like grip. "I want to go back to them!"_

 _"If you're bored, don't take it out here in my office-" Snape angrily said heaving her up with his two arms now as she purposely weighed herself down to keep him from dragging her across the floor._

 _She was kicking and crying like a small child and it began to frustrate him._

 _If only she understood their situation._

 _"You've been keeping me here for so long!" Hermione cried at him. "This isn't fair – nothing here is fair – you've taken me here against my will, I can have you punished by the law-"_

 _"I do not give a damn about the law!" Snape screamed back at her._

 _He had managed to drag her back into their living room and he pushed her back over their large couch._

 _His nostrils flared as he stared down at her fuming in anger and exhaustion._

 _"Am I not aware of that!" he screamed at her pointing over her head. "Does that head of yours think I like to be here!"_

 _"Then let me out!" Hermione cried back. "Let me out of here! Bring me back to them!"_

 _Snape didn't say anything._

 _This argument wasn't going anywhere at all._

 _It has just been mere two months and they did nothing but fight about the same thing over and over again._

 _"Professor Snape, please." Hermione looked like a little school girl begging for some candy._

 _Snape remained his stance._

 _"I want to go back home."_

 _"We've discussed this, Miss Granger."_

 _"Professor, I want to go back home. I haven't heard from any of them – even from Harry."_

 _"I told you already what you need to know." Snape said. "I give you news about them."_

 _"But I want to see him." Hermione reasoned out "I want to talk to him. Professor, I need to speak to Harry-"_

 _"I will not spend another hour arguing with you about this." Snape said turning away from her._

 _Hermione launched forward and knelt by his feet grabbing the ends of his robes._

 _He closed his eyes as he began losing the little amount of patience he had for her._

 _"Please." Hermione cried desperately hanging at the ends of his robes. "Please bring me back to them. Please."_

 _"Which part of your brilliant mind cannot comprehend the idea that it is absolutely NOT safe to communicate with any of them?"_

 _He was right in every sense._

 _But she was getting pissed being kept in a place she barely knew and without any contact from the Order or anyone else she knew except for Snape._

 _"Tell me, do you want to die in this war?" he asked her. " Do you want to follow that Weasley?"_

 _A tear fell from the side of her left cheek but she continued to stare threateningly at Snape._

 _"You've told me when I'm healed you'll take me out of this place." Hermione spat at him. "You've taken me out of that goddamn glass case – does that not tell you that I am well?"_

 _Snape didn't answer._

 _He stared back at her now knowing anymore what to tell her._

 _No, she was not physically well as she thought she was._

 _His problem about her case was soon to be out of hand._

 _He could not bring it up to her and tell her the truth – not yet anyway._

 _"I tell you what you need to know when you need to know it." Snape quietly said. "I have given you shelter and food to eat. Are these not enough?"_

 _"I want to go back out there."_

 _"You want to endanger yourself whilst that Potter is doing everything he can to win this war not just for himself, not just for the world but for you most of all?"_

 _A tear fell from her eyes._

 _She understood that fact but she desperately wanted to go back to the others._

 _"I just want to go back." Hermione cried at him. "I just want to see them all."_

 _"No." Snape firmly said. "You are only thinking of yourself. That is what you want."_

 _Hermione looked up at him and moved closer._

 _Snape did not move from where he stood._

 _"Miss Granger, it's not going to help-"_

 _"I want to go back to Harry." Hermione cried at him. "I want to go back to my Harry."_

 _"Miss Granger-"_

 _Snape was cut short of his words._

 _Hermione had suddenly thrown herself shamelessly over her professor and began crying like a little child._

 _He stood frozen on the spot._

 _Hermione's hands were around his waist as she buried her face over his chest crying her heart out._

 _He did not know what to do nor what to tell her to comfort her._

 _For in truth, he was no longer sure of what to do in this war and with this unexpected task at hand._

 _"Miss Granger.. " Snape slowly said. "Miss Granger, please stop, stop crying.."_

 _Snape slowly moved his arm over her and reluctantly placed his hands on either side of her arms._

 _Hermione moved closer to him and embraced him even tighter and cried harder._

 _Snape breathed heavily._

 _"Alright, please, stop crying… Miss Granger." Snape breathed deeply and slowly placed his other hand over her shoulder and the other began to slowly caress her hair in his attempt of comforting her._

 _"Professor Snape.." Hermione's voice cried at him. "Professor Snape, please help Harry.. please save us."_

 _Her voice was barely heard as she buried her face deeper over his chest._

 _"Miss Granger, please.." Snape whispered over her._

 _He closed his eyes and tried to calm himself as well._

 _"Professor Snape, you are the only one who can help us-"_

 _"Hermione." Snape spoke her name softly and it seemed to have called her attention to him. "Please, please stop crying."_

 _"Please promise me you will save us. Please.."_

 _Snape looked down at her._

 _She slowly lifted her red and teary-eyed face and stared up at her professor._

 _He held her close and they stared at one another for quite some time._

 _"Professor Snape.."_

 _"Hermione, I will do my best." he whispered at her as he stared at those brown eyes._

 _"Do you promise me?"_

 _Snape stared at her for a moment._

 _"I promise you to take care of everyone I can. And right now, that is you. You need to give me your word that you will follow what I need to ask of you, Miss Granger. You are not just endangering your life but chances of everyone's survival. You need to listen to me."_

 _Hermione stared at him._

 _She did not know why but there was something more than worry in his voice and that was scary enough for her to actually listen to him._

 _"What's going on?" she slowly asked._

 _She moved herself free from his grasp and took a step back from him._

 _Snape just stared at her at loss for words of reply._

 _"Professor Snape?"_

 _"I need your word, Miss Granger. We're running out of time. You need to promise me you would stay here with me until we've figured all this one out."_

 _"One out?" Hermione repeated. "Figure what out, professor Snape?"_

"We'll figure something out, don't worry."

"Easy for you to say that. It's not your wife that has been abducted for so many years only to come back wanting no one else but her captor."

Bill looked up at Harry with a raised brow.

Harry looked away from him and breathed heavily.

"I'm sorry. I should not have said that."

"It's fine. Relax." Bill replied with a smirk.

Harry closed his eyes and breathed heavily counting the floors before getting to the right one.

The elevator was empty except for the two of them.

They were heading up the Auror's main office.

"I think she should go out more often with Ginny and Fleur." Bill offered him as the elevator doors opened to their floor.

"I don't know." Harry replied getting out of the elevator first and being greeted by other Ministry members or officials.

"How about take her out on dates or something? Buy her books and all that?"

"I've done everything Bill. Absolutely everything. She's not getting her old self back."

"Give it some time. It's just been a few months." Bill said handing over a couple of parchments from his bag to the two wizards they met along the hallway.

"Time?" Harry repeated incredulously. "She has been given all the time in the world. How about me?"

"What about you?" Bill asked in return.

"Me? What I want ofcourse."

"What do you want?"

Harry halted and turned to Bill.

The eldest Weasley was giving him a knowing glare.

" _That'_ s not what I want."

"Is it not?"

"Yes. I'm not like that." Harry answered as they continued walking.

"But you are jealous." Bill pointed out as they reached Harry's office door.

Harry snorted reaching out for his wand to open his office door.

"Ofcourse not. It's not like Hermione's going to fall in love with that git."

"She's not inlove with him." Bill answered him as they entered the dark room.

"Ofcourse she's bloody not!" Harry angrily said. "I'm going to kill murder him myself if that happens."

He pointed his wand around the room that quickly lit up in his command.

Bill quietly watched as Harry walked towards his desk without another word, leaving him alone and in awe by the doorway.

"Do you like what you see?" drawled a voice.

Hermione turned to look at the doorway to see the Young Master Malfoy enter with an assistant behind him bringing in a tray of snacks for the two of them.

Hermione thanked the assistant but refused to sit and eat.

"Well?"

"Well what?" Hermione asked him looking away.

Draco stared at her for a moment with a look of wonder over his face.

"I thought you'd like this place better than my office in the west wing of the manor."

Hermione did not say anything.

She had sent him a note a few hours ago to meet up with him he quickly replied.

Soon after, he had Apparated in front of Gringotts and picked her up.

He brought her right at the Malfoy Manor.

She was reluctant the moment they appeared by their gates.

"Was it not dangerous you asked me to pick you up at Gringotts? It's a public place."

"I'm sure it's not a big deal to be seen at the bank."

"Yeah, not a big deal. But to be seen with me, would that not be a big deal?"

Hermione did not say anything.

She quietly sat down and kept staring at everything but at Draco.

Draco had noticed this gesture.

Although it bothered him, he did not want to push the subject to her.

He sat opposite her and offered the tray of food.

"They're going to make some lunch for us in a while. But do help yourself. My assistant makes good tea and good sandwiches."

"I'm not here to eat."

Draco raised a brow at her.

"Pray tell why you are here."

Hermione did not say anything.

She bit her lower lip and took the cup of tea in her hand but did not drink it.

Draco waited.

He quietly watched her move her fingers around the tea cup in silence.

"Granger."

"Tell me what we can do." Hermione said with a sudden sharp look over her eyes.

"I'm sorry?" Draco asked her.

"What can we do?" she asked apprehensively. " What can we do to save Severus' life?" she put the tea cup back on the small table and moved at the edge of the couch.

"The trial is on-going-"

"Harry won't let him win." Hermione said in a determined voice. "Harry will do anything that he tays and dies in there. We both know that."

Draco stared at her and could tell the fear and urgency in her voice.

There was something stirring inside her – something familiar from the old days that he had thought had died a long time ago.

"What do you suggest?" he asked slowly.

"I don't know." Hermione quietly said. "But I know Harry is speeding up this trial or is doing something not very him behind our backs. He is different now. I can tell. He is no longer the Harry I know."

A gleam passed Draco's eyes.

His brows crossed.

"Did he hurt you again?" he slowly asked her.

Hermione shook her head.

"What happened then?" Draco's tone was accusatory.

"Something is strange – something is different about him." Hermione looked up at the boy who had bullied her most of their life.

"Tell me." Draco said reaching out for her hand across the table. "You can tell me, Hermione."

Hermione's eyes lit up at being called by her name.

"I'm sorry." Draco said quickly withdrawing his hand from her. "It was just

"Something about Harry is scaring me." Hermione admitted to him. "I know something is different and if we don't do anything about Severus, he is going to die in there. We can't let that happen, Draco."

Draco's eyes widened this time as she called him by his name.

He wasn't sure what to tell her.

He first had to get past the fact that she had just called him in his name.

"Draco?" Hermione repeated calling back his attention.

He blinked away and turned back to her.

"If we're going to do this, we'll have to turn to drastic measures." Draco began. "Are you willing to go for that to save his life?"

Hermione looked up at him.

The way Draco had said it, they really did not seem to have any choice.

"Drastic measures?"

"Yes." Draco answered her. "We don't have time I'm afraid."

Hermione was silent.

Draco could tell that she was contemplating hard on the subject.

She heavily breathed and nodded at him.

His eyes lit up at her answer.

She was so far and deep into the man that she was willing to do whatever it takes.

"What do we do?" she slowly asked him. "Where do we begin?"

Draco stared at her in utter silence.

Truth was that, he did not have a full plan yet – ideas, yes maybe – but no solid plan.

He wasn't even sure she was going to agree to whatever he might come up with.

But the look of determination in her face was enough to tell her that she was willing to risk and do anything to save the man's life.

 _Was she really in love with his godfather?_

"Well first is a step you'd need to face and go through."

"Tell me what it is and I'll do it."

"Are you sure?" he slowly drawled out.

Their eyes met and for a moment and there was a hint of hesitation in her eyes.

"Hermione?"

"I'm sure."

Draco sighed and gave her a curt nod.

Draco slowly reached for his wand and placed it across the table between the two of them.

"What do you want me to do?" Hermione asked him, confused.

"You have to tell me everything." Draco said. "Rather, you're going to have to show me everything that has happened in those ten long years, Hermione."

Hermione's eyes widened.

She understood what he was asking of her – her deepest and most kept memories of the last decade of her life.

She flinched at the sight of the wand but she tried to keep her composure.

Draco could tell that she was halfway into running away from the manor.

"This is the only way I can help you." Draco softly said. "If I understand what exactly has happened."

"Will it ensure that you can save his life?" Hermione asked him.

"No." Draco honestly said. "But it will give me enough information to suffice a good strategy so we can have a chance of saving his life."

 _"You will tell them the truth." Snape had whispered and gasped._

 _More sounds were heard from the outside of the cottage._

 _Hermione was painfully tugging at his cloak as she cried._

 _"Severus, please-"_

 _Her voice and whole body was shaking._

 _Her mind was swirling in confusion and fear._

 _How could it happen this way?_

 _"Hermione, focus. Listen to me."_

 _"Severus, no, please no – no, you can't-"_

 _He sharply turned to her and grabbed her painfully by the wrist._

 _"You will tell them the truth and nothing but the truth Hermione, you hear me? LOOK AT ME!"_

 _He held her arms, shaking her violently._

 _"You will tell them nothing but the truth no matter how much it hurts no matter what it takes."_

 _"No, I can't. Please, don't make me do this. I can't do it."_

 _"Do you trust me?" he asked her gently._

 _Hermione stared at those black eyes._

 _Did she trust him?_

 _Did he really just ask her that?_

 _After the ten long years they have been together, he would ask her that?_

 _Did she trust him?_

 _"Severus.."_

 _"I ask you."_

 _"I trust you." Hermione answered._

 _She closed her eyes and clung her arms tightly around his neck as they heard windows being smashed and the door being taken down by loud spells._

 _"I love you, Severus." she cried helplessly within his arms._

 _She felt him tighten his grip around her and kiss her forehead._

 _Hermione barely heard nor recalled what had happened next exactly because the commotion that came next was too much of a surprise and shock to take in._

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Hermione screamed and she was blinded by a sudden light that passed through the room and settled at the corner of their room.

She was gasping for breath, her face filled with tears.

She moved around the bed looking for something that she did not know what exactly.

It took her a moment to realize that she was not alone in the room.

Harry was sitting across from the bed with a wand lit in his hand.

His eyes were on her and he carefully lit the small fireplace in their room with a smooth flick of his wand.

"Harry.." Hermione gasped breathlessly staring at his silent form in the armchair across the room.

He did not say anything, he was just silently staring at her.

"Why are you-" Hermione swallowed hard trying to catch her breath. "Why are you still awake?"

He did not answer her.

His emerald eyes continued to just stare at her form.

His silhouette scared Hermione.

"Harry?"

"I couldn't sleep." Harry silently spoke without taking his eyes off her. "You were screaming."

"I'm sorry." Hermione answered looking away from him. "I didn't realize."

He watched as she slowly went to the other side of the bed.

She turned her back at him but he could tell that she was brushing away the tears from her face.

"Just the usual nightmares." Hermione quietly said.

She slowly stood up to go to the bathroom.

"Yeah, I could tell." Harry answered keeping his eyes on her. "You were screaming _his_ name again."

Hermione halted from walking to the washroom but she did not face him.

"You've been screaming his name all night long, Hermione. Do you think any fiancé would be able to sleep at that? Hearing and watching all night as their partner twist and toss around on the bed screaming someone else's name?"

"I was having a nightmare." Hermione said in a low voice.

Her hands were shaking in anger at her sides.

Harry snorted.

Hermione turned to him and gave her a dark look.

"I'm not going to argue about this, Harry."

"I'm not going to argue with you about anything anymore, 'Mione."

He slowly stood up and walked up to her.

Hermione backed away but he grabbed her by the arm and forced a kiss over her face.

She struggled to get away from his grasp but he did not let her go.

"Harry, you're hurting my arm-"

He ignored her.

He continued to kiss her until they both fell back on the bed.

Hermione gasped and struggled as she tried looking for her wand.

"Accio!" she heard Harry whisper.

With a flick, her wand came out from her side of the bed and flew right at Harry's hand.

Harry pushed her back on the bed and straightened himself up from her holding two wands in his hand.

She stared up at him with hate.

"Give me my wand."

He just stared at her and there was the glint again in his eyes.

Hermione wanted to cry but she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of fear.

"Harry, I said give me back my wand."

"You're demanding from me, now?"

"I'm asking for what is _mine."_

Harry stared at her for a moment.

"And you?" Harry asked her. "Are you not mine?"

"You're mad." Hermione gasped at him.

And then he suddenly laughed – a high-pitch and cold laughter.

"You." he turned from her and struggled with his laughter.

The sound of his voice scared Hermione.

"You are in no place to demand and ask me to give you back what is yours." Harry screamed at her.

Hermione was shaking on the bed but she tried her best to control her fear.

Harry turned about and raised his hand at her.

"Are you going to hurt me again?" she slowly asked him.

His emerald eyes stared at her soft ones.

"What is mine is yours, Hermione. Therefore, what is yours is already mine."

Hermione tried to make out of what he had said but she was too fearful at the moment to think clearly.

"Go back to sleep." Harry said kissing her forehead. " I'm going to finish some work downstairs."

Harry gently moved towards her and she flinched at his gentle touch across her cheek.

"Go back to sleep, 'Mione. We have things to do tomorrow."

And without another word, he flicked his wand and the fireplace lit died as he left and close the bedroom door.

Hermione held her breath and clutched her hand over her chest.

Her heart was beating fast – too fast, perhaps.

The moment she heard Harry's footsteps ebbed away, she fell back onto the bed and tears began rolling down her cheeks again.

She wasn't sure if it was because of the nightmare she had the time they were discovered at the island at Beltane or was it because of the nightmare she was presently living even when she was wide-awake.


	13. Chapter 13

**_Chapter Thirteen_**

 _ **Favors**_

 _"When do you plan on telling her?"_

 _"I don't know." Snape answered. "I'm not even sure how considering how difficult and delicate the situation is."_

 _"There is no easy way of telling her this." Narcissa said. "No way out nor around it. You would have to tell her sooner or later."_

 _Snape did not say anything._

 _He moved his eyes away from the lady of the Malfoy Manor._

 _But the silence between them did not give him enough space to think either._

 _"Where's Lucius?" he asked her after a while._

 _"Where do you think?" Narcissa answered briskly._

 _"Winning this war is a tight cause." Snape said._

 _"I do not care who wins." Narcissa said. "As long as I am able to protect my son and keep him safe until it all ends, that's the only thing that matters to me."_

 _Only one miracle will save them all._

 _Snape's black eyes moved from the fireplace and then back up at her._

 _Narcissa was holding the small vial with bluish liquid and was staring deep into it._

 _"You can send these to me." Narcissa pointed out. "You do not have to endanger yourself bringing me these."_

 _Narcissa gestured over towards a box where half a dozen of the same vials with the same potion lay._

 _"How are you feeling?" Snape asked ignoring what she had just said._

 _She looked up at him with an irritated glare as if it was an insult to be asked with her condition._

 _"Alive." Narcissa quietly said pursing her lips at him._

 _"Narcissa."_

 _"I'm alive, can't you see?"_

 _"Cissy."_

 _"I'm alive and well." Narcissa answered truthfully. "That is thanks to you."_

 _Their eyes met._

 _"You have no need to thank me." Snape said. "It is you whom I should thank."_

 _Narcissa shook her head and lowered the vial across the table._

 _"This is for Draco." Narcissa quietly said._

 _She walked away from the table and crossed her arms as she stood by the fireplace._

 _"It would be better if you would be able to find out how long I have yet to live."_

 _"You will live longer, Cissy." Snape said. "I will find you a cure."_

 _"A cure?" she snorted out shaking her head. "We both know there is no cure for this. You don't need to lie between the two of us."_

 _Snape looked up at her._

 _Narcissa shook her head with a smirk over her face. She looked as proud as ever._

 _"I live right now because we have discovered this and you have provided me with alternative potions from what I have been taking. But for how long will they help? For how long will I survive this?"_

 _Snape did not answer._

 _He was unsure how long he could heal her and attempt to recover what still may be._

 _They did not foresee it – they did not know of it._

 _But it had been long in her blood and it was almost too late._

 _He quietly wished his skills in potions could still redeem the life she should live._

 _"I need more time for the tests. But at the moment, I'm quite sure you would live longer."_

 _"Long enough to see the Dark Lord finish and rid of us once he is done with his use of us? Of my husband? Of my son?"_

 _Snape stared up at her worried expression._

 _He stood from the armchair and walked towards her desk._

 _Despite her name, wealth and power, Snape pitied the idea that behind all of those façade she showed to the world, she was – as her husband and son – was just a disposable life to the Dark Lord._

 _"I already gave you my word that I will protect you and your dear Draco." Snape said. "I am keeping a close watch at him. He is like the Dark Lord's most precious heir right now because of the contribution I have – because he knows I care about the boy."_

 _Narcissa did not say anything._

 _His words were not enough to comfort her._

 _Narcissa straightened herself up and nodded at him as she returned to the table._

 _She picked up the vial and placed it inside the box to fill in the fifteen holes for vials._

 _"I need to make more tests on you." Snape said. "It's only been three months, Cissy._

 _"Three months and thirteen days, Severus." Narcissa smartly corrected him._

 _He looked at her and knew that she wasn't referring to the months he had been giving her the vials to tend to her needs._

 _Snape chose to ignore her commentary for which he knew which message she tries to purposely deliver._

 _"I've made you a couple more of bottles." Snape told her. "These will last for several weeks and maybe a few months."_

 _"I gather that the idea is that I won't be seeing you until then?" she asked him with a narrowed brow._

 _Snape did not say anything to her._

 _He didn't want to divulge too much information on her in spite of everything he had already told her._

 _"It is too risky to come back every now and then." he simply explained to her as he began packing his belongings._

 _Narcissa quietly watched his progress._

 _"Severus."_

 _" I have to travel twice as careful and sometimes in the latest of hours to avoid being caught that I do not actually stay at Hogwarts nor at Spinner's End."_

 _"Very well." Narcissa coldly said. " It's not as if I can actually do anything about your decisions."_

 _Snape finished his packing and zipped his black bag back._

 _Narcissa placed her hand over his with a very thick envelope in her hand._

 _"Cissy-"_

 _"Let me return the favor." she said meeting his eyes._

 _"I still haven't used up everything you have given me the last time."_

 _"It doesn't matter." Narcissa said. "Just take it. I know you need it – she needs it."_

 _He didn't say anything._

 _"Buy her something." Narcissa said. "Books, dresses – anything she will like. Anything that will take away her attention from the real situation."_

 _"She's a mart girl." Snape reminded her as he stared down at the thick envelope. "No, she's a smart woman._

 _Narcissa watch him correct himself with a peculiar expression over his face._

 _"You have to tell her everything as soon as possible, Severus."_

 _Snape did not say anything._

 _He looked uncomfortable again._

 _"I must get going." Snape slung the bag around his shoulder. " It is getting too late. I do not want to be seen by anyone."_

 _Narcissa stared at her dearest friend – she was unsure if it was pity for him she felt._

 _She reached for him and placed her hand over his shoulders._

 _Snape stopped as she placed the envelope in the inside of his traveling cloack._

 _"Severus, you have no choice." Narcissa whisperd against his ear. "You're going to have to tell her. The curse gets stronger over time. You are the only one capable of helping her. If she is as smart as you claim, she would understand. She would endure and agree with what you have to deal with together."_

 _"I must go." Snape said taking the package from the table._

 _Narcissa placed her hand over his._

 _Snape stopped and stared at her quietly._

 _"I will be with you as you go through and deal with this, Severus." Narcissa whispered. " I will not forsake you."_

 _Snape did not say anything._

 _He looked away from her with such shame and sadness in his eyes._

 _Everything that has happened since the night of the ambush was too much already._

 _Fate has been asking – no, demanding too much from him._

 _"This is not an easy task."_

 _"Nothing has ever been easy for us, Severus."_

 _"You do not understand. It involves everything and everyone she loves-"_

 _"Do I not understand?" Narcissa asked him with a hint of sarcasm._

 _"You, whom I have watched suffered the fate of losing that one love- be fated for her never to be yours and I, to have to spend the rest of my life with a man I have never loved?" her voice was one of controlled angered and Snape felt that he had offended her greatly. ._

 _"Cissy-"_

 _"Do I not understand the depth and the pain of our situation?"_

 _Narcissa stared and slowly withdrew her hand from him._

 _Snape turned and faced her but she moved away from him._

 _"You underestimate my understanding of love, Severus."_

 _"Cissy-"_

 _Snape grabbed her hand back and kept it still inside his._

 _They looked at one another with such understanding._

 _"I apologize, Narcissa. I am too tired and confused lately."_

 _"Do not let the situation get into you." Narcissa whispered. "Take control and remain mindful. This is not a time to fall apart."_

 _Narcissa's words were soft and kind but they made an impact._

 _"How do I tell her?" Snape asked and there was desperation in his voice._

 _Narcissa's eyes met his._

 _She could tell the fear in them._

 _"I know the weight of the situation. But you are the only one capable of saving her and saving everyone. This is the part of the Dark Lord's plans. Anything he would do – anything – to ensure he wins this war. He would do anything to ensure that Harry Potter gives himself up. He would do anything and use anyone he could."_

 _"And me? What about me?"_

 _"You are tasked and destined to save them – to save the boy, to save her, my son – you've been destined to carry this because you can."_

 _"I don't want to do this anymore."_

 _"Hermione Granger has no one but you to save her."_

 _These words silenced him._

 _For a brief moment, he looked both guilty and remorseful of the words he had just told her._

 _There was something in her words that pierced his heart._

 _"I will break her heart."_

 _"Hers?" Narcissa asked him slowly._

 _She stared closer making sure that she could see the depth on his eyes._

 _"Her heart, Severus?" Narcissa softly spoke. "Or yours?"_

 _He looked away from her and pocketed the package in his cloak with sudden hurry._

 _"Don't be ridiculous, Narcissa."_

 _Narcissa didn't take her eyes off him._

 _She knew her friend too well._

 _"Just about a few weeks or months and there you go, Severus - giving your heart away again."_

 _Snape looked away from her with a sharp stance about him._

 _"I'm not a child, Narcissa."_

 _Narcissa gave a small laugh at him but none too unkind._

 _"You've always been like what?" she asked him with an amused expression over her pale face._

 _"Ah yes, a little brother to me that I come to watch over every single day at Hogwarts because I know that Lucius and his so-called friends are always hovering around you. And look at you now. I see no difference from that boy who loved someone so well and deeply many years ago."_

 _Snape still did not say anything._

 _Narcissa was the only woman who ever spoke of him this way or rather the only one he allowed to do so._

 _"There have been many differences."_

 _Narcissa crossed her arms and looked even more amused._

 _"Perhaps." Narcissa silkily said "I used to take good care of you. But now look at you today, taking good care of me."_

 _Snape slowly stared at her as he heard the gratefulness in her tone._

 _All the sarcasm and smugness and confidence of the Malfoy woman had vanquished and was quickly replaced by warm words._

 _He would not deny that she did care for him and watched over him closely in the Slytherin House when they were at school._

 _She had even saved his arse several more times or so from things he did not foresee coming in his hunger for power and will to prove himself worthy in the circle of the popular Slytherin boys._

 _Snape stared at the beautiful woman before him._

 _He would never find another Pureblood friend as genuine as she was despite their differences and beliefs._

 _Snape smiled curtly at her and nodded._

 _Narcissa did the same._

 _"I have to go." Snape took his belongings. "I'll see you soon."_

 _"Rescue her and save her. It would break her heart. But it is essential to keep her alive – to keep the boy alive in order to save us all."_

 _He did not say anything._

 _He turned from her and took the package and the large bag filled with more than enough necessities Narcissa accumulated for him._

 _He walked to the door and halted only when Narcissa called him again._

 _"Time is running, Severus. The curse is getting stronger over time. You must make up your mind."_

"I got your owl. What's going on?"

"We can't talk here."

Hermione pulled Ginny with her inside the bank.

It was twice that week that she had used the excuse of going to the bank to Harry so she could get out of their place without him being suspicious of her whereabouts.

She looked around cautiously and knew that one way or another they would bump into an Auror or a Ministry official that would soon tell Harry of her actions.

She took Ginny around by the arm and lined up in a long waiting line of something she did not even bother to check.

She grabbed her by the arm and they stood at the very end of the line.

"I need to get out of the house."

"Yeah. I could tell, what's going on?"

Ginny looked worried towards Hermione.

She had written her a secret message that she was all too surprise to bother asking what it is for but agreed in her form of secret message as well that she would meet her at the bank.

"I just need to get out of the house until the trial is over." Hermione said. "Can you help me?"

"Help you?" Ginny asked her back. "Help you how exactly?"

"I don't know." Hermione said. "I need a place to stay."

"You can stay at home. I'm sure my mum would be glad –"

"No. That's the first place Harry would look for me. And I'm sure Mrs. Weasley would give me up."

"Give you up?" Ginny asked. " Hermione, what's going on between you and Harry? This is so strange having to discuss this with you over her in the bank where we actually have nothing-"

"Ginny, sssh! Please keep your voice down!"

Ginny stared at her friend.

She did not understand one bit of this and was unsure if she was doing the right thing.

"What do you want me to do?" Ginny asked her.

Hermione was unsure if she was irritated or worried about her.

She wasn't even sure she could completely trust her but she was her only shot.

"I don't know. Take me away. Let's tell them you're going for a vacation or something and you're bringing me – Gin, the important thing is I need to get out of the house. I'm not comfortable around Harry anymore."

"What?" Ginny asked, alarmed. "Is he hurting you?"

Hermione quickly shook her head.

She looked away from her scrutinizing gaze.

"No, it's not like that." Hermione looked reluctant to tell her everything but she didn't have much choice.

"You have to tell me." Ginny insisted.

" It's just that there are days he seems himself and days where he's some sort of- I don't know – I can't seem to understand and explain exactly but I know he is not himself from time to time-"

"You can tell mum?"

"I can't." Hermione told her. Her brows furrowed. "Ginny, you can't tell her either."

She stared back at Hermione with a confused look.

"I want to help you, but I don't know how – _Harry!"_ Ginny gasped looking over her shoulder.

"What?" Hermione said.

Ginny pierced her wrist and turned her about.

Hermione's face turned pale as she saw Harry signing something from a Ministry official's hand-filled of parchments and then he began walking towards them with a big smile over his face.

"What's he doing here?" Hermione asked with great alarm all over her face.

"I don't know Hermione, but whatever this is-"

"Please keep everything I told you a secret." Hermione whispered just in time as Harry had reached them.

"Hermione-"

"Please-"

"Hello ladies.." Harry said smiling as he had reached them.

Ginny and Hermione gave him a reluctant smile.

His arms quickly crawled around Hermione's waist as he bent over to kiss her cheek and then one just in between her jawline and neck.

Ginny looked back at her with question in her eyes.

Harry smiled at Ginny then back at Hermione and he pulled a rose from behind him.

"Why are you here?" Hermione asked him.

"I decided to pick you up." Harry said. "I've chanced upon the time you said you'd be here."

"Are you following me?" Hermione asked irritably. "I don't remember giving you the time-"

"How are you, Ginny?" Harry asked interrupting her. "How's Mrs. Weasley?"

Ginny looked from him then back at Hermione and back at him again.

She was unsure of what exactly was going on between the two of them.

"I was closing an account." Ginny lied.

"Why would you close an account?" Harry asked her. "And isn't that line over there?"

He pointed over a long line two rows from where they were.

"Yeah!" Ginny quickly said. "Actually, sort of. I mean, Bill asked me the other day to check the account he has with him and-"

"I thought Bill's account is French as he has transferred everything with Fleur?" Harry asked her.

Hermione's face turned pale but she did not say anything.

"Yeah." Ginny said. "He asked me to check the account he has with him and it is Charlie's." Ginny quickly made up. "But he does not have the time so that task that Charlie asked him to do he had assigned to me."

Harry stared at her for a moment but did not say anything.

"Right, alright. And you?" he turned to Hermione.

Hermione stared back at him and was smiling at her in a way that she did not like.

"I just wanted to try and ask for this old account I had before. Hogwarts days. But the line there was long and I was about to go home and then I –"

"I saw her. And called her and asked her to go in line with me." Ginny finished with a smile.

Harry stared at the two of them.

Whether he was convinced or not, Hermione was unsure of.

"Right. Well, we're off to Diagon Alley for lunch. I'll see you around?" Harry nodded at Ginny as he took Hermione's hand.

Hermione stared helplessly at Ginny who could only stare at them.

"Yes, sure. Visit this Friday." Ginny said. "Mum is having dinner for everyone. Bill and Fleur are arriving again."

"That will be delightful." Hermione had answered. "What time would that be-"

"I'll send an owl if we can." Harry said with a curt nod.

Ginny looked up at Harry and she could have sworn that she saw the look Hermione seemed to describe about.

Hermione gave Ginny a pleading glance.

"It would be nice if you would come." Ginny pursued. "Mum will be delightful to see you both and-"

"I said, I would send an owl if we can."

"Harry-"

He took Hermione's hand firmly and kept her quiet.

Ginny did not miss the gesture.

"I have plans for us. Friday." Harry simply said.

Ginny stared at Hermione whose face was pale and eyes trying to communicate to her.

"Right. Alright then." Ginny had said. "We'll wait for your owl."

Hermione and Ginny's eyes met for a split second that Harry had missed.

"Let's go then?" Harry asked.

He smiled and nodded at Ginny and turned Hermione with him.

"Harry, please remove your arm from my waist." Hermione commented but Harry took a firmer hold.

"Should I not show the world my affection?" he asked with a smug smile over his face as a wizard recognized them had passed and bowed at Harry.

Hermione lowered her hand knowing that Harry won't let her go anyway.

The moment they stepped outside the bank and were now far from Ginny, Harry whirled at her.

"Did you tell her something?" he asked her with a raised brow. "What did you tell her?"

"What?" Hermione asked him pushing herself away from him.

Harry did not let her go.

"I asked if you have told Ginny some made up lies."

"I didn't tell her anything." Hermione said. "And is there anything she should know about?"

Harry did not answer her.

The glint in his eyes vanished and he smiled at her.

"That is my 'Mione." Harry whispered.

He slowly reached his hand up and began caressing her cheek.

Hermione did not move. She tried her best to act normal.

"I just want to go home. I'm not feeling well to have lunch outside. I can cook for us."

Harry looked at her for a moment.

"Alright." Harry simply said with a glad smile over his face. "That is a lovely plan."

He took her hand and took out his wand and the two of them Disapparated from the grounds.

Hermione turned over the other side of the bed only to find herself alone.

She moved her hands around and opened her eyes to find the space next to her empty.

She looked around their darkened room and the fire in the hearth was already dying.

"Harry?" she slowly called out.

There was no answer.

The small light in the room told her that she was indeed alone in the room.

"Harry.." she sighed heavily lying back on her back.

Hermione stared up at the ceiling and realized it was raining hard again.

The weather seemed to be mourning with her every day.

It was somewhere two in the morning and she had wondered if Harry had left again when she had fallen asleep.

He had made dinner for the two of them that they had eaten in the living room a few hours ago.

He even bought an expensive wine for her and another bouquet of fresh red roses.

There was no occasion but he was obviously doing his best to claim her again.

And she wasn't sure if that was something she should be happy about or scared of.

She tossed and turned to the other side of the bed and closed her eyes.

 _She missed Severus horribly._

She had constantly wondered how things would be and how things would really end up.

Their situation was as hopeless as ever and she knew that Harry would never change his mind now. He would always refuse to listen just because he believed that Snape had indeed abducted her for his own gain.

 _If only Harry knew._

 _"What if I tell him?"_ Hermione thought.

She closed her eyes and quickly shook the idea away.

No, she couldn't.

That would break her promise to Severus and Harry would never understand the depth of it.

It would only seem like an ideal excuse but not what it really meant.

 _"But you already told Draco."_ Hermione guiltily admitted to herself. " _Why can't you tell Harry?"_

Hermione turned to the other side of the bed again.

Yes, tonight no nightmares.

Just a conscience trying to bury her alive.

 _"Because Miss Know-It-All if you tell Harry you would hurt him."_

Hermione bit her lower lip and shook her head.

She could hear the rain getting louder by the moment.

 _"It's not as if you're not hurting him already. He's already hurt as it is. Why spare a few more parts of his heart that is not yet broken?"_

Hermione felt as miserable as ever.

She told Draco in hopes he would help her and Snape – or rather Snape out of the position.

But if he tells Harry – not only would he get hurt and be furious it would break him miserably if he finds out what she has sacrificed in the first place.

 _If only she could turn back time._

"I don't regret being with you." Hermione thought out loud. "But I never thought we'd end up this way."

Hermione sat up from the bed and decided to get a glass of water from their kitchens to help her ease the heaviness in her already broken heart.

 _"What happened to us?"_

Hermione halted in the hallway halfway to the kitchens when she heard his voice.

She stopped and saw that the fireplace in their living room was lit.

She slowly and quietly walked to the opened doorway and stared.

Harry's back was turned to the door and he was alone in the room.

He was sitting on the carpet by the fireplace next to a lot of opened boxes around him.

"Harry?" Hermione uttered in barely a whisper as she moved closer and curiously stared.

From where she stood, she could see that he was holding a photograph in his hands and a scarf at the other.

Photo albums of sorts, old school books and crumpled parchments, and other memorabilia and objects were laid out around him in the living room.

She immediately recognized the scarf in his hand – it was the one she had given him in their last Christmas together that she had sewn herself with the help of Ginny and Mrs. Weasley.

She didn't think he would still have it. She didn't think he could keep her school things and other things they shared together through all these years.

He had indeed never given up on her and it breaks her heart to see him like this.

"I thought I had made it clear that the last time I would ever see you in this room was also the last it would ever be."

Draco did not say anything as he entered the room and sat opposite his godfather.

Snape looked him in the eye.

"You were the one who told me that."

"Things may change." Draco simply answered him.

Snape observed him carefully. His black eyes bore carefully around his godson.

"I am indeed highly amazed by your ability to manipulate people to get what you want, Draco."

"It's called favors." Draco smugly told him. "I'm a _Malfoy_ , after all."

Draco stared at his godfather who sat opposite him at the very same room they had been in the last time.

Two wizards waited outside and guarded the room while two of Draco's assistants waited outside as well.

A well-managed dinner had been served at the large black table between the two of them and yet neither godfather nor godson took a bit from the feast before them.

"I told you already that I _cannot_ help you nor give you any more favors, Draco. You are wasting your time here."

"You know for a long time, I thought you're being stubborn but it turns out you're just being an idiot."

Snape stared up at Draco for a moment.

He had been wondering about the smug look over his face since he had arrived.

The boy looked so confident and in a highly good mood that Saturday afternoon.

"I've seen Hermione the other day." Draco slowly said knowing her name will get his attention

"I didn't know you two were close enough to call one another first-term basis."

"Would you rather I call her 'love'? or ' _sweetheart'_ than her name?"

Snape moved uncomfortably from his seat and Draco sensed a momentary tension in the room.

"Oh that's right – _that_ was what _you_ called her."

"I do not understand what you're talking about. I would never call her that."

"Not even for a moment? Not even for _a slight moment in eternity_?"

Snape's black eyes shot up at him and a gleam of amazement passed his features.

Draco looked satisfied at the reaction.

"What?" Draco smiled at him. "Did I say something wrong?"

Snape stared at him and he looked as if he was struggling with words.

"If I had my wand with me-"

"You'd erase it from my memory?" Draco dared him.

Snape remained quiet and still. He looked away from Draco – in an almost shameful way.

"Whatever she told you-" Snape said through gritted teeth – "-or rather showed you, these are all lies-"

"You didn't erase it from her memory." Draco pointed out. "Giving me the idea and impression that you wanted her to keep your memories together."

"Her mind is diluted. I think I already clarified that in the courtroom. These things you've seen may perhaps be part of these imagined and corrupted mind of hers."

"We both know they are not corrupted memories. You've always been there – careful to watch me when aunt Bella taught me how to tell real memories from those which are not so I could tell if someone is lying."

Draco watched Snape look uncomfortable and unguarded with his feelings as ever.

The man stood up and turned away from the table.

"Draco."

"I want to hear it from you." Draco said. "I want to hear from you that you are willing to help yourself. Ask me and I will help the two of you."

"There is no life for the two of us. She is young and I am an old and tainted man. She will never be happy with me. She has a life ahead of her and that should not include me."

"She's not happy. She's not happy with that Potter."

"She only thinks that way while I am here. Once the jury and the Wizengamot has decided my fate in Azkaban with the Dementors – she will mourn, yes. It will take time but it would heal and she would realize that her fate is with Harry Potter."

"Is that so?" Draco asked him. "Another loss? To _another_ Potter?"

Snape closed his eyes and clenched his fists.

 _How much did Hermione tell or rather showed Draco?_

"I will not stop. I will help you – I will help the two of you. Whether you like it or not. You do not deserve the life here. You are a hero of this war."

"I'm no hero. Hermione deserves another man. Whatever she has shown you – whatever past we might have had – tell her to forget it, forget it all. Tell her to forget me."

"Tell her yourself." Draco challenged him. "I'll get you out of here and tell her yourself then."

"I don't need to see her nor talk to her anymore."

"She needs you."

"She doesn't need me. She only thinks she does."

"Harry is hurting her. She is in need of your rescue."

 _That was it._

It was the magic word to gain Snape in his hands.

"What?" he asked swiftly turning to Draco. "What did you say?"

Draco stared at his godfather and saw a glint of fire-like anger in his eyes.

"She's not happy with Potter. I think he's hurting her. I don't really have evidences but I've seen a mark or two in her arm."

"Potter wouldn't hurt a fly. He couldn't hurt her."

His face was turned from Draco but he could see his godfather's hand fisting over his sides.

"He is a changed man." Draco pointed out.

There was a grave look on Snape's face.

His eyes turned about and Draco knew he was contemplating everything.

"Hermione will be happy with you. She needs you now more than ever. Why can't you see that?"

"There is no life for us. There is no future for us."

"Why do you think this way?" Draco asked him and Snape could tell he was highly frustrated.

He did not answer his godson.

"You're the only one who thinks this way. I think you're a hero of this war. I think if we cleared your name, you could be free. And then you can live a life with her. This is ridiculous."

"You think if you clear my name, I would be free? We would be together? We could live happily?" Snape asked him and Draco could hear the sarcasm in his voice.

Snape shook his head and a hoarse laughter came from him.

"You may clear my name but we would _never_ end up together."

"Hermione wants to be with you. I think that is the only thing you should know about."

"You think Potter will allow it?" Snape asked him. "Do you really think Potter will just let Hermione go? Do you think he would just let me out of this? No, Draco – no. He isn't going to just let this go."

"I will help you."

"Help me?" Snape repeated mockingly. " _Help me?"_

Draco felt slightly insulted but he wasn't going to give this up. Not now.

"Let me do this favor to you." Draco sincerely said. "Let me return the favor you granted my mother."

Snape was silent but he shook his head.

He slowly smirked and it confused Draco for a moment.

 _"Are you out of your bloody mind_?" Snape asked him. "You are being ridiculous. Do you have any idea – what lies in store for me outside Azkaban? You may clear my name – yes. But life will never be easy anymore. I already have a stigma of what I have done to her – and if she stays with me she would have to endure it all as well for the rest of her life and I do want that to happen to her-"

"You are not the one to decide what she wants to endure or what she doesn't. That's not your decision anymore. She wants to be with you and that is important. Don't you want to be with her anymore?"

"Do you really not get it?"

"Do you want her to spend the rest of her life with Potter?"

"They will get married and she will be happy."

"No." Draco warned him. "They will get married and she will be _just like my mother_ in the hands of _my_ father!"

That seemed to have silenced Snape.

His black eyes went emotionless for a moment.

Draco stared at his motionless and speechless form.

He was breathing hard after yelling.

Snape shamefully looked away from Draco but the boy would simply not give up.

"He's hurting." Draco said watching him hear and let the reality and pain of it sink inside him.

"Potter is incapable of such act."

"He's hurting her. He's treating her exactly as how my father treated my mother. Do I need to remind you how exactly or you remember _everything_ in detail?"

The colour in Snape's face was turning red.

His fists began to clench in anger.

Draco could sense the attention he was gaining and he wasn't to be stopped now.

"He's hurting Hermione and Hermione has already asked for my help – _twice."_

Snape was still silent.

He looked, for the first time, that he was actually considering life out of Azkaban.

"Draco, it won't be easy." Snape finally said breathing out heavily.

"I didn't say it would be." Draco answered with hope in his eyes.

Snape looked up at him and Draco could see the man he has known – the man who was as brave as anyone he has ever known.

"But we can begin somewhere."

"How? Where?"

"I just need your word that you would tell me everything and then you will let me stir everything from here."

Snape stared at his godson.

 _Since when did Draco Malfoy become a real man?_

"He's hurting her?" Snape asked slowly.

Draco nodded.

"I saw a bruise in her arm."

Snape closed his eyes and sighed heavily.

He placed both his hands over his face in frustration.

"I didn't save her all those years to be harmed by anyone."

"Exactly." Draco whispered. "Will you let it happen now?"

Draco leaned closer the table and closed his hands together.

"I can appeal for the trials to be extended by a few more. We can provide more evidences. I will request such things."

"You don't know the Minsitry of Magic, Draco."

"No, I don't." Draco answered him. "But I do know that I've learned several things after my few years of hiatus in Germany."

Snape stared at him as he slowly pulled something out from his pocket.

For a moment he did not understood what it was.

And then his black eyes widened as he realized that Draco was showing him a folded parchment that looked like a certificate and a glimmering golden card plate in his hand.

The card plate showed a photograph of Draco with a smug and proud smile over his face with his name scrawled magnificently beneath the photograph and an embedded scrawl beneath it was a licensed position his godson had obviously passed for.

Snape's black eyes glimmered with hope for a moment.

He looked up at his godson and Draco was smiling at him.

"Draco.."

"It won't be easy." Draco told him honestly. "But she needs you to rescue her just like you have done ten years ago."


	14. Chapter 14

_**Chapter XIV**_

 _ **"Flight"**_

 _"Mother?"_

 _"I'm coming out in a while, Draco."_

 _"You've been there for more than an hour. What's going on?"_

 _"I said, I'm coming out in a while."_

 _Two more locks clicked and Draco knew that no matter what persistence he would do, his mother would refuse to open the bathroom door for him._

 _"Where's your mother?" a cold voice asked. "What the hell is taking you too long Draco?"_

 _Draco turned to his father who stood behind him in the hallway._

 _"Mother's been there for almost two hours." Draco pointed out. "She's locked herself inside and won't let me in."_

 _Lucius stared at Draco for a moment then walked forward pushing him aside._

 _"Keep your wand away, Draco." Lucius said seeing him with his wand at the ready._

 _Lucius stopped in front of the door and knocked several times._

 _"Narcissa?"_

 _They could both hear the continuous sound of water from the faucet._

 _"Narcissa, what's going on?"_

 _"I'll be out in a minute, Lucius." Narcissa's voice croaked out. "I'm going to follow the both of you. Give me a moment."_

 _"Mother, you've been there too long. What's going on? Why won't you open this-"_

 _"Draco, I told you to go with your father-"_

 _"You've been in there-"_

 _"Draco, go to your aunt Bella." Lucius ordered him._

 _"But father-"_

 _"I said, go to your aunt Bella." Lucius quietly repeated with his gray eyes glinting._

 _Draco stared at his father then at the locked door before them._

 _He kept his wand away when his father stared at it again._

 _"I told you, something is wrong with her." Draco angrily said but Lucius only stared at him._

 _"I don't have time for this."_

 _"Something is wrong with mother-" Draco pointed out angrily banging at the closed door. "And you're bloody concerned about your stupid little meeting downstairs-"_

 _Lucius looked as if he was ready to hit his son with the staff in his hand._

 _"Draco, lower your voice down – if they hear you-"_

 _"If they hear me then what?" Draco challenged him. "What father?"_

 _Draco's eyes momentarily moved towards the snakehead of his wand._

 _"You're going to hit me like you do to my mother?"_

 _Lucius didn't say anything to his son. He looked like he was trying very hard to remain calm and composed._

 _Draco stared at him with nothing but anger rising inside of him._

 _"This is our goddamn house but for some reason I feel that we are prisoners inside it!"_

 _"Draco-" Lucius reached out for him._

 _"No, don't touch me!" Draco angrily said shoving his father's hand away from him._

 _Lucius' eyes glinted but he did not say anything nor attempted to hold him again._

 _"Your aunt Bella is waiting for you downstairs. I'll deal with your mother. Get out of here."_

 _Draco look unconvinced and contemplated for a moment if he was going to follow his father._

 _"If something happens to my mother, it's on you." Draco angrily spat before reluctantly turning and angrily leaving the both of them._

 _"Narcissa."_

 _There was some silence._

 _"Narcissa." Lucius repeated._

 _He heard the water being turned off._

 _"Is he gone?"_

 _"He's gone." Lucius heavily answered._

 _There was a moment of silence. Two clicks and the door unlocked itself._

 _Lucius stood before the door and stared down at his pale faced wife._

 _He did not say anything despite her disheveled clothes and hair._

 _"I told you to have yourself checked."_

 _"I've also told you that it's nothing to be worried about. I'm taking what I need to take. I'm fine."_

 _Lucius did not say anything. He merely helped her out of the bathroom and back to their bedroom in the two hallways down without a word._

 _He watched her in silence and despite her pale and thinning figure, he never pushed her to stay at St. Mungo's Hospital if she did not want to be taken there._

 _He noticed it – her loss of appetite, her weight loss and her consistent lack of colour and energy to do the things she used to do._

 _It worried Lucius. But at this time of the war, he could not be distracted no matter the consequence and reason._

 _"I've been told you visited the hospital the other day. What did the Healers say?"_

 _He walked her to their bedroom and helped her settle in their large four poster bed that they barely shared anyway._

 _Narcissa shook her head._

 _"You're still tailing me around, Lucius?"_

 _"I never stopped tailing you around." Lucius spitefully said. "Now don't change the subject."_

 _"I'm fine." Narcissa snapped at him. "It's the age taking place."_

 _Lucius continuously stared at the woman he has been with for the longest of time._

 _Lucius genuinely loved her. But he loved his ambitions more and nothing is ever really whole when your love story merely began because you've been fixed by your family to marry one another._

 _"What did he say?"_

 _"What did who say?" Narcissa asked as she turned and faced the other side of the bed._

 _Lucius stared at her back with clenched fists._

 _"Who do you think I'm talking about?"_

 _Narcissa did not answer._

 _"I saw the box of vials, Narcissa." Lucius slowly said. "I know you've seen Severus lately."_

 _"Is he the only Potions Master in London?"_

 _"No." Lucius answered sitting on the end of the bed. "But he is the only one you would trust with your life."_

 _Narcissa snorted at him but Lucius ignored it._

 _"Severus has too much on his plate from the Dark Lord's orders to engage and trouble himself with tedious tasks like taking care of an old woman."_

 _"You are not yet that old to be this sick." Lucius pointed out. He watched her with careful eyes._

 _Lucius waited for her answer but she did not say anything. He turned his attention to the serpentine end of his wand to keep his mind focus as he was starting to grow impatient with Narcissa's choice of actions and words at the moment._

 _"Severus has been.. seemingly engaged with other things outside the Dark Lord's knowledge. I thought maybe you know something about it since you've been seeing him."_

 _Narcissa did not say anything. She knew that Lucius knew none of what she did but she is also aware that despite that the man has made small and mass mistakes in the past, her husband is not a complete idiot who would not notice the irregularities around him._

 _Lucius sighed heavily. He shook his head and stared continuously at her._

 _"If you are unwell, Cissy…" Lucius softly began but when he noticed that Narcissa was taking no notice nor attention to him so he suddenly grew cold._

 _"Narcissa, if you are unwell, you can tell me. We have everything you would need to make you feel better. Let me find a way."_

 _She suddenly laughed – a cold and mocking one._

 _"Freedom, Lucius." Narcissa whispered slowly looking up at her husband. "Do we have freedom? Can you possibly get me that on a golden platter for two?"_

 _Lucius closed his eyes and gripped the snake head of his staff where he kept his wand._

 _"Narcissa, are you not glad of the life the Dark Lord has bestowed upon us?" he whispered._

 _Narcissa did not answer and Lucius knew that this was not going to end well again._

 _"If you want to make me feel better, take Draco out of this." Narcissa quietly said. "Leave Draco out of these plans you have. I do not care what you do, I will not stop you. But spare my son – our son."_

 _Lucius did not say anything. He would never admit it but he knew that he was as helpless as she was._

 _Narcissa felt him stand from the bed and walked towards the bedroom door._

 _"We have been bestowed a second chance and good graces by the Dark Lord. I do not understand why you are very ungrateful. I have done my best – my part on all of these to keep you and your wretched protected!"_

 _"I'm being ungrateful?" Narcissa laughed at him. "A good life?" Narcissa muttered back at him. "You mean he spared our lives because Severus requested it to be so!"_

 _Lucius' eyes flashed in anger, his fists were clenched and shaking at his sides._

 _He knew the truth in those words but he did not need to hear it over and over again._

 _Narcissa waited but he seemed too exhausted for the past days to spare an amount of energy arguing with her about things they've already done so for so many times over._

 _"Take an early rest, Cissy." Lucius said and she heard him open the door. "I have better things to do than pity a woman who has barely ever showed me compassion."_

Hermione hurriedly folded the parchment in her hand and was barely able to seal with inside the envelope when a voice came by the doorway.

"What's that?" Harry asked leaning against the side of the door.

Hermione turned around and stared at him with the letter in her hand.

"It's nothing." Hermione answered. "Just a note."

"Just a note?" Harry slowly repeated folding his arms and staring closely at her.

His emerald eyes gleamed behind his spectacles that Hermione had charmed and fixed several times in their lifetime already.

"Yeah." Hermione simply answered standing still by her desk. "Just a note."

"For who?"

"Ginny." Hermione simply told him. "Just to answer her letter this morning."

Harry stared at her and she knew that he was unconvinced.

"I want to see it." Harry said walking inside their room. "Hand it over please."

Hermione did not move. She stared as he stood before her.

She had thought that he already left an hour ago for his work at the Ministry as it was a Monday after all. But then she had noticed that he was wearing comfortable non-Ministry work clothes.

"Don't you have work today?" she asked pointing at his sweater.

"Hermione." Harry slowly said reaching his hand out. " _Hand it over."_

He quietly waited.

"I told Ginny that I'm going to ask you if we can go this Thursday." Hermione answered handing the envelope at him.

Harry snatched it and tore the envelope open and threw it aside as he opened the parchment.

 _'Gin, hope all is well. I'm going to have to ask Harry if we can attend dinner on Thursday. I'm sure we can make time as last Friday's had been cancelled because Fleur wasn't feeling well. Hope she is better. I'll write to you as soon as Harry has an answer. I'll see you._

 _'Mione."_

Harry folded it back and stared at Hermione unblinkingly. He stared at the desk behind her and grabbed what looked like Ginny's letter. He quickly read through it and it was a simple invitation for the raincheck of Friday's cancelled dinner at the Weasleys.

"Well?" Hermione asked feeling satisfied and irritated at the same time.

She bent down, picked up her enveloped and smoothened in back on the desk as Harry threw both letters back on the table.

"Well what?"

"Well are we going? Given I don't have to ask you anymore since you've already read it yourself."

Harry stared at her and could tell the irritation in her voice. He did not say anything.

"I'm not sure." Harry slowly said. "Depends on Wednesday."

"Wednesday?" Hermione asked him.

She watched as he stared and tinkered over her things on her small desk as if looking for something.

"There's a trial on Wednesday." Harry simply answered. He looked up at her. "Have you forgotten?"

Hermione did not say anything. In her haste and fear in their house, she had barely remembered that there was a trial in two days.

"So what if there's a trial on Wednesday?" she asked him.

Harry only stared at her. He moved closer her and gently touched the side of her face, moving it around and settling to trace her jawline with the tips of his fingers.

Hermione flinched a little but did not move away nor said anything.

"Nothing." Harry simply answered her. "Have I told you how beautiful your freckles are up this close?"

"How what-"Hermione's words were cut short as Harry moved both his hands around her waist. Pinning her against her own desk, he moved and kissed her mouth deeply.

Hermione move against him and could feel his excited manhood getting the better of him.

"Harry, move away – stop it-"

"Come on, 'Mione. I don't have work today. Let's just stay at home and be cozy-"

"Harry, I said move away from it – _I'm not comfortable_ – I don't want to do this now-"

"You don't want to what?" Harry asked grabbed her wrists painfully. "You don't want to what?"

Hermione shivered in fear. She felt his fingers pressing hard around both her wrists and his body painfully pushing her against the edge of her table.

"Harry, please, you're hurting me again-"

"What, am I not allowed to touch you now?" Harry angrily said. "Am I not allowed to kiss _my_ girlfriend? My own fiancé?"

"Harry, stop it – it's not helping our situation – please think straight, Harry- let my hand go-"

"What Hermione, you prefer to be touched by him?" Harry suddenly yelled at her, "You prefer to be kissed by him? Is that what this is all about? You prefer _him_ over me? Well guess what Hermione, you're never going to see him again because I'm going to make sure he dies right where he belongs-"

"Harry, I said you're hurting me!" Hermione angrily screamed pushing him away from her.

Hermione turned on her heel but Harry was too fast.

"No man is ever – EVER – allowed to touch you again-" he screamed back at her as he pulled her by the ends of her long hair.

"Harry-" Hermione yelped as the sharp pain over her scalp overpowered her ability to fight him.

"Not Severus – _Not Draco_ – " his fingers gripped her hair so hard that Hermione felt as if she was going to lose all the hair she has.

"Harry – this isn't – you're hurting me –"

"I WILL NOT ALLOW ANY OF THESE NONSENSE ANYMORE!"

Hermione struggled and with all her remaining strength, she pushed Harry forward and slapped him hard across the face.

Harry's hand accidentally let her go at his surprise at what she had done.

He stared and his emerald eyes dangerously flashed in anger.

He fell back but he managed to quickly recover from her defense.

"Harry, I'm sorry – I didn't mean to-"

Hermione realized her mistake, but before Hermione could take flight, Harry had suddenly grabbed her shoulder and neck.

Hermione screamed in pain as he took her by the neck and pushed her hard against the wall.

She felt dazed for a moment and thought she was going to black out because of the pain she endured by hitting against the wall.

"Harry!" Hermione croaked out painfully. She tried to grasp him to make him stop but she could barely lift her hands up.

Harry held her by the neck, pushing her hard against the wall and choking her as his fingers dug and pierced her deeper around the neck by the moment.

His warm emerald eyes had gone and had been replaced by a pair of anger and hatred-ridden ones.

His eyes had never gleamed with such anger and jealousy in them.

Staring at her form and remembering her nightly screams of Snape's name on their bed only made his temper even more agitated.

He could almost imagine her in _his_ bed and the years they have spent together – the years Snape had stolen from him.

His fingers pierced her neck painfully and the looked of madness in his face frightened Hermione beyond anything she has endured for a long time.

She struggled and tried to move her hands over Harry's arm to keep him from strangling her.

"Harry…" she coughed out with tearful eyes. "Harry… no… please… I can't breathe.."

For a moment, he kept his hand around her neck and was just gazing blankly at her.

And it was when Hermione's fingertips grazed for the briefest moment at the side of his face did he seem to come back to reality and see what he was doing.

His eyes blinked and flashed in worry when he saw the color fading from Hermione's face.

"Hermione!"

He quickly let her neck go and she fell forward in his arms.

"Fuck." Hermione heard Harry mutter in her dazed and almost unconscious form.

"Hermione, can you hear me?" he asked worriedly as he took her in his arm on the floor, shaking her endlessly.

He watched in horror as he stared at the marks around her neck that was from his own fingers and doing.

"Hermione!" he cried out worriedly as he struggled to carry her in his arms, "Hermione, wake up! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry – _I did not mean to-"_

Hermione coughed and tried to move. Her eyes fluttered open for a moment as she struggled to gain oxygen again.

"Hermione, I'm sorry – can you hear me? 'Mione? Baby, _I'm sorry I did not mean to_."

Hermione barely remembered what happened next as soon her exhausted mind, sore body that lacked oxygen for a moment, slowly gave away to unconsciousness.

 _Hermione seemed to have calmed down a few hours later since their physically exhausting argument that led to a lot of uncalled for words and actions._

 _She sat by the fireplace with an open book in her hand but her mind was barely there. She was staring blankly by at the hearth._

 _She could not believe what she had just learned a few hours ago – the lady of Malfoy Manor was dying._

 _"Hermione? Are you in here?"_

 _She heard his voice but after tonight's argument – which was probably one of their biggest – she felt too exhausted to even move her lips._

 _"Hermione?" Snape called entering their small living room._

 _His worry faded away from his face and he walked towards her._

 _Hermione quickly wiped the tears off her eyes and looked up at him but Snape did not miss the action._

 _"Aren't you going to sleep yet?" he gently asked her._

 _Hermione stared and realized that he was already dressed for bed._

 _"It's nearly three in the morning."_

 _"I'm sorry." Hermione said as she closed her book. "I didn't notice the time. I'm going to follow."_

 _Snape gently took the book away from her hands and helped her to her feet._

 _He pointed his wand to the hearth and the fire slowly died away leaving the room slightly dark for them._

 _"Hermione."_

 _"I'm going to bed." she simply answered and Snape could not argue with her indifference towards him._

 _"If you want to talk about it, we can talk about it."_

 _"I don't want to talk." Hermione answered as she avoided his gaze. "I'm just really tired today."_

 _He watched as she grabbed the book back from the couch and began walking towards their bedroom._

 _After his double-checking their locks and wards, he went back to the bedroom to find her back to him on the bed and the blanket over her shoulders._

 _It was her usual sign that she did not want to talk to him and that she was sleeping tonight feeling ill against him._

 _Almost nine months it has been – nine months – since the night of their ambush and it felt for him as if they have gone for years by now._

 _He had gone from Death Eater to babysitting the only girl of the Golden Trio, to being the most annoying Potions professor who never failed to let her feel how miserable their situation was and into the most spiteful bastard and being on the planet by giving in to his desires just to be her lover._

 _He deserved more than hell for corrupting her innocence and taking advantage of her and their situation._

 _He was the one in control of things and he should have done so. And now, there they are at the point of no return just because he had failed to do so._

 _"Hermione?" he whispered gently climbing on the bed next to her._

 _He climbed in and pulled the sheets closer to the both of them. He gently placed his hand over Hermione's waist._

 _She did not move a muscle but he was sure that she was awake based on her breathing pattern._

 _He gently placed a soft kiss over her cheek as he reached around to hold her hand._

 _He found it but just as he was about to take it, she gently moved it away from him and drew a deep breath._

 _Snape closed his eyes and wondered what he had to do this time to make her feel better._

 _He had done countless of things in countless of occasions to make her feel better, to improve her mood and generally just to gain her back to him._

 _"Hermione." Snape whispered moving himself closer to her and attempting to hold her hand again._

 _He moved closed and this time, he placed a soft kiss on the spot between her shoulder and neck for which he knew was a weak spot for her._

 _"Sweetheart, please." Snape whispered attempting to reach for her hand again._

 _This time, he was victorious. He hand found it and gently held it without Hermione withdrawing it or protesting against his touch nor his lips at the side of her neck._

 _"I'm sorry." Snape gently said closing his eyes and resting his face against her. "I know I should have told you about her."_

 _Hermione did not say anything. She was wide-awake and there were too many questions inside her mind at the moment for her to feel any sleep at all. But she was too exhausted, too confused, angry and still in shock upon knowing that after all this time, someone knew where they were._

 _"When you feel better, please talk to me in the morning." Snape said placing another gentle kiss over her skin before shifting himself closer to her, ensuring there was not even the smallest gap between the two of them._

 _There was momentary silence and then he heard her sigh heavily. She sniffed back tears._

 _"Did the red dress come from her?" she softly asked._

 _Snape opened his eyes and knew that the night was going to be quite long._

 _"Hermione-"_

 _"I'm asking if all those clothes, the beautiful dresses, shoes, the food we've been eating here, the books I've been-"_

 _"I've bought you all the books you've had here." Snape clarified with enough indignation in his voice._

 _Hermione did not say anything but he could tell that she was crying silently._

 _"Is this place hers?"_

 _"No." Snape answered her. "I've bought this place a long time ago."_

 _Another silence fell._

 _"Narcissa only supplied half the investment I needed in order to fulfill the required potion ingredients I need to make certain potions for certain clients and Apothecaries."_

 _"She's invested a lot then."_

 _Snape stared at her and could not tell whether she was being sarcastic or otherwise._

 _"She's invested on the same ingredients I've been using for the potions that kept her alive and well."_

 _Hermione did not answer to that. She seemed to have lost on commenting anything._

 _"Does Draco know?" she asked after a while._

 _Snape's brow turned up at the mention of the boy. He was just suddenly reminded of another headache._

 _"No." Snape shortly answered and Hermione could tell that he did not want to talk about him._

 _"Should you not tell him?"_

 _"It's Narcissa's secret to tell." Snape simply answered her. "It should have been something between us."_

 _Hermione suddenly shifted on the bed and Snape sharply looked up at her._

 _She was looking back at him with her face very red in tears as she had been crying for hours now._

 _"Hermione-"_

 _"Are you suggesting that I should not have known about it?" Hermione coldly said._

 _Snape was suddenly alarmed by the look she gave him. She moved about the bed and hastily grabbed her hand from him._

 _"Hermione-"_

 _"Is that what you're suggesting? That you should have kept it a secret from me? That it's something you should be sharing only with her?" she angrily asked._

 _For a moment, Snape thought she was still angry about him not telling her. Then he realized that she was just jealous that he kept something from her and had attempted to keep it as some sort of bond between Narcissa and himself._

 _He sighed heavily and gently sat on the bed shaking his head._

 _"Well?" Hermione asked folding her arms as she sat there waiting for his answer._

 _Snape stared at her and could not believe that they were arguing at that hour just because she was jealous._

 _"Come here." Snape gently said extending his hand to her. "Sweetheart, come here."_

 _Hermione resisted. She did not move and merely stared at him as if she could threaten him._

 _"You're going to be the death of me, Hermione." Snape muttered under his breath._

 _He sighed heavily and made an effort to move to her side of the bed. He gently ran his hand over her lap and then towards her folded arms._

 _"Love, this is nonsense. I wasn't trying to keep it from you because I wanted to keep it from you. Narcissa only made me promise."_

 _Hermione stared at him looking as murderous as ever. He was trying so hard not to give in to the slightest grin that was attempting to come out from his face.  
"Love.. iIt's her secret to tell and not mine. I know I made a mistake for choosing not to tell you and I'm already very sorry for it. Why can't you forgive and see that?"_

 _Hermione stared hard at him. In truth, she wanted to forgive him. In truth, she wanted to hold his hand and stay warm in his arms. In truth, she wanted to just kiss him right now and stay with him after he had dearly and deeply apologized._

 _"Narcissa is my friend." Snape assured her gently as he began kissing her hand. "I'm only trying to help her."_

 _Her brown eyes stared and he knew that she was slowly holding her guard down._

 _"Just a friend?" Hermione asked slowly._

 _He stared at her and realized how innocent and forgiving she was - how young she was to be with him. She had chosen to be in a relationship with a man twice her age despite the misgivings they would surely have towards one another._

 _He realized how easily she got jealous, how easy or light her perceptions her thoughts were, how vulnerable and fragile she was on many things._

 _"Just a friend." Snape simply repeated. He didn't let her hand go and kept gently rubbing its back with his thumb._

 _"You've never had her?" Hermione asked spitefully. "You've never kissed her?"_

 _Snape stared at her and wondered where all the thoughts and jealousy were coming from._

 _He was unsure if he should be happy on seeing her struggle and be miserable over her feelings towards him just because she thinks someone is better than her and someone might actually steal him from her._

 _"And why would I do that?" Snape slowly said as he moved closer to her and he began kissing her hand in his. This time, he was confident with his gestures._

 _Hermione began relaxing at his touch and at the soft lips that touched her skin._

 _"I don't want you with anyone else." Hermione simply said and she reached out and touched the side of his face._

 _Snape closed his eyes as he reveled at the feel of her hand against his skin. Her fingertips moved from his cheek, upward his temple and rested at the fine strands of his lanky hair._

 _"I will not want anyone else." Snape whispered. He moved towards her and gently grabbed her to him._

 _Hermione sighed and opened his arms towards him as he began to gently kiss her hand again, her forearm, the side of her arms, her neckline and jawline._

 _"Severus." Hermione gasped as she shivered beneath his touch and kisses._

 _"Hermione, I would never want anyone else." Snape said as he rested his body between her legs and gently moved and adjusted himself in position._

 _Hermione stared up at the black eyes she had come to trust. He inched closer to kiss her but she stopped him._

 _"Hermione-"_

 _"I want to go back." Hermione had said her eyes had suddenly turned sad. "Let's go back?"_

 _He was quiet as he looked down at her._

 _It has been quite some time now and yet here she was, still thinking and wanting to go back. He had thought that changing her feelings about the boy and giving her everything she could possibly need or want would somehow make her forget them and not want to return._

 _He did not want to return anymore._

 _"You are not yet well." Snape slowly said looking away. He began withdrawing himself from her but Hermione reached for his face._

 _She placed her hands on either side of his cheeks and made him look at her. There was that woeful shame in his eyes again._

 _"How long do we have to wait?" Hermione asked him. "How much longer?"_

 _For a moment he just rested himself before her, staring deep into her eyes and not wanting to be anywhere else in the world._

 _"You already know the answer to that."_

 _"It's too long." Hermione had said and tears began streaking down her cheeks. "It will be too long and by then maybe they're no longer – what if they forget about me?" she asked fearfully. "What if they no longer remember me? What will happen to me? What's going to happen then?"_

 _"I will be here for you." Snape had said. He moved closer and grazed his lips gently to hers._

 _Hermione sighed and took her hands from his face. She turned her face to the side and moved from him._

 _Snape felt disappointed but could understand it._

 _"I want to go to sleep." Hermione simply said moving him away from her._

 _Snape stared at her and for moment there was pain and anger in his chest._

 _"Am I not good enough?" he had asked as he watched her move from him from the bed. "Am I still not enough, Hermione?"_

 _"I don't want to talk tonight."_

 _"No, you're not the only one who has a say on this." Snape spat at her. "Dammit Hermione, I have feelings too!"_

 _Hermione sharply look back up at him. They stared at one another for what felt like eternity._

 _"You're not the one being kept down here for so long. Do not talk to me about your feelings. Because as far as I can remember, I have done everything – EVERYTHING – you have asked of me and you have NEVER considered how I feel about that-"_

 _"Do I not know?" Snape said. "Are you sure I do not know and understand how you feel-"_

 _"If you do so, you would let me out of here!" Hermione angrily said. "You would atleast let me see them even from afar!"_

 _"You know it's dangerous! I'm keeping you alive – you don't understand – you're the one who doesn't-"_

 _"I know the dangers! I know and I understand but you don't know how it feels – you don't-"_

 _"You still do not get it! You still want to go back out there!"_

 _"Because that's where my parents are!" Hermione angrily screamed at him. She angrily moved on the bed towards him and she began hitting him with her hands._

 _"Hermione-"_

 _"Because that's where my friends are! Because that's where I belong! I should not be there! I shouldn't even be here in the first place!"_

 _She began crying and hitting him at the same time._

 _Snape did not defend himself. He let her hit him with her bare hands just like any other time they did this._

 _She was nowhere near better as he had thought so. She was still at the state where she thought of them, she remembered them and she preferred to be with them._

 _Will she ever forget about them? Will she ever want just him?_

 _He had sacrificed a lot for the Order already, for the ungrateful spawn of Potter and for her most of all – he had to live with the shame and guilt every single day and still, he was unappreciated and unwanted most of all._

 _He was always never enough._

 _"Hermione, you know why you are still here." Snape softly said, he gently grabbed her arms and embraced her._

 _Hermione kicked and tried to reach for him but his arms were long enough to keep her from strangling him as he held her in his arms._

 _Hermione could only cry as his strong arms held her down as he kissed her head._

 _"Sssh, please.. Please, Hermione."_

 _"I want to go back." Hermione cried in defeat in his arms. "I want to go back to them, please.. I don't want to be here any longer."_

 _Snape closed his eyes and listened to her plea and cries for hours. He knew that she still wanted to go back but he did not know that it was still this bad._

 _"You know if you are able to, I will bring you back." Snape had whispered as he kept her still, rocking her gently backward and forward the bed in his arms to calm him down. "Hermione, you know I will bring you back if I can."_

 _"I want to die." Hermione whispered beneath the sound of her tears. "I just want to die."_

 _"No, no, please don't say that. Please don't.. Love, please don't say that."_

 _Hermione did not want to live any longer. She wanted out and yet fate did not want to do so._

 _She had been with him for almost a year now since the ambush. She barely heard news from the outside world. Her feelings might have change for Harry and for her ex-professor, but she still wanted to go back._

 _She did not want to be kept away from the world. She did not want to be kept away from the people she cared about and love._

 _"Hermione, please, I'm with you. I won't leave you. I'm going to stay here with you. I will take care of you." Snape promised her._

 _He kept his face buried beneath her sheer locks of brown hair and held her tight in his arms. Her words were usually empty but he did not want to risk losing her at any stupid attempts she might have had in her head._

 _He held her hand to his and tried his best to keep her still and calm in his arms. He did not want her anywhere else nor wanting to be anywhere else but there with him._

 _He knew there was going to be risk upon his decisions for the past several months. But he felt as if he was the one who do not foresee being trapped inside it. He had let his guard down when it came to his feelings and now here he was again, the one losing._

 _"I want to go home." Hermione whispered holding his hand and silent tears still streaked down her face._

 _Snape stopped brushing her hand. He moved his lips from her forehead and gently looked down at her. He tried his best to hold back the warm tears that were suddenly threatening to come down from his eyes._

 _"Are you not home with me?" he softly asked her._

 _He immediately regretted asking it. He knew he did not want to hear her genuine answer to that._

 _He was not prepared for her rejection or for whatever she really felt for him._

 _He knew deep down that despite that they've already slept together, despite her sweet kisses, her warm embraces, her sunny laughter in his arms – despite all that – he knew that somewhere inside her she was still confused of her feelings. He knew that she just had no one else to cling into and that if she would ever get out of the place, she still has the possibility of having her feelings for Potter returned._

 _"Hermione?" Snape softly asked. His chest was heavy knowing that Hermione's silence was already the answer._

 _Taking her that night wasn't really an easy decision but a drastic and hasty one he had to make at that last moment he saw her at the feat of the Order's defeat._

 _Healing her that night with the intention of bringing her back and sneaking her back to the Order once it was safe was something he really had in mind._

 _But fate intervened._

 _The Urduja Curse that Bellatrix has casted upon that night had severely injured her and had definitely change the course of plan he had in mind for her._

 _It has been only several weeks or so since her discovery of its depth and he knew it would take time for her to understand and accept their situation that got worse._

 _Ofcourse he wanted her to be happy and free again. But he couldn't help but be glad that she was with him – she was the only good thing that fate seemingly paid him for all the sacrifices he had to make._

 _It pained him to see her like this – not wanting to live any longer or living every day in a place she did not want to anyway. He did not want to wake up every single day seeing her like that but he would also not lie to himself._

 _He would never admit it to another soul in the world, but deep down he knew that he was glad that the curse took its place and now he had her with him._

 _"I want to go home." Hermione whispered after a while. "I want to bring you back with me to tell them."_

 _Snape did not say anything. But he could tell that her anger was ebbing away by now._

 _"Hermione-"_

 _Hermione moved and shifted her position and faced him. She placed one arm around him and pulled him closer to her by the neck as she lay on her side caressing his cheek._

 _Snape closed his eyes at the sensation of her addictive touch._

 _"I want to go back, Severus. I want to bring you to them. I want them to know about us. I don't want to hide anymore, I don't want to keep you from them. I want to tell them."_

 _He looked down at her and knew she wasn't lying. If only they could go back. But even if they could, he wasn't sure he wanted to bring her back to them._

 _"The curse will take effect if we go back. You know we can't yet."_

 _"Can't you heal it?" Hermione asked hopefully. She held his gaze. "You are a powerful wizard, can't you heal it?"_

 _Snape looked at her and kissed her forehead. "If I can, I would have done so." he halfheartedly lied._

 _"I want to be with you. But not here." Hermione embraced him and quietly cried in his embrace again._

 _He tightened his grip around her, not wanting to let her go either._

 _"I want to be with you, Severus. But not here but in the real world – in our world out there. I want to let them know about you – about us."_

 _"Someday, Hermione." he quietly promised her knowing that they were in for a long-shot on that._

 _"I want to share us to the world."_

 _His heart was breaking further with her words._

 _"Look at me." Snape gently moved her face to him. "Look at me, Hermione."_

 _She nodded and stared up at his black eyes. The obsidian orbs no longer scared her. They were even comfort to her fears – they were home._

 _"When the time is right, I promise you we would go back." his words were quiet and slightly constricted in his throat._

 _"I will bring you back to them, Hermione. But right now, what is important is that you are alive and you are safe here – and you will keep everyone safe by staying with me. And with me-"_

 _"I am home." Hermione finished for him. She stared at him and caressed his cheek back._

 _Snape stared back at those soft brown eyes._

 _"I am home with you, Severus."_

 _"I may not be able to give you everything, Hermione. But I will provide you with everything I can." Snape promised her and Hermione could have sworn that she saw a glimmer of tear flicker at the side of his face._

 _"Severus.."_

 _"I will give you a home you could have while we wait for the right time. You have a home – you are home with me until the right time comes when you can go back."_

 _"I don't want to go back without you."_

 _"I will be with you then." Snape promised kissing her gently. "But right now, we live this life. We live together- even just the two of us – our little home, Hermione. Remember that no matter what happens, keep it in your heart that you have a home with me. I cannot promise you that bright future that they can and we both know we can't live forever.."_

 _Hermione only listened at his words, unable to say anything else – she wanted so much to be in the world again but with him this time._

 _"But remember that I am here and I am just yours - even just for that borrowed life we have from the gods – I am yours even just for that slight moment in eternity."_

Hermione jerked and suddenly opened her eyes as she awoke.

Her body still felt dreadful from her neckline stung for some reason.

 _What the hell just happened?_

Reaching for her neckline as she tried to recall what had happened, she felt something sticky and could smell some sort of cucumber and vanilla scent on her fingers _\- wound and bruise ointment._

It took her a while to recall what had transpired and the moment she did, she suddenly felt alarmed and scared.

She sat painfully on the bed and looked around her. She was alone in their room and it was still slightly dark although the light from the outside told her that it was probably a few hours before dawn.

Hermione painfully scrambled off the bed wildly looking for her wand until she remembered that Harry had taken it.

Quietly creeping out of the bedroom, she walked outside and listened to the sounds around her.

"Harry?" she quietly called out. There was no answer. "Harry? Are you in the kitchen?"

It was so quiet in the house that it scared Hermione even more.

She slowly walked around the house and down the hallway leading to their kitchen. It was empty.

Her heart was racing slightly. Was she alone?

"Harry? I'm a little thirsty." she pretended as she called out for him, listening and anticipating any movement and sound around the house.

"Harry? Where are you?"

Hermione reached their living room and it was empty as well. She was alone in the house.

 _Where was Harry?_

Her heart raced at the prospect that she was alone in the house. Where was Harry? How long was he going to be gone?

But she did not have enough time to think or really comprehend the situation.

Upon realizing that she was completely alone for the first time and might have a spare few more minutes of freedom, Hermione limped back up the stairs to their bedroom with all her remaining strength and dashed into packing her things.

She had grabbed her brown sling bag she always used whenever they went out.

She dashed to their wardrobe and quickly changed from her night dress and into a pair of comfortable sweat pants, she grabbed whatever first clothing material she could get her hands on their slightly messy wardrobe.

Within minutes, she was garbed with her sweatpants, a blouse she wore under long-knitted Weasley sweater and an over-large blue cloak from the stash of clothes by their bedside.

She grabbed her purse that barely had any money in it since Harry had been taking care of every bit of penny and finance since he got her out of the hospital three months ago.

Barely able to properly wear the first pair of shoes she was able to get her hands on, Hermione dashed back to their bedroom and grabbed a couple of parchments and quill and a bottle of ink from Harry's work desk and dashed downstairs as fast as her weak legs could take her.

She reached their doorway and to her utter amazement it wasn't even locked.

Harry had surely just gone for a while and had the intention of quickly getting back home.

With that thought, Hermione barely had second thoughts on dashing out of the house and scrambling out of the small steps by their door and barely being able to stay steady as she walked then ran as fast as she could the moment she left their lawn and heading god-knows where at that moment in her head.


	15. Chapter 15

Alive and kicking. A new chapter. Please do let me know what you think on this chapter. =) Lots of love xx Chapter Text

 _ **Chapter XV**_

 _ **"Secrets"**_

 _"Rise, Severus."_

 _The voice was cold as it spoke._

 _Snape rose to his feet as other Death Eaters knelt around him before the Dark Lord._

 _"I have been given information, Severus that you have certain absences in certain days where your presence is required?"_

 _Snape did not immediately answer._

 _He knew this day would come and knew that Bellatrix was behind it._

 _He could swear that he could hear her restrained laugh beneath one of the hooded figures around him._

 _"Yes, my lord." Snape replied knowing there was no point in lying. "That is true."_

 _"Pray tell where you have been going my most loyal servant?"_

 _There was the unmistakable malice and anger in the Dark Lord's voice._

 _"To the same place, my lord." Snape answered. "At the place where my heart mourns."_

 _Voldemort didn't say anything._

 _He was carefully observing Snape's gaze and Snape knew he was trying to trace lie out of it – if there was any sign at all of treachery that he should immediately be alarmed of._

 _"Have you not known that I could provide you with any woman you would desire, Severus?" he asked him._

 _"Thank you, my lord." Snape nodded at him. "This is most gracious and giving of you."_

 _"But that does not matter to you if your heart still belongs to that Mudblood, isn't that so?"_

 _He did not say anything._

 _His head was kept down and his fists were restrained at his sides as he struggled to control his anger._

 _"Forgive me, my lord." Snape answered him again with another bow. "My heart has died with her."_

 _"And that what makes you not only my most loyal but my most useful servant" Voldemort whispered._

 _His eyes watched him closely._

 _"Your lack of emotions and empathy for others make each of your mission for me quite flawless, isn't that so?"_

 _"Yes, my lord."_

 _Another silence._

 _"For in her death, your heart has died with her. And as one loses his heart, he also loses his conscience and his soul, yes?"_

 _"Yes, my lord."_

 _"It then makes you my perfect aid to rid of that woman's spawn. For you have lost anything that will possibly hold you back from the tasks I ask of you, yes?"_

 _"Yes, my lord."_

 _Snape's face was kept passive as he stared back at the Dark Lord._

 _He could tell that he was still considering whatever news it was that Bellatrix had told him._

 _But he also looked content._

 _He was safe – Hermione was safe at the present moment._

 _Snape simply nodded. He was safe – Hermione was safe at the moment._

 _The Dark Lord will surely not dwell no go through his dealings and whereabouts as this have now been discussed and he was able to provide an answer – a full answer that seem to satisfy him anyway._

 _Snape wanted to squeeze the life out of Bellatrix's throat._

 _She now looked smug and disappointed across him from the table._

 _He would surely kill Bellatrix the first chance he gets._

 _The woman was daunting and was really doing her best to make sure that the Dark Lord finds that minimal mistake from him that will ensure his death._

 _He was not going to let that happen._

 _"Yes, my lord. Thank you for understand-"_

 _"I am forgiving, Severus but not always as understanding." he interrupted him with his wand in his hand as a gesture of warning._

 _"I understand-"_

 _"I do not care wherever it is you are going and whatever it is that you do in times I do not need you for as long as you make sure that these things shall not distract you from your purpose in my war I will let you deal with your nonsense. You have been most useful. Our ambush had been most successful. The boy's thought of attacking us has led him nowhere but the death of the blood traitor's son and his own feat of absence in this war. We are at the edge of victory. I shall not lose just because of some petty heartbreak over a Mudblood whose child will die at my hands anyway."_

 _"Mum? Is Harry going to be alright?"_

 _"Ofcourse he's going to be alright, Ginny!" Molly answered with an annoyed expression over her face._

 _She had helped the nurse changed the beddings over Harry's bed and Ginny had arrived with her fresh vase of flowers._

 _Ginny stared at Harry's comatose form on the bed._

 _She wasn't sure how to feel at the moment._

 _He had been her crush for eternity but knew that he will always belong to someone else._

 _Seeing him like that at that moment, her feelings felt as if she was missing just one of his brother who was asleep and at the verge of never waking up again._

 _They had been ambushed about a month ago by the Death Eaters. They were planning to transfer Harry into a safer location but all hell broke loose._

 _Order members died including Mad-Eye and Tonks._

 _Remus had been severely damaged physically and emotionally and was presently in no state nor will to survive and help the war._

 _But the worse of it all was what happened to Hermione._

 _She had been attacked straight by the Death Eaters._

 _It all happened too quickly – they were attacked relentlessly and mercilessly – all they saw were blinding lots at one direction and then she was falling as fast as Harry._

 _No one was quick enough to save the both of them._

 _Harry had survived the fall but she had vanished in the waters of London that had been their crossing path the moment they were ambushed._

 _She had vanished._

 _She was nowhere to be found in the waters across London for where she had fallen and there were no news at all of her being found anywhere else._

 _No threat either from Death Eaters claiming they exchange Harry for her life._

 _Nothing._

 _Harry was just as devastated as Ron._

 _And it led them to drastic decisions, measures and actions._

 _Soon after the ambush, the two boys heard of possible whereabouts of Hermione._

 _Despite being physically unwell, the duo had decided to take matters in their own hands._

 _Whether it was truth or just some ploy of the Death Eaters they were not able to tell because next thing they knew, Harry and Ron had gone into a suicide-rescue-mission for Hermione._

 _Harry and Ron walked right into a death-trap._

 _They fought their best and it was a miracle for Harry to survive._

 _Ron was no lucky enough to evade death._

 _He had passed the moment the curse had hit him – even before they completely managed to escape from the structure they jumped and escaped from._

 _Harry was severely injured and had been left in a comatose state._

 _He would have died if he did not have enough magic in his blood to save him from the pit of his fall._

 _But now, the war has gone from bad to worse._

 _The Dark Lord was winning – he has taken over Hogwarts, the Ministry, Gringotts and every other possible government ruled establishment._

 _Order members were at loss in numbers, Ron had gone and Hermione was missing._

 _And Harry Potter was in no state of even open his eyes._

 _"It's been quite long mum and he hasn't woken up-"_

 _"Ginny, please, we must remain focused and think only of the best despite all these situation."_

 _Her mother was hopeful but she needed to be intact with reality._

 _They were dying in numbers._

 _It would take a miracle to win the war._

 _"How do we tell him?" Ginny asked. How do we tell him about – about Ron?"_

 _Molly did not answer as tears streaked down her cheeks._

 _"Ginny, please-"_

 _"Mum, how do we tell Harry about it? He's just lost Hermione and now –"_

 _"We would find, Hermione." Molly insisted in a firm tone. "We would find her, Ginny."_

 _Ginny didn't say anything._

 _Why was everyone in denial of every bad to worse circumstances that has happened already?_

 _"Harry has to know." Ginny said. "I know that he was or has just proposed to her-"_

 _Molly gasped as she turned to him._

 _She looked back at the unconscious boy before them._

 _More tears leaked from her eyes._

 _"Oh Ginny – I didn't – oh Harry-"_

 _"It's been too long." Ginny cried at her mother. "He has to wake up. We have to find Hermione for him. We have to just do something about-"_

 _"Oh dear, I know that-"_

 _"I helped Harry." Ginny said. "I helped him prepare for his proposal and Hermione was – and –"_

 _Ginny stopped._

 _She moved herself away from Molly's arms because she was sure that she had seen Harry's fingers moving._

 _"Mum, look!" she gasped quickly moving back to the bed and pointing over his hand._

 _Molly wiped her tears and blinked to see what she was pointing at._

 _There was no movement._

 _And then after about half a minute, his fingers moved again._

 _Molly's eyes widened._

 _"Gin-" she cried out as Ginny was crying next to the bed. "Quickly! Call – call the Healers outside!"_

 _And before she could even finish her sentence, Ginny had already scrambled out of the room yelling for Healers to attend to them._

 _"Oh, Harry." Mrs. Weasley cried kissing his forehead. "Please, please wake up."_

 _"Mio…ne…" some sort of sound came out from his mouth. "'Mi…oh…ne…"_

 _Harry's fingers were moving weakly and his mouth was slightly moving as if he was trying to speak in words of coherent form in a repeated pattern._

Hermione wasn't sure how she managed to do it or how she really got there but two hours later, she found herself at the doorstep of the Weasleys.

The Burrow had been reconstructed through the years and using some of the galleons that were given to the family in lieu of all their help to the government and losses at their part, it looked way better.

It was the first time to be there without Harry.

Hermione staggered by their doorstep from the pull of the Portkey.

From their place, she managed to go downtown market not too far where a small alleyway was a magical shortcut trip to Diagon Alley. And from there, she was able to seek for help.

Confused as she looked, the couple who saw her recognized her and immediately aided her for whatever help she needed.

They helped her with a Portkey without questions asked and it landed her at the Burrow – the first and only place she could think of to get help from.

It was dawn and the sun was going to completely come out soon and she must finish her business there.

Her plan was plain and simple – get to Ginny and borrow several money and clothes from her so she could find a place to stay as she knows that their house would be the first where Harry would most likely go to find her.

And once she is able to borrow these items from Ginny, she could stay in a small motel or something and then come up with another plan.

"Ginny!" Hermione gasped rapping at the back door of the house. "Ginny!"

There was no answer.

She tried several more times.

"Oh god." Hermione cried rapping at the door again. "Please! Ginny!" Hermione cried out.

Then she heard it, rather quick footsteps getting into the door.

There was a sound of the door being clicked open from all the locks.

"Oh my god, Hermione!" Ginny gasped opening the door and seeing her.

"Gin!" Hermione cried as they tightly embraced. "Ginny, I can't stay long- listen I just need-"

"Oh my god, 'Mione – I've been dead worried-" Ginny said pulling her inside the house.

Hermione followed through the backdoor into the kitchens holding her hand tightly.

The house was unlikely dark and silence at the time when usually Mrs. Weasley would already be cooking at the kitchens.

"What has happened to you?" she asked as they turned to the kitchen and she handed her a glass of water.

Hermione gulped it all in one go.

"I can't stay long." Hermione said wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "Listen, I just really need you to lend me a couple of clothes and if it's alright, some money and-"

"Ginny?" a voice suddenly came. "What's this commotion?"

They both turned to the door and Fleur entered with an empty tray in her hands.

"Oh my god!" Fleur gasped nearly dropping the train. "'Mione! Where have you been? We've been z'ed worried-"

"Fleur, I'm sorry, I'm sorry-" Hermione cried as the French woman embraced her. "I didn't mean to alarm you or anything-"

"Thank god, Hermione." Ginny said as they embraced her and kept her down over one of the chairs around the long table. "We've been damn worried about you-"

"I really can't stay long-" Hermione said sounding as devastated as she could possibly be. "I just really need to get-"

"They're all here-" Ginny said as they watch Fleur prepare a quick meal for her. "They're in the living room. You have no idea how sleepless mum had been- if you didn't show up in minutes we would have gone into some sort of wide search for you. Mum has been terribly-"

"Ginny, wait, I just need to- wait, what did you say?" Hermione asked alarmed. "What do you mean you've been dead worried about me?"

Ginny and Fleur looked at one another as Hermione slowly stood up from the table and staring at them with a fearful look over their faces.

Hermione stopped moving and tried to listen to her surroundings.

And then she heard it.

There were people across the hall where the living room was and by the sound of it, there were more than just the Weasleys in there.

"What's going on?" Hermione asked, eyes wide in alarm.

She began backing away from the two girls who looked stricken and alarmed by her reaction.

"Just calm down." Ginny said walking forward her. "They've been dead worried – all of us, Hermione. You don't need to panic. We're quite sure that Harry would understand-"

"Harry?" Hermione repeated in alarm. "What do you – is Harry here?" she asked terrified.

Ginny looked back at Fleur for support.

"'Mione, calm yourself down." Fleur gently said walking forward her and extending her thin arm to her. "Come, we can talk about it. Have a seat and have something to-"

"Is Harry here?" Hermione asked again. "Is Harry here? Answer me!"

Ginny shook her head and she looked like she wanted to lie but their faces already revealed the answer.

"'Mione, look, whatever the problem is we would sort this out. I'm sure mum will-"

"Answer me!" Hermione urgently asked her. "Is Harry in there?"

She looked both angry and fearful as she spoke.

Ginny looked hesitant so Fleur answered for her.

"Yes." Fleur said. "He's with the others at the living room."

Hermione's eyes widened as she backed away from them.

She quickly picked up her mag from the table and slung it tightly around her.

"I have to go." Hermione cried out. "I'm sorry – this – this shouldn't have-"

"Hermione, please." Ginny said walking across the room and grabbing her arm to stop her.

"I have to go!" Hermione said trying to remove her hand from her arm. "Let my hand go-"

"Hermione, please let's fix this." Ginny begged her as she signaled Fleur to block the door. "You don't have to be scared. We know you didn't mean to do what you did-"

"What?" Hermione asked her looking confused. "What do you mean-"

"What you did to Harry." Ginny reminded her looking as confused. "You don't remember?"

"Don't remember what?" Hermione asked shoving her hand away from her arm.

"So you don't remember?" Fleur asked looking as alarmed as Ginny did.

"I don't know what you're talking about-" Hermione said turning to the door. "Please, I need to go. Let me out of-"

"Please, 'Mione!" Ginny begged as she opened the door and she struggled with Hermione. "We're not mad about what you did – we understand you – Harry understands you. He's been very worried about you, please-"

Hermione's heart was beating so fast as she tried to escape from them.

She did not understand everything but she needed to get out of there as fast as she could.

"Let my hand go-" Hermione begged them as they tried to stop her from leaving.

"Harry's told us everything that happened last night." Ginny explained to her with tears in her eyes now. "You can stay with us – that's not a problem. Just don't ever do that again – you've alarmed us-"

"Do what?" Hermione asked her angrily. "What did I-"

"What you did!" Ginny cried at her.

"What did I do?" Hermione asked back. "What did I do?"

"You ran away!" Fleur said grabbing hold of her wrist and making her look at her. "You ran away from your place – from Harry."

Now Hermione looked completely terrified.

What exactly was happening?

"You don't need to run away like that – if you're not feeling well with him, just tell us." Fleur said with a serious note over her face.

"Ran away?" Hermione repeated, aghast. "What do you mean I ran away?"

"Hermione, Harry's told us everything." Ginny gently said looking up at her. "Your hallucinations and all."

"Hallucinations?" Hermione asked almost screaming as she sharply turned at her. "What halluci-"

"Last night." Ginny reminder her. "You just went off after your fight with him and-"

"I did what?" Hermione incredulously asked her. "I'm not have hallucinations-"

But before she could hear what she had clearly done in Ginny's opinion there was a commotion at the hallway behind them.

 _"Hermione!"_

It was Harry.

He ran forward the kitchen door and pushed Ginny and Fleur aside as he grabbed Hermione and placed his arms protectively around her.

"Oh thank the heavens, 'Mione!" Harry cried out clinging tightly around her and kissing her forehead all over. "You're safe, you're safe!"

Hermione struggled to free herself from him but he took a tight grip around her.

"How are you feeling?" he asked her looking into her eyes. "Are you hungry? Do you feel alright?"

Hermione looked stricken as he gazed at her and continued to embrace and caress her gently as if he had found the most precious thing in the world he had thought he'd lost.

"I was so worried sick – bloody worried. I'm glad you're here ,- please don't ever do that again-" Harry cried at her.

Hermione was too stunned to react.

People had come out of the hallway and had come running to the kitchens to see what was going on.

 _What was happening exactly?_

Mr. And Mrs. Weasley came down the hallway and was quickly followed by Bill and George and Charlie who had arrived a few hours earlier from his travel in Italy.

"You need to eat, dear." Mrs. Weasley said as she sniffed tears away and quickly began fixing up some meal for her.

"You've made us so, so worried." Harry said pulling her into his arms again.

She stared up at him with alarm and question in her eyes.

She wanted to push him away but he had a sharp and tight grip over her.

"Please don't ran away like that again." Harry said kissing her over the head again.

"Stop that!" Hermione whispered back at him trying to push him away but he pierced her in the arm.

She opened her mouth to react but Mrs. Weasley moved them back to the table as she prepared meal for her over the table.

"Come Harry, have her to eat." Mrs. Weasley said. "I'm sure she's so tired and – Ginny, please get Hermione something to drink-"

Hermione was pushed back over one of the chairs and was aided with food and water.

Everyone was staring down at her with alarm and worry over their faces.

"Hermione, dead, eat." Mrs. Weasley said. "Where have you been? I've been so worried too-"

"Come, eat." Harry said ushering her towards the table and pulling food across the table towards her. "You need to feel better and-"

"Get away!" Hermione angrily said pushing Harry away. .

There was a clatter as the platter of toast toppled all over the floor.

Silence.

Everyone was staring at Hermione as if she was mad.

The silence was broken when there came hurried knock over their doorway.

"I'll get it." Bill said walking away from the scenery. "I think they're here."

He was quickly followed by Fleur.

Hermione looked around them with a fearful look written all over her face.

She wanted to run away from all of them but at the same time she wanted to know what lies Harry had been spreading about her.

As it looked, he already managed to tell them some sordid and twisted version of the story where she was no victim.

"Mum!" Bill called out as he walked back down the hallway. "They're here!"

Hermione's eyes shot towards the doorway.

He returned with Fleur by his side and they heard more footsteps heading towards the living room.

Two Ministry officials entered the kitchen and shook hands with Mr. Weasley and Harry .

"The Healers are waiting." they said nodding at Harry.

"What's going on?" Hermione immediately asked. "What's going on here?"

Panic was visible from her eyes.

"Drink this." Mrs. Weasley said laying a cup of tea before her. "This will calm you down, dear."

The others might have missed it but Hermione certainly did not miss the glint growing inside those emerald eyes.

Hermione ignored her.

She was staring at the officials then back at Harry.

"Come, let's have you checked then." Harry said and before she could even react, Harry took a grip around her arm and pulled her away from the table.

He literary dragged her out of the kitchens and everyone else followed them.

"If you don't let my arm go I swear I'm going to scream-"

"Do you want me to hex your friends?" Harry asked under his breath as he dragged her to the living room.

Hermione shot him a glare but she was led recklessly to the living room.

The Healers were preparing some bandages and the Ministry officials were talking to Bill and Mr. Weasley as they followed them through.

Everyone else were too occupied and in complete relief upon seeing her that they did not notice what was really going on between Harry and Hermione.

"Let me take good care of this." Harry said and without warning, he took her bag over from her shoulders.

Hermione protested but Harry pushed her back over one of the couches.

Everyone was staring worriedly down at her. .

"Mr. Potter we need to tend to your wound." one of the Healers said pointing over at Harry's hand.

Hermione looked down at the direction and only noticed then.

A bandaged was messily wrapped around his left palm.

"Yes, thank you." Harry said removing his scarf from around his neck and forcedly placing it around Hermione's neck. "Just need to make sure she's not cold."

"I'm bloody not cold-" Hermione muttered in gritted teeth as Harry secured the scarf around her neck.

For a moment Hermione thought her mind was playing tricks.

And then she realized that he had used the scarf to merely cover the marks around her neck from his doing several hours ago.

Hermione gazed angrily at him but she could not do anything nor say anything until she finds out what exactly was going on.

 _"What did you do?"_ Hermione whispered at him. "What did you do, Harry?"

He did not say anything.

He moved and secured the scarf tighter in place and kissed her forehead.

"What I had to do." Harry said kissing her forehead one more time. "We're going to talk when we get home."

He smiled and straightened himself up and walked towards the Healer who had prepared a whole kit to clean his wound and change the bandages.

"I'm not going home with you." Hermione muttered back.

"We'll see about that."

He only smiled at her as he sat by her side over the couch and the Healer moved forward and began tending to him.

Hermione was struggling to hit Harry right then and there.

"All seems better, Mr. Potter?" the Ministry official walked over to them and stared down from Hermione and back at him.

Harry nodded and he shook his hand with his free hand.

"Thank you." Harry said nodding to the Healers. "I deeply apologize for the disturbance. I panicked. I didn't really think well and straight that Hermione would likely come over here-"

The Ministry looked unconvinced.

In fact, he looked like he was worried that Hermione was some danger to others than to herself.

"Mr. Potter, it is none but natural for you to feel this way." the Ministry official said. "And you will never waste our time – what with everything you have done for our world."

That was the cue word that Hermione needed to hear.

Everyone was in debt to Harry for what he has done for the Wizarding World.

There was obviously no one to take her side no matter her situation and what truth there was.

Well, seems all good, Mr. Potter?" the Ministry official asked turning to him and getting ready to leave.

Harry nodded at them. He bowed and shook their hands.

"Thank you, thank you." Harry said nodding to the Healers as well. "I deeply apologize for this disturbance. Perhaps I really just panicked and did not think well that Hermione would most likely come over here and-".

"We are at the beck of your call at any time of the day at any day, Mr. Potter."

"Thank you sir." Harry had said standing up as the Healer finished replacing the bandages with new ones around his hand. "I really appreciate this."

Hermione stared wordlessly as the man patted Harry's back like that of a son.

She had seen them in the court trial several times already and she was sure that they did whatever Harry asked of them.

"I'll call you should there be another trouble." Harry said with a gentle smile. "I really appreciate this but I'm sure Hermione and I will sort this out better. But I really hope we don't fight anymore."

Hermione shot him a glare.

"Not a problem." The man had answered and he pointed at Harry's hand. "You will be well?"

Hermione stared over his newly bandaged hand – it was the same hand he had used to strangle the life out of her the previously.

"It's fine." Harry said with a smile. "I'm sure Hermione didn't mean what she did."

There was something in his grin as he turned to her.

"Right, 'Mione?" he asked her.

Hermione could only stare back.

Everyone else was staring back at her.

The ministry officials were staring quietly at her as if they doubted her.

"Excuse me?" Hermione asked unable to stop herself any longer. "What do you mean I did?"

Harry's eyes glinted but he didn't answer.

"Hermione dear, are you feeling better?" Mrs. Weasley asked her as she sat next to her.

Hermione stared up at her.

Harry was just staring quietly at her and everyone stared at her as if she was mad or that she had done something horrible.

"Good thing it was just a vase you threw up in the air, 'Mione." Bill had jokingly said as he coffee in paper cups around the room. "Fleur once threw an actual jewelry box made of opal stone at me."

He handed one to his father and even Mr. Weasley laughed on what he had said.

Bill took the last cup and handed it over towards Fleur who took it with a small nod.

It had slowly began to be slightly funny but Hermione knew that the Ministry officials didn't find anything funny at all as they stared down at her.

"What are you talking about?"

Fleur gave Bill an angry look and had said something in French for which Bill, Charlie and even Ginny laughed for a moment.

Bill placed his arm around his wife and then Fleur gave a short laugh.

Hermione stared at each of them.

Was nobody really concerned of what actually happened?

"I don't understand." Hermione said trying to sound both serious and worried. "I threw what at you?"

She was glaring angrily at Harry now.

He looked calm and collected as she had expected.

The more tantrum she showed, the more ridiculous she looked to the others.

Ginny handed her a warm towel to keep her hands warm.

"The vase you threw at Harry last night." Ginny reminded her. "When you fought? Do you not remember?"

"No." Hermione said giving Harry another angry look. "I didn't throw anything at you!"

"You don't remember?" Ginny skeptically asked her.

Hermione stared at her.

Well, she only remembered that Harry strangled her and tried to choke her to death because of his jealousy.

Hermione did not answer her.

She wanted to know and hear what lies Harry had provided in this household.

Ginny looked uncertainly at her but nodded when Mrs. Weasley gave Hermione a small nod.

"Harry told us about your fight." Ginny said with a worried look. "He said he made you dinner and asked you to drink the potion you kept on drinking every night to keep your health up and strengthen you faster and then you two started arguing-"

"Arguing about Snape." Harry said with a serious look over his face. "It's my fault that you went all berserk. I shouldn't have forced the potion to you – it might have triggered your hallucinations with Snape forcing you to drink-"

"I don't have hallucinations!" Hermione screamed standing up and pointing at him.

Everyone was stunned.

She looked mad as she began crying as well.

"He's lying to you!" Hermione cried pointing at Harry. "Why are you doing this?"

But nobody looked like they were questioning Harry's words.

They were all only looking worried about her.

Harry stared back at her with no sign of slightest disturbance of how she was reacting.

"Hermione, relax." Ginny said trying to calm her down. "It's alright – we understand. Harry even understands when you started throwing-"

"I didn't throw anything at him!" Hermione said in anger. "I would never do that-"

"Hermione dear, please calm down." Mrs. Weasley gently said walking to her. "We know you couldn't control your magic at the moment with everything you're presently enduring and-"

"I'm not using any magic!" Hermione wailed at them. "Harry's lying – he's – he's-"

"Hermione, please-"

"He took my wand!" Hermione shrieked pointing at Harry. "He took my wand!"

She could no longer take it.

She couldn't help herself from hearing all the lies Harry had formulated for them to believe.

The whole room had gone quiet and every single person in the house were staring at her.

"He bloody took my wand, Ginny!" Hermione screamed angrily pointing at Harry's direction.

She was aware that all eyes were on her and were listening to every word.

But they did not look interested and rather looked only worried.

"He took my wand, Ginny and he was keeping me away from all of you!" Hermione screamed staring at Harry who only stared back at her.

Harry looked up at her and finally stood from the couch and went over to her.

"Mr. Potter-"

"It's fine." Harry said nodding his head. "I've got this."

Harry turned to her fuming form but he was still calm.

"Sweetheart, please-" he reached out for her hand but Hermione shoved his hand away.

"Don't call me that!" she warned him. "Don't touch me."

A glint passed his eyes again.

The Healers slowly moved forward and the Ministry official gave one step forward.

Hermione's eyes looked up at them in alarm.

"Don't come near me." Hermione warned backing away from them.

Harry raised his hand to stop them and he placed himself before Hermione.

"Mr. Potter, if Miss Granger is not well, we suggest that-"

"No." Harry protested gently. "She's alright. She doesn't need to be taken at St. Mungo's."

Hermione's eyes widened as she looked at the Healers and back at Harry.

So that's why they were there.

Harry had concocted some sort of lie and should it be found reasonable, he was willing to give her to St. Mungo's.

Two guesses which ward he would have her kept.

"'Mione?" Harry gently said extending his hand to her. "We'll sort this out together, right?" he asked her.

Hermione didn't answer.

The Healers looked ready to strap her in a jacket.

"We don't need them, right?" he asked her softly.

Hermione took one glance at the Healers and back at Harry.

She was smart enough to understand that Harry was actually threatening to send her off at a mental ward in front of everyone without them getting the hang of it.

"Mr. Potter, if Miss Granger is unwell, we suggest that she may be taken to-"

"No, she's alright." Harry insisted looking back at her. "You're fine, right? We'll sort this together? On our own?"

He was looking at her in a warning type of manner for which only she understood.

She stared back at him with nothing but hatred in her eyes.

His jealousy has really gone beyond what was normal and now he was doing things she never imagined he was ever capable of.

 _Did her disappearance really damage him this much?_

"Hermione?" he asked her gently with a smile. "Right?"

"Right." Hermione answer through gritted teeth.

Harry smiled and sighed back at the officials.

"She'll be fine with me." Harry said. "It's just one of those episodes."

Harry kept staring at her as he said the words without breaking eye contact.

"But Mr. Potter-"

"I'm fine. She's better with me." Harry said. "Her hallucinations and delusions are normal according to her first checkup. It's part and process of her trauma."

"Miss Granger needs to rest."

"I will tend to everything she needs." Harry said. "It would happen from time to time but atleast she's home with me."

They still looked unconvinced and more worried with Harry's well-being than that of Hermione's.

Hermione looked around her and knew how it all looked like to them.

So he was playing it differently and everyone was falling for it.

She looked up at Ginny across the room and knew immediately that she had probably told Harry about her note.

She did not think that Ginny would side with Harry in all this.

"I'm not mad!" Hermione angrily said withdrawing her hand away from Harry.

"Nobody said you're mad." Harry calmly and quietly answered her.

Hermione angrily stared back at him then around the room for support but she got none.

Even Fleur and Ginny were both looking as highly concerned about her seemingly irrational behavior.

"Hermione."

This time it was Mrs. Weasley who spoke.

She walked to the middle of the room and stayed next to her.

Hermione looked up at her with tears leaking at the side of her face.

"Please." Hermione cried at her. "Please, believe me – I'm not-"

"Darling, calm yourself down." Mrs. Weasley had said.

She pulled something from behind her.

Hermione stared and recognized that it was her wand.

It was wrapped in a blue smooth clothing.

"I have your wand with me." she had said. "Harry said that you've left it when you ran away lastnight. You can get it from me tomorrow morning when you're feeling better."

Hermione opened her mouth to argue.

She looked across the room at Harry who was quietly staring at her.

 _Since when did he ever get to outsmart her?_

"Harry was so worried that you didn't have it with you." Mrs. Weasley was showing it to her. "He gave it to me in hopes that if you ever did come over here for help I could give it to you."

Hermione looked from her, then at her wand then at Harry.

He looked back at her as if daring her to take the wand from Mrs. Weasley.

"I think it best if Mr. Potter will keep Miss Granger's wand for now – for safe keeping." the official ha said as he turned to Harry. "You live at the same place, do you not?"

"Yes." Harry answered. "We live at the same place, sir."

"I think it best if you keep her wand, Harry." Mr. Weasley suggested.

"No." Hermione protested seeing her wand being taken away from her again. "No, Harry had – he had taken my wand from me –"

"Miss Granger, we best advise you get some sleep." the official said. "You need to keep your head together until we finish these proceedings of your trial. There is a hearing soon and we need you to be well rested."

"I am well rested!" Hermione angrily said unable to control herself again.

Tears were now openly visible from her eyes.

Not only was she confused, angry and exhausted but also very emotional because things were not only falling apart at the trial but at home as well.

She knew what everyone was thinking and knew that Harry was manipulating the situation altogether.

"Come dear, you need to sleep. Come to Ginny's room. I've made the bed for you."

Hermione looked scandalized at how she was being treated because Fleur had also crossed the room as well and had taken her other hand.

"Come, 'Mione-" she said in her usual French accent. "I'll stay in the room with you until you fall asleep."

"No, wait-" Hermione said trying to protest but the two other women had taken her by the arm and was gently walking her out of the living room.

Hermione protested at being stirred out of the room.

She looked around for help but nobody seemed willing to listen.

Mr. Weasley began apologizing to the officials and Bill and Charlie were doing just the same while Harry stood at a corner of the room staring quietly at her.

"Mr. Potter, Miss Granger would need to drink this."

Hermione heard one of the Healers suggest handing him a tall flask.

"Thanks." Harry had answered with a grateful nod.

"It would help her to get to sleep and will probably lower the rate and possibility of more hallucinations. She must get sleep before the next hearing." the Healer also gestured towards his hand.

"I feel alright. It's nothing."

"Come by my office at lunch today and let me check it again."

"Thank you. But I need to tend to Hermione fully today." Harry answered without removing his eyes from Hermione who was being stirred out of the room against her will.

Ginny had soon followed Fleur and Mrs. Weasley as they took Hermione to her room.

"Miss Granger, be well." one of the officials called out to her before they disappeared completely from the room. "We would see you at the court trial on Wednesday."

Mr. Weasley and Bill shook hands with the two Ministry officials.

"Thank you for coming. We were just really worried about her whereabouts."

"It's nothing, Arthur. Call us if anything of this sort happens again."

"Is this normal?" Bill had suddenly asked looking around the room. "For her to be this way?"

One of the Healers nodded as they packed their things away.

"People who have been trapped for a long time with someone who is not family will find themselves in the middle of a post-trauma experience. We believe Miss Granger is enduring such."

"But to hurt Harry?" Charlie had said openly as only the boys were left in the room. "Would hurting Harry make sense?"

The Healer nodded at him.

"It is but natural. Her hallucinations are also part of this. We would update on her." he then turned to Harry. "There must be improvement before the week would come to an end, Mr. Potter. If none, we suggest you bring her to St. Mungo's."

Harry nodded and shook hands with the Healers again. "Thank you for the concern."

"Please call us again – any time – should something like this happen again."

Harry nodded as he led them to the exit.

"I'll see them off, Harry." Mr. Weasley had said leading them down the hallway. "Get some rest. You can ask to Ginny to sleep at her mother's room so you can sleep in hers with Hermione or you can sleep with the rest of the boys."

Harry nodded and held his bandaged arm and smiled and turned to Charlie and Bill who began swishing their wands around to clean the room.

"Well I have a few hours of sleep with me." Bill had said. "You can come sleep in my room, Harry. I'm sure Fleur is going to sleep over at Ginny's room with the two."

"Yeah." Charlie said patting Harry's back. "I'm parking myself at Bill's room since it is spacious, right my big brother? You can come with us."

Bill threw a towel at Charlie. "I didn't bloody invite you in my room."

Harry smiled at the two as they began throwing stuff towards one another in jest.

"I'm fine. I'll sleep with Hermione in the room."

"Nah, fat chance, mate." Bill had said as she watched Mrs. Weasley come down the stairs alone. "I'm sure the girls are going to have some girl-talk. Let's leave them to that tonight. It might help improve Hermione's mood and emotional state and rest her mind if she has the other two with her tonight."

"Gross." Charlie commented. "Girl-talk. What do they talk about anyway?"

"Nothing significant." Harry said but he was staring up the staircase that led to Ginny's room. "That's what I can tell you."

Hermione could barely sleep.

Fleur and Ginny had stayed with her in the room and despite their perseverance to ask her what exactly has happened, she simply told them that she was too tired to talk and wanted to get some sleep.

Ginny and Fleur respected her decision but Hermione sensed that Ginny was not convinced of her actions.

It took her a while to be able to let the other two know that she was alright and that she just really wanted some sleep.

Scared that she would have another unconventional actions done, the other two simply went to Ginny's large bed and let her sleep alone in the spare bed that Mrs. Weasley had brought in the room.

She had been wide-awake for two full hours and knew that the sun will rise any minute.

She did not know what to do.

It was nowhere safe in the Weasley's and Harry was just across the hallway.

She had never felt so trapped in her life.

 _There was nobody she could trust._

She tossed around the bed and tried to think, think hard of what she could do.

Harry had taken her bag and the little money she had and she was sure that he had already seen the things she had attempted to pack for her getaway.

She closed her eyes and turned the other side of the bed.

If she wanted to run, she should already do it now because seeing the way of things the moment they get back to their apartment, she will endure hell from Harry.

Putting things and things together and from Ginny and Fleur's version of what has happened Harry is obviously out of his mind.

They had said that Harry had come knocking at their door at about half past midnight.

He was panic-stricken and his hand was bleeding as he knocked down their door and was desperately looking for her.

He was settled and calmed in the living room by Mr. Weasley and Mrs. Weasley and he relayed to them the story of their argument that led to her throwing things around and hitting him with the vase.

The two said that Harry's hand bled in front of her that might have alarmed Hermione so she threw another object and had drastically taken things around the house and had fled.

Harry told them that in her haste and fear, she had left her wand which worried Harry even more because there was no way she could Apparate or go anywhere without money nor her wand as her magic had been suppressed for quite a long time that wandless magic for her was almost impossible to do.

Given these information, Mrs. Weasley quickly sent a Patronus to Bill and Fleur who quickly arrived within half an hour to help figure out what they could do to help or where to begin looking for Hermione.

Bill had also sent Patronus to two of his Healer friends for a house-call in to heal Harry at home order to keep from press and others not concerned that something like that happened to Harry Potter.

Mr. Weasley's Patronus was quickly dispatched to the Ministry where two of his friends quickly arrived upon hearing that Mr. Harry Potter desperately needed their help at that hour of the night.

In Hermione's opinion upon hearing these stories, Harry had the upper hand in what had just transpired and he was quick and clever enough to turn tables around.

He was fast with his instinct that she was going to go first to the Weasleys and so he created a plan that will surely look like he was dead worried about her and that he was the victim again.

It was so unbelievable of Harry.

Unable to gain any sleep, Hermione slowly crept out from the bed.

She just needed some space and some place to be alone and if she was lucky, maybe she could find her bag lying around somewhere and she could possibly get out of the house.

But that was fat chance as Mrs. Weasley could also be awake at this hour.

Hermione quietly walked out of the door to get herself a glass of water to maybe help her think about what she was going to do next and how she was going to get message to Draco for help.

She couldn't believe it, but she was actually considering the help of that boy who has bullied her for years.

Hermione reached the landing of the creaky stairs and was to make way to the kitchens when she heard Harry's voice from the hallway.

 _"Did you know that there are certain ways to create a poison that may just look like water?"_

Hermione froze from where she stood.

Harry was awake already and was obviously anticipating for her to wake up.

"In other words, you can actually poison someone without them knowing and making it look like an accident."

Hermione stood frozen on the spot.

She listened and slowly turned to the other direction and braved herself to walk to the living room where she heard Harry's voice.

It was slightly dark and the room was dimly lit by a small fire from the hearth.

She looked around and found Harry sitting alone in the room and was holding a book in his hand.

"Lovely this book, eh?" he said lifting it up and showing it to her. "Most useful and the memories it gave me are just superb. This was the time I've outdone you at Potions, do you remember?"

Hermione stared at him then slowly averted to the book in his hand.

It was his Potions book in their 6th year – _Snape's book_.

She did not know how he was able to gain it again but at the moment she did not care.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked him walking forward. "Why are you doing this, Harry?"

"Doing _what,_ Hermione?" he asked back innocently.

He stared up at her with such longing eyes as he held the book in his hand.

"Would you like to read with me?" he slowly asked her showing the book again. "There are a lot of useful potions here that you might like."

He began flipping the pages before her, vaguely smiling and commenting on the things he somewhat found amusing.

But Hermione wasn't amused.

She felt as if she was dealing with someone demented.

"Harry, stop this madness." Hermione finally said. "Stop whatever you're doing."

"I'm not doing anything." Harry said. "Oh, look here, Hermione – this page says that you can actually create this potion that can poison anyone with a single smell of its scent-"

"Harry!" Hermione said as she attempted to tug the book out from his hand. "Why are you doing this?!"

"Doing what?" Harry quietly asked her.

He suddenly shut the book close and slowly stood up.

Hermione slightly cowered as he towered over her.

He was barely taller than her but at that moment, Hermione felt as if he was way taller and scarier than he ever was.

His emerald eyes were gazing down at hers and that glimmer of hatred was very much visible in his eyes again.

"I've done nothing but protect and take good care of you and this is how you _repay_ me?"

"Repay you?" Hermione asked shaking her head at him. "I don't know what you're-"

"You want to talk about it?" Harry slowly asked her.

Hermione did not answer.

She did not want to talk about whatever it was even though she already had a hunch about it.

"I was going to let you get away with it, you know." Harry casually said. "I was going to let it all go until I learned that you actually went to Ginny."

Hermione's eyes turned to slits.

So it was confirmed.

Ginny had spilled to Harry what happened at Gringotts.

Hermione understood that Ginny was worried about her but she bagged that she would have some sort of _'special girl bond_ ' with her and would keep their meeting a secret.

"Harry, I did not-"

"Don't you lie to me." Harry calmly said. "Ginny told me _everything."_

"Ginny might have misunderstood me." Hermione quickly lied.

Harry only stared at her and Hermione could tell that she was nowhere going to get away with it

"She cried, you know." Harry said. "Told me that she felt really, really guilty for lying to me at that day. She told me that she was sorry and that she would not want to lie to me and that she's terribly, terribly worried about you – most especially your behavior."

"My behavior?" Hermione repeated with wide-eyes. "Maybe they should be worried about yours."

Harry's eyes glinted but he ignored her and gave her a wicked smile.

"She's worried about you, Hermione." Harry took a step closer her. "But you see, 'Mione, she's more worried about me."

Hermione did not say anything, her fists clenching at her sides.

"Yes, she's worried about me." Harry pointed at himself. "She saw how much I suffered when you were away and she understood that. She understood how I felt then and now - unlike you – you never-"

"Harry, I don't want to fight and I don't want-"

"You were going to go away!" Harry said with sudden anger rising inside him.

"I only said-"

"You were going to go on some getaway – you were going to plan something behind my back – what? Don't deny it. Ginny told me every single thing you've told her that day."

Hermione stared at Harry with hatred in her eyes.

She could comprehend Ginny's loyalty to Harry because she saw his suffering when she was gone.

 _But still, how could she betray her?_

"I told Ginny that I just want time off from-"

"From me?" Harry asked her. "What do you think I am, Hermione? Some pet you can just leave around if you feel tired-"

"Harry, it's not like that – I just wanted to-"

"If you think that you have anyone to help you from these bloody place you're making a mistake, Hermione." Harry took one last step and had suddenly and painfully grabbed her arm.

"Harry-"

"Nobody, you hear me?" he whispered at her as he advanced towards her.

He suddenly grabbed her arm and painfully gripped her around the wrist.

"Harry-" Hermione winced in pain.

"Nobody. You hear me?" Harry quietly said. "Nobody in this place is going to take your side."

Hermione felt completely threatened.

She knew the truth in those words.

She knew that everyone would take Harry's side especially now that Harry had made it clear to people that she was having some post-traumatic problem and hallucinations.

He was clever to use something like that in order to spin them in his hands.

 _Since when did he learn to be this cunning?_

"How could you manipulate them?" Hermione asked him as she snatched her arm back from him.

Harry stared at her for a moment then smiled at her.

Hermione used to be so inlove with the boy's smile.

Now, he scared her beyond her wits.

"I'm not manipulating them." Harry calmly answered sitting back down on the couch.

Hermione stared at him as he returned his attention back at the book again.

It was Snape's book and she immediately recognized the vast danger at hand while it was in Harry's possession at the moment.

"Get a few more hours of sleep, 'Mione." Harry said with a warm smile at her. "You need energy. I know you haven't slept well and you heard what the Healers said about you being well-rested. We can leave before lunch today. Get some more-"

"I'm not going with you-" Hermione said with her hands shaking at her sides. "I'm never going back to that place."

Hermione saw that Harry's fists turned into a ball for a moment.

She took a step back but he didn't do anything at all.

Harry breathed deeply as if trying to control himself.

He slowly looked up at her and an amused look began surfacing over his face.

He shook his head and continued leafing through the pages of the book in his hand.

"Sure." Harry had simply said. "You can stay here at the Weasleys for as long as you want."

Hermione just stared at him as she tried to analyze the catch in those words.

"I won't stop you if you want to stay here."

"I want my wand back." Hermione quietly said. "You give it back to me."

"You heard them earlier." Harry simply said.

"I want my wand back, Harry." Hermione demanded.

"It is quite unsafe for you to have your wand with you. Don't worry." Harry told her. "I'm going to keep it safe for you _sweetheart,_ until you feel better and is sound in mind."

That was it.

Hermione's had lost it.

Hermione launched forward and attacked Harry.

She angrily grabbed the book from him and threw it aside and then had gone straight into hitting him.

But Harry was faster and stronger than she was.

They both stepped over the book.

Harry was fast enough to defend himself.

He had grabbed Hermione's other hand and began twisting her left arm in another direction as his other hand quickly grasped her by the jaw.

"Harry-" Hermione cried out in pain as Harry shoved her back against the wall without letting her go.

The pain was such a shock that Hermione felt her visions blurred for a split moment.

She struggled against him but to no avail.

"You want to scream?" Harry asked her his fingers digging painfully around her jawline. "You want to wake the whole house?"

Hermione's eyes leaked with tears.

This was not the Harry she had fallen in love with.

"Do not tempt me to hurt them." Harry breathed at her. "Do not tempt me to hurt them, Hermione."

"Don't." Hermione croaked out. "Please – you won't – you can't-"

"Don't dare me." Harry darkly said as his fingers dug deeper to the point of breaking her jaw.

"Harry, you won't-" Hermione was choking viciously.

"You don't believe me?" Harry asked with a sneer. "Do you want me to try it out first on that bastard? I can do that. I can call Kingsley and-"

"You won't hurt him. You can't." Hermione angrily spat at him. "You prefer to see him suffer with the Dementors."

Hermione stared back at him with such defiance in her eyes that it only agitated and angered Harry further.

"Maybe it's not them I should hurt then."

Hermione's eyes grew wide.

Harry gave her a knowing smile.

"You're not going to hurt them." Hermione gasped. "You can't – you won't- they're your family-"

"Them?" Harry asked them.

He nodded towards the old armchair for which Mrs. Weasley usually sat and knitted her most-loved sweaters.

"No, Harry. You're mad – you wouldn't hurt – you don't mean that-"

"Would you like to bet one of their red-heads on it?" Harry asked threateningly.

Hermione opened her mouth to say something in protest when they both heard voices.

They both stopped moving.

They heard people coming down from the stairs.

Harry quickly let go of her jaw and pushed her back over the couch.

Hermione gasped and coughed for air as she looked up at him listening to whoever was coming down the stairs.

Harry turned to him with a dark smile and placed his hand over his lips in gesture for her to remain quiet.

Hermione's eyes burned with hatred as she stared at him.

Harry slowly bent down to pick the book up just as Mr. Weasley came into the room and stared at them in surprise.

"Up so early?" Mr. Weasley asked as he walked straight into the old desk at the end of the room.

He was too busy looking for something as he prepared himself for work that he barely noticed the tears that Hermione was wiping off her face.

"Hermione couldn't sleep." Harry said as he stared down at Hermione with a warning gaze. "She had a nightmare again. Came knocking at the boy's room and asked if I could accompany her here."

Mr. Weasley found a small stash of parchments he had been looking for and walked to them.

"Hermione?" he asked noticing her tear-streaked face.

"I'm – I'm fine." Hermione said. "Just a little.. I'm alright, Mr. Weasley."

Mr. Weasley stared worriedly at her then at Harry who only gave him an assuring glance.

"She'll be alright." Harry said placing his arm around her waist. "She just needed a bit of chat."

"Well if you can't sleep come to the kitchens." he said grabbing his fallen cloak at the back of the couch. "I'm sure Molly can make you a coffee or something."

Hermione nodded and watched as he walked out of the living room calling Mrs. Weasley to tell her that the two were already awake.

"Do you believe in me?" Harry asked her. "Or would you like to bet on his head first instead?" Harry sneered at her as he moved forward and offered his hand to help her off the couch.

Hermione ignored his hand and remained still on the couch with an angry glare.

"Get up, Hermione." Harry snapped at her. "Pack your things because we're leaving before lunch."

Half an hour later, Hermione had found herself in the kitchen of the Weasleys helping out Mrs. Weasley, Fleur and Ginny to make breakfast for everyone.

Hermione was quietly slicing up some oranges at the corner to make into fresh juice while Fleur was making toasts next to Mrs. Weasley at the other end of the kitchen.

Hermione's untamed thoughts were disrupted when she felt Ginny walk to her corner.

She looked up at her with a mournful look over her face.

"Hermione." Ginny began as she worriedly stared at her.

She hastily woke Fleur up at that morning upon realizing that Hermione was no longer in the room with them. They both jumped out of bed in their sleeping clothes only to find Hermione setting plates over the dining area as Mrs. Weasley began cooking sausages and eggs at the kitchen.

"Yeah?" Hermione simply said returning her attention to the oranges.

Ginny was reluctant.

"About what happened.. I was just-"

"It's fine." Hermione quietly said. "I know you're only worried about me."

Despite that she did not seem as mad as Ginny would have expected her, Ginny knew that she had offended her somehow.

She wasn't sure if she should continue her conversation with her knowing that Hermione still looked tad bit of mad at the least.

"Look, 'Mione.." Ginny pressed on. "I was just really worried – we all are. Harry says.. you're a little-"

 _"Unstable_?" Hermione offered. "At the verge of lunacy?"

Ginny looked alarm. She quickly shook her head.

"No, no." she said reaching for her but Hermione slightly edged away from her. "'Mione, Harry's just worried – all of us are. We know you're enduring something we can't really cure now or cure fully. We know you're traumatized and you need people around you. We just – we just sort of panicked. Harry's all worried about you – he's always thinking about you."

"Yeah, I'm sure he is." Hermione said blandly.

Ginny looked slightly hurt at her but she also knew how she felt.

"If you want to talk, I'm just here."

"Yeah." Hermione snapped. "And you can tell Harry everything once more."

Ginny opened her mouth to explain but Hermione put down the knife and the orange in her hand.

"I can tell Harry everything myself, Gin. You don't need to bother." Hermione snapped at her. "Besides, I know he's been following me around or having people follow me around to check on me. Don't worry, Gin, I think Harry has everything covered."

Hermione's voice had been raised a notch higher than even Bill and Charlie who had just come down the stairs had halted and were listening to them.

Fleur saw them by the stairs and had quickly eyed them warningly.

Ginny stared at Hermione and sighed heavily.

"I'm sorry, 'Mione." she simply said. "We're just really worried about you."

"Yeah." Hermione had said. "I know. I'm sorry. But I just really want to be alone right now."

Without another word, she grabbed the platter of oranges and decided to slice them up back at the other end of the room leaving Ginny looking crestfallen.

The dining room was filled with conversations as they ate brunch that the women in the house had prepared.

Hermione passed platters of viands after another as conversations took place around long table of the Weasleys.

She barely touched her food and sat quietly next to Harry who had been cheerful all morning and had even played wizard's chess with Bill who decided not to go to work that morning.

The conversations around the table had been cheerful until Mr. Weasley was about to leave and had suddenly had to remind Hermione and Harry that he had been noted by a Ministry official that the court trial for Wednesday was going to be at three in the afternoon.

The reminder had definitely changed Harry's mood.

"I'm going to get more bread rolls." Hermione said excusing herself from the table as she went just at the next room.

Harry did not miss the gesture and had quickly excused himself as well and had followed her at the kitchen area.

"Three tomorrow, huh?" Harry asked as he watched by the door.

Hermione walked around the kitchen, grabbing a large platter and looking for the bread rolls that were just a few inches from the pan she had just moved aside.

Harry walked forward and had pointed at the pan she was looking for.

"I don't want to fight, Harry." Hermione told him. "We'll be in the court by three and yes, I'll still be telling the truth tomorrow." Hermione spat at him.

Harry just stared at her, studying her closely.

Hermione felt uncomfortable with his gaze but she pretended not to care at all.

"I did not say anything." Harry said walking at the other end of the table.

Hermione heard him grab something and had left the room without another word.

She angrily put down the platter of bread back on the table.

Her eyes began to water with tears.

She was just really so damn frustrated about everything.

She needed Draco.

She desperately needed to see Draco.

"Hermione?"

Hermione quickly wiped the tears from her eyelids as she looked up at the doorway.

Fleur was standing by the door and staring at her.

"Bill is looking for the bread rolls." she said as she entered seeing the platter on the table.

"Sorry, it's here." Hermione pointed.

"He wants to grab some for work." Fleur went to the table and grabbed one of the rolls for herself.

"Here, let me find you a place to pack it." Hermione said looking around the kitchens.

"He'll just grab a piece or two. He's just waiting for the orange juice that Harry is serving-"

Hermione nodded absentmindedly until she realized what Fleur had just said.

"What?" she asked in great alarm. "What did you say?"

"I said Bill is in a hurry and-"

"No. I meant –"

"He's leaving. He's only-"

"I mean, about Harry. What did you say Harry was-"

"He's finishing the orange juice that Harry is serving over there?" Fleur repeated slowly. "He said he made it himself and-"

But Hermione no longer heard the rest of her sentences.

Her blood rose up to her head upon the realization of what she had just mentioned.

She ran out of the kitchen and had thrown herself back at the dining hall.

Her eyes quickly searched the room for Harry.

He was laughing at the end of the room at some joke Bill had been saying as he filled a glass of orange juice for Mrs. Weasley.

Hermione stood frozen by the doorway as she looked around the glasses filled with juice he had served around the table.

She quickly scanned the room and saw that Mrs. Weasley was just about to drink – the first one to drink.

Harry had quickly sensed her presence and had looked up at her direction.

He raised a glass in his hand that he just finished filling up.

"Try some?" he asked her as he nodded at the glass. "I made it, 'Mione."

It was the word that triggered enough panic and response in Hermione's system.

Hermione did not know exactly what she had done but soon she found herself being strangled to calm down by Bill and Charlie at the other end of the room.

Everyone was staring at her.

She had come running inside the dining hall, screaming at everyone to not drink the juice and had literary attacked the glass out of Mrs. Weasley's hand as she was about to take a sip.

Hermione had reached for the pitcher half-filled of it from the table and had knocked it down over the floor.

"Don't drink it!" she kept yelling as she stared with wild eyes at Harry. "Don't drink it!"

Fleur had quickly ran back towards the dining hall upon hearing the mayhem.

She covered her mouth in shock as she saw Hermione being strangled by her husband and Charlie to a corner as she fought against them.

Ginny and quickly grabbed Mrs. Weasley at the side of the room to calm her a little as she was too shock at Hermione's actions to every comprehend what had just happened.

Harry was staring quietly at Hermione while Mr. Weasley had quickly waved his wand around to clean up the mess that had become around the room.

"What's going on?" Fleur asked staring at Bill who had Hermione's hands behind her back as she kicked herself free from him.

"Don't know!" Bill said over the commotion. "She just attacked mum –"

"She attacked the glass in mum's hand-" Charlie corrected as he tried to help Bill restrain Hermione out of the kitchens.

Fleur stood frozen at the spot as they stared at Hermione kicking and screaming and pointing at the spilled juice all over the dining hall.

"What's gotten into her?" Ginny asked as she settled Mrs. Weasley at the end of the room.

"Mum are you-"

"I'm fine, Gin. I'm alright." Mrs. Weasley breathlessly answered still wearing the expression of shock.

"She just ran in here and just grabbed the glass out of mum's hand." Ginny told Fleur who started to wave her wand around to help clean the messed up and spoiled food over the dining table.

"She what?"

"She started going berserk over the pitcher of juice right after." Ginny supplied staring at the now empty pitcher.

"Ze juice?" Fleur asked with a raised brow.

Ginny merely nodded.

They could still hear Hermione screaming at the living room.

Hermione watched with wild eyes as Harry stared down at her with his hands crossed over his chest.

Bill and Charlie were both holding her down the couch in the living room and glaring reluctantly at her and back at Harry as if thinking if they should hex her or not.

"She's fine, she's fine. Please let her go." Harry whispered as he pulled up a chair and sat in front of Hermione.

"Harry, she's not-"

"She's alright, Bill. I will talk to her. She's stressed out." Harry said emphasizing the word. "She did not have a good night sleep."

Bill and Charlie stared at one another then loosened their grips over Hermione who had somewhat calmed herself down but was still glaring at Harry.

"What happened?" Charlie asked unable to comprehend the situation that took place.

"Hermione, why did you just do that?" Bill asked him as he stood tall with Charlie at either side of Harry.

"Yeah, Hermione." Harry slowly said in a calm voice that was nowhere accusatory not shock as Bill and Charlie.

Hermione stared up at him and she was at loss at for words and she did not know how to explain her behavior.

Harry was staring quietly at her as if daring her to say anything to the two of the eldest Weasleys in the room.

He had obviously displayed what was a mocked action of what he could actually do without anyone getting the gist of it. It was true that he could poison and kill any of them without any of their knowing the better.

"I don't.." Hermione began unable to look at the two Weasleys straight in the eye. "I'm sorry.. I was just…"

"Stressed?" Harry supplemented.

Hermione shot him a glance.

"Yes. _Stressed."_ Hermione answered in gritted teeth.

Bill looked did not look convinced at her.

"Hermione, I do not want to offend you." Bill began staring closely at her. "But you really do not look good. You look as if you're not eating well and not getting enough sleep. Do you want to go to the hospital later? I'm sure Fleur and Ginny could somehow accompany you and-"

"No, she's fine." Harry cut him out.

The two brothers stared at him.

"Can I have a moment with Hermione?" he gently asked them. "Let me talk to her. I'm sure she feels more comfortable.."

They stared at him and immediately agreed.

"Please?"

"Fine." Charlie said giving a small smile. "We'll be in the kitchens if you need us, Harry." he gave Hermione a nod and together with his brother, they both left the living room.

Hermione glanced hopelessly at them.

She couldn't give signals and could only stare at their backs with a pleading gaze.

She was shaken back to reality when she heard the door snap close.

Harry had locked the door and had placed a Silencing Charm.

He walked forward her with the same glimmer in his eyes as he sat at the chair he pulled in front of her with his arms crossed over him.

"Well?" Hermione asked him. "Are you happy?"

Harry stared at her for a quiet moment.

Then he slowly reached for her and rested his hand over her leg.

Hermione flinched at his touch but she did not move away.

"Happy?" Harry asked him with a smug look over his face. " _I'm ecstatic,_ Hermione."

"Go to hell Harry." Hermione tearfully spat at him.

Harry gave a condescending laugh at her.

"Snape will go first." he told her. "I'm going to make sure of that."

"You're not going to get away with this."

"Actually." Harry said moving closer to her. "I'm already getting away with it."

Harry leaned closer and placed his other hand over her other leg and began to gently massage the area in between her thighs.

Hermione was shaking in anger and silently crying as she stared down at the monster he had become.

"I like this, 'Mione." Harry whispered at her with a triumphant glimmer in his emerald eyes.

"This thing – our thing- just like the old days. When we keep secrets just between the two of us – when we keep things just to ourselves."

 _It might have been an old ink bottle or glass case or a jar of some sort that had fallen but neither Harry nor Hermione cared as Harry carried her up over the desk._

 _Their breathing were labored and Harry's member was just as excited and wet Hermione was already between her legs._

 _"Harry, are you sure that nobody will-"_

 _"They're all busy downstairs at the meeting." Harry said nipping her neck as he had his other hand behind her back unclasping her bra and the other quite busy beneath her blouse and over her hardened nipples._

 _"Someone might come in-"_

 _"It's half past one, 'Mione." Harry quickly unbuttoned the rest the buttons over her blouse as he kissed and nipped every part of her chest he could reach._

 _"But Harry—" Hermione moaned unable to even speak clearly as Harry set jolts of excitement all over her._

 _"They've been in there for three long hours." Harry breathed heavily mentally taking note to reach for his wand to lock the door. "I'm quite sure that nobody will interrupt."_

 _Hermione nodded and giggled mischievously as her hand reached down for the inside of Harry's pants and she began to massage his long member that has been longing for her for days now._

 _Harry moaned inside their lip-locked mouths as he felt Hermione's excited long fingers taking the better out of him._

 _"Sleep in my bedroom tonight." Harry whispered. "I'll sneak you in or something or something. I'll talk to Ginny to make Ron sleep in the other room."_

 _Hermione giggled at the prospect of it._

 _She felt excited at the idea of breaking some sort of rule – breaking some sort of rule with Harry._

 _It felt different – to be in a relationship with him and to have things and secrets shared only by the two of them. She felt quite glad to be in some sort of normal and not for mere display time of relationship for the first time in her life._

 _"If professor Lupin does not sleep here tonight." Hermione whispered back, flinching slightly as Harry bit her lower lip, groaning excitedly at the prospect of sleeping with Harry in his bedroom for the third time._

 _They were not sure really when the feelings or the 'sparks' between them had begun, but it sure were quite explosive when it did._

 _It might have been Hermione's comforting letters, words and presence around Harry right after Sirius' death that might have triggered Harry's longing for someone to love and care for him that soon had him sending her back notes and jokes that definitely crossed the line of their being bestfriends._

 _The feelings were mutual and reciprocated with enough just and lust._

 _The two were just as excited to go back to Hogwarts in a week or so with someone to call as 'girlfriend' and 'boyfriend' – even just in secret._

 _Despite the dangers their relationship could bring once the Dark Lord and his loyal servants find out about them, Harry and Hermione decided to hold on to their relationship and only let a handful of people to know about them with Lupin being one of the handful._

 _Despite that nobody could really tell – not even Harry and Hermione themselves- if the relationship was quite serious or long, it did not matter at the moment. For that was their new goal and aspiration in this newfound aspect of their lives - to just live each they and let things go as long as they were together._

 _"Harry, stop-" Hermione giggled as Harry's hand had slowly come down to her legs and he was massaging the lines in the inner of her thighs, teasing her mercilessly._

 _"Harry, I said – stop-" Hermione's eyes were fluttering at the sensation of his mouth around her neck and his hand between her thighs, "I think I heard something down the hallway-"_

 _"It's just your imagination." Harry whispered nipping her neck as he pushed her legs apart over the desk so he could touch her better._

 _"No, I think I did hear something –" Hermione said forcing to bring herself in control of the situation._

 _"'Mione, everyone's downstairs – nobody is going to-"_

 _"No, I think I heard-" Hermione opened her eyes at the sound she has heard and she almost screamed._

 _Snape was standing by the doorway with his hands crossed over his chest and was staring at them in a manner that Hermione couldn't tell if amusement or annoyance._

 _But he definitely looked like he had been standing there for quite some time._

 _"Professor Snape-"_

 _"What-" Harry asked slightly irritated upon hearing the name._

 _"Harry, stop – professor Snape-"_

 _"What about the git-"_

 _Hermione pushed Harry off him and nodded towards the doorway._

 _Snape's presence alarmed the both and they both scrambled off the desk in the room and had begun zipping, buttoning and putting their clothes back altogether._

 _"Mr. Potter." Snape softly whispered entering the room even without invitation._

 _Harry had closed his pants back and had halfway managed to straighten back his own clothes while Hermione had managed her somehow button back her blouse whilst she was already half-nake earlier before Snape could reach them._

 _Harry stood straight and had moved himself in front of Hermione in his attempt to cover her as she hastily pulled her skirt back in place._

 _They were both red, flustered and breathless and guilt smelled all over the place just as the heat and lust that rose around the room._

 _Snape stared at them for a moment without really knowing how he was going to reprimand the two as they were not in the school grounds and neither were child to be told off upon doing such an act._

 _"How did you get up here?" Harry breathlessly asked him._

 _Snape stared at him for a moment then his eyes rested towards Hermione who just finished buttoning her blouse and was looking frightened behind Harry at the sight of him._

 _"Lupin would like to talk to you downstairs." Snape had simply said. "He and Mrs. Weasley would like to get the schedule of the three of you-" he nodded towards Hermione, "in regards of the schedule for which you would have to go to Diagon Alley to buy your new school materials for your sixth year."_

 _Harry nodded at him while Hermione looked away from Snape's accusatory glare._

 _"I also need to inform you that you're ought to take Potions within the school year in order to compliment your dreams of becoming… an Auror."_

 _His black eyes ran from Harry and had swayed momentarily at Hermione's direction for which it caught sight of her skin that she had not properly mustered to cover up completely._

 _"We'll be downstairs." Harry said with a dignified look over his face. "You can get out now, professor."_

 _Snape's eyes flashed at him but he did not say anything for a moment._

 _He opened his mouth but they both heard Lupin calling for Harry immediately downstairs as Kreacher was doing something that he wasn't supposed to be doing._

 _"I guess duty calls." Snape simply said with an annoying smile._

 _"Yeah, I heard." Harry snapped at him. He turned back at Hermione. "Follow downstairs."_

 _Hermione only nodded at him and Harry glared at Snape but did not say anything._

 _"Learn your priorities, Potter." Snape called back on him as he was halfway leaving the room._

 _Harry slowly turned back at him._

 _"Learn to knock, professor. This is my house – I can bloody do whatever I want."_

 _And then he left and only his quick footsteps down the stairs could be heard by the other two._

 _Hermione swallowed hard and looked away as Snape stared back at her._

 _"Professor," Hermione began, "we're sorry, we just-"_

 _"Kindly fix your clothes, Miss Granger." Snape slowly said as he gestured and slowly turned away from her and waited._

 _Hermione realized that she had buttoned her blouse at all the wrong places, thus her bra that wasn't exactly in the correct place could be slightly viewed and her skirt was also askew that the inner of her right leg was showing._

 _She quickly unbuttoned and buttoned everything back in the right place and had pulled her skirt down into place._

 _"Sorry, professor." Hermione said. "But thanks. Done." Hermione said and Snape slowly faced her again._

 _He glanced back at her. His black eyes were seemingly gazing through every inch of her as if searching for something else that might be wrong._

 _Her face was still flustered and she somewhat looked stunning and glowing beneath the moonlight that reached through the room._

 _He blinked and blinked the thoughts away._

 _"Professor?"_

 _"You do understand, Miss Granger, how untimely this is?" he asked her coldly. "You understand how this may distract Potter from his goals and what he is supposed to do?"_

 _Hermione blinked and stared at him._

 _"He's not distracted." she defiantly said. "And I'm with him – though all this. And I'm guiding him and-"_

 _"He's about to be sixth year at school and he could barely brew a proper potion, Miss Granger. How do you think he could save lives and this as distraction as we near the end of the war?"_

 _"Distraction?" Hermione repeated taking a step forward him. "You think I am a distraction to Harry?"_

 _Snape did not say anything. He wasn't sure why he was so annoyed at the student in front of him and why it boiled his blood earlier upon walking into them and their little act._

 _"I'm only stating that this is not the time in his life for him to have a… " he paused looking for the right word or rather insult to call her but he somehow could not find anything that was mocking or insulting enough to call her. Not when in secretly, he actually and deeply thought that she looked rather 'distractingly flattering and stunning' at the moment._

 _"A girlfriend?" Hermione coldly helped him out._

 _Snape blinked at her._

 _"A kinky friend."_

 _Hermione was shaking in anger. But she could not – even outside school premises – answer a teacher. It was beyond her perspectives unlike Harry and Ron who preferred otherwise even within Hogwarts._

 _"I'm not-" Hermione said unable to control her shaking voice. "I'm not what you think I am-"_

 _She angrily grabbed her bag from the floor and had made her way to the door when she suddenly turned back to Snape._

 _She walked right in front of him and looked him up in the eye – gazing at him as if challenging him._

 _Snape was too shocked to say anything as she stood so close to him. He could smell her scent from their proximity - even the smell of her 'unfinished business' with Harry earlier._

 _"Why are you such a bitter person?" Hermione angrily said giving him a spiteful glare._

 _Snape's black eyes glinted. Hermione looked as if she was ready to slap him._

 _She could possibly not do so, but answering to him just cause she could at the moment, definitely did not stop her from doing so – they were not at school grounds anyway._

 _But before he could do anything or say anything, Hermione had already turned and had stormed out of the room, banging the door noisily behind her._


	16. Chapter 16

_**Chapter Sixteen**_

 _ **Bruises**_

Hermione had finished packing her things when she heard a commotion down the hallway.

They seemed to be in some argument and they could hear them telling Harry off about something.

Hermione quickly zipped her bag close and went for the door and listened closely.

She could hear the loud voices of Harry arguing with Bill and Mr. Weasley for some reason.

She was about to go out and go downstairs when she heard angry and fast footsteps racing up the stairs.

She backed away from the door; it banged open with a very angry looking Harry at the doorway.

"How did you do that?" Harry angrily asked her. " _How did you let them know they could do that?"_

"Do what?" Hermione asked him. "What are you talking about that I've done-"

Hermione was so confused by his words and the commotion that she barely felt the sharp slap that ran across her face that she had received from Harry's angry stance.

"Harry!"

Hermione looked up behind him and saw the Weasleys standing and looking very worried.

One glance and she saw Bill was holding some sort of crumpled parchment in his hand and Mrs. Weasley looking very worried.

She stared back up at Harry who was still looking as if not only Christmas had been cancelled but a prior important Quidditch game.

"What's going on?" Hermione cried looking aghast at them all. .

Everyone was worried – about Harry.

Apparently and unfortunately nobody had seen how fast his hand gesture had been the moment he entered the room.

"I think we need to go home." Harry angrily said grabbing Hermione's cloak from the bed. "Come with me-"

"Harry dear, don't make hasty decisions – Arthur and Bill and can go down this afternoon at the Ministry and-" but Harry no longer listened to Mrs. Weasley.

Harry had grabbed Hermione's hand painfully and had literary dragged her out of the room in front of everyone.

Hermione could hear them worriedly telling Harry to calm himself down and to not make any bad decisions as he dragged her down the stairs with him with his wand out in his other hand.

"What's going on?" she attempted to ask as she painfully staggered down the steps to catch up with his fast pace.

He looked vicious.

He looked ready to murder someone at that moment.

It took her a while around the commotion to understand what Bill was saying.

The Ministry of Magic had sent a note to remind Harry about the schedule of the next trial and that they should be prepared for the accused had been provided for by a Defense Council.

Hermione wasn't sure of all the aspect, prospect and the positive effect of it to Snape and his case, but it sure has of some sort because Harry did not look please at all.

If she recalls it correctly, it was some sort of version of a Muggle lawyer in the Wizarding World. However, differences in law from both worlds had narrowed down the ability of convicts and wanted wizards and witches in the latter world to be able get hold of one.

There were only two reasons a criminal may be able to get such a Defense Council – first is their professional privilege – this meant if the convicted or wanted individual is a professional of some sort he has the favor to be given one if he chooses so.

And the second, is if the individual has a great sum or amount of money for one because in the Wizarding World they were one of the most expensive costing professions to hire.

Apparently, whoever gave and provided the services knew that Snape could be entitled to both privileges.

The first one being his title as a 'Hogwarts Professor' – a title he has never lost and would only do so once he in convicted guilty. And the second, someone obviously had enough money to parade around to hire one for him.

Three guesses who.

 _"Draco.."_ Hermione quietly thought to herself.

She snapped back to reality the moment they reached the landing of the stairs.

Bill and Charlie were blocking their way while Mrs. Weasley was trying to give him reasons not to leave.

"I think it best if Hermione stays behind –"

"She's not staying behind!" Harry angrily yelled at Mrs. Weasley.

Everyone stared at him for what he had done.

"Hey." Bill said warningly as he pulled his wand out. "Calm yourself, Harry. No need to yell at mum."

Harry pointed his wand then at Bill and Charlie had raised his own wand in defense for his brother.

"Come Harry, you want to take this outside?" Charlie asked him raising his wand further at the level of Harry's eyes.

"Perhaps you'd like to do it the old-fashioned way, eh?" Bill asked with his free hand clenching at the side.

"Boys!" Fleur angrily yelled.

She angrily said something in French then stood in front of Bill and glared daringly at Harry.

"Hermione, I think it best if you go home for now." Fleur calmly said but she also looked like she was ready to aim a wand at Harry if she had one at the moment.

Hermione had never seen Fleur quite as angry yet restrained at a wand being pointed at the face of her husband.

"We can talk about this." Ginny implored as she reached the scene and was staring concernedly at Hermione whose wrist was already red from Harry's grip.

"Harry, dear.. please calm down.." Mrs. Weasley bravely said making a step forward although she was already also prepared to whip her wand out should Harry do something uncalled for.

"I just want to leave with Hermione. I want to go home with her." Harry said trying to control his anger as he stared at the people around them who looked alarmed with his actions.

Hermione looked around her.

They may be outnumbered, but Harry's wand was already out and he looked so angry he could possibly Avada everyone in the room.

"We'll be fine." Hermione said.

She nodded towards Mrs. Weasley and carefully eyed Bill to slowly lower his wand.

 _"Harry?"_ Hermione softly called and it seemed to have taken some calming effect on Harry.

She took her other hand and gently touch his that was over her other wrist.

"Harry, let's go home?" Hermione calmly said holding his wand arm gently. "We can talk about this there. At home? You want to go home with me, right?"

Harry did not answer.

His gaze was transfixed on the floor and he looked like he was debating whether he should argue further or listen to Hermione's voice that was gently calling his name.

He could feel her soft touch over his. It was like she had not touched him this gentle for the longest time.

"I just want to go home." Harry had quietly said and he slowly looked up.

Harry's emerald eyes met hers.

Hermione could swear that he saw Harry in those eyes – the Harry she had fallen in love with.

"Yes." she said quickly nodding at him and taking his hand into hers, "We're going home, Harry."

Hermione slowly held his hand and gently took his other to lower his wand down.

"Bill, we're going home." Hermione said in a louder tone. "We'll see you soon." Hermione said moving herself closer to Harry so he could hold her hand.

Bill slowly lowered his wand upon seeing Harry do the same first.

He looked at Charlie and nodded and Mrs. Weasley gave Hermione an assuring glance.

Sooner than she thought as they walked out of the house and out into the lawn and Hermione felt Harry's wandless magic working and the familiar magic and pull of Disapparation.

 _"What's going on?" Draco asked as he opened his eyes with a terrible headache._

 _He looked around him with his head searing in pain._

 _He was on his bed in his room at the Malfoy Manor and his mother was sitting on an armchair next to the bed._

 _She was staring at him with eyes seriously transfixed upon him._

 _"Mother?" he asked in the darkened room._

 _Narcissa stared at his son._

 _She was not sure if she should be angry or he should pity him._

 _Snape had just Obliviated him a few hours ago after seeing the both of them at a small inn._

 _He wasn't supposed to see her nor was he supposed to see his godfather._

 _And Snape was nowhere supposed to harm him in any sort of way but they did not have much choice._

 _"How are you feeling?" Narcissa coldly asked him._

 _"Terrible." Draco muttered sitting on his bed and looking for his wand._

 _Her mother stared, closely and quietly observing if Snape's magic worked._

 _Well, it wasn't a question really as she knew it had worked but she did not want to be complacent with glitches._

 _"What happened?" Draco asked her._

 _"Why don't you tell me?" Narcissa asked back with a raised brow._

 _Draco breathed heavily and tried to think._

 _He could not recall what had happened exactly._

 _"I was practicing spells with aunt Bella." Draco slowly said as he tried to recall the latest memories he could possibly view inside his mind's eyes._

 _"And?" Narcissa slowly asked, fishing._

 _"And then Astoria came and visited. She had something to tell me…We had drinks at father's study.. and.." Draco stopped and looked up at his mother who stared quietly at her._

 _The incident for which he remembered happened two days ago exactly._

 _Snape had extracted a little bit of more than what he should have had in the first place._

 _Perhaps he wasn't sure from where he should begin the charm and so he just decided to completely erase a day or two worth of memories from Draco._

 _"Did we make a mess in his study?" he asked worriedly._

 _Narcissa unfolded her arms and stood up._

 _"Dinner is ready at the dining hall or would you like it to be served here?" she asked coldly._

 _In truth, she was calm._

 _She would have to tell off the elves later about certain things they should answer should Draco ask them about anything._

 _After all, she already did the same with the girl – scaring her off the Malfoy way should she ever dare come back to the manor or anywhere near Draco._

 _"Mother-"_

 _"The next time you drink with Miss Greengrass, make sure that you have finished doing your training with your aunt Bella and you should not do it in your father's study. By all means, Draco – keep it here inside your room. I shall not be bothered again by such irresponsible actions!"_

 _"What did I do?" Draco asked almost yelling at her._

 _He had completely no recollection of what he had done for the past couple of hours._

 _"You were a day unconscious my dearest boy because you've taken too much drink with Miss Greengrass. Too much drink that you've cost some mess in your father's study – and I, your mother – literary had to drag you from that part of the Manor until here into your room. Have you no shame, Draco!"_

 _Draco did not say anything._

 _He did not remember being that drunk or drinking that much._

 _Something seemed amiss._

 _He needed to talk to Astoria and ask her soon enough what had transpired the moment she left the manor._

 _Well, that was if she was going to find her again or perhaps his mother had already scared the wits out of her._

 _Draco watched as Narcissa stood up to leave the room._

 _"Have you seen my wand?" Draco asked her._

 _"Your wand is with me. " Narcissa answered. "You can get it from me once you've finished your dinner and have rested well enough." Narcissa snapped coldly._

 _Draco did not like it when his own mother meddled with his affairs or his little agenda around the manor that kept him from feeling like they were prisoners of their own home._

 _Draco looked up at her for another spiteful answer when his eyes grew wide._

 _Narcissa's nose was slowly bleeding._

 _"Mother-" he said quickly getting to the end of the bed with panic rising through his chest._

 _"What?" Narcissa asked looking scandalized over Draco's actions._

 _"Your nose – it's bleeding-" Draco said as he quickly got off the bed and ran to his dresser._

 _Narcissa quickly wiped the blood by the back of her hand with alarm completely written all over her face._

 _She could hear Draco panicking at the other end of the room as he fought to look for anything that could be used._

 _He returned to her shortly with a small cloth in his hand but Narcissa had already wiped the blood away and it had also stopped from bleeding._

 _"What's going on?" Draco asked her as he handed her the cloth._

 _Narcissa took it and wiped the back of her hand with it. She turned away from Draco._

 _"It's nothing." Narcissa simply answered staring away from Draco. "I'm only stressed out."_

 _"Stressed out?" Draco asked him. "You want me to believe you're stressed out?"_

 _"Who wouldn't be stressed out inside this house?" she angrily said._

 _"No, mother." Draco said facing her. "I'm not an idiot. Please don't think I'm an idiot."_

 _"I know you're not." Narcissa quietly said straightening herself up and standing tall before Draco._

 _They glared coldly at one another._

 _"This is the third time I've seen that happen. What is going on?" Draco seriously asked her._

 _Narcissa stared at her own boy._

 _She didn't want to lie but she needed to. ._

 _"Draco-"_

 _"Do not lie to me." Draco warned her his eyes glinting. "You hear me? I'm not some idiot. I've seen this happen before – something is wrong – no, I've seen you! I've this happen when aunt Bella arrived the other day and the other night father even tended to you-"_

 _Narcissa did not say anything but she wouldn't let her guard down._

 _"It's my loss of appetite and stress from the situations at hand, Draco. It's nothing to be worried about."_

 _"Are you sure about that?" Draco slowly asked completely unconvinced by her excuses._

 _Narcissa stared at her own son._

 _She knew the mistakes she had done so in raising him but right now, she could only see the boy whom she loved dearly and who she knew deep down knows how to love._

 _"Yes." Narcissa quietly answered him. "I'm quite sure, Draco that there is absolutely nothing to be worried about."_

 _"I said, I'm not comfortable!" Hermione angrily said pushing McLaggen away._

 _It was half past one in the morning already and they were standing near an alcove in the castle._

 _Hermione had been waiting for Harry to finish by any chance of any luck for his task with Slughorn and the other boy had been toying his time away with her._

 _"Oh come on, 'Mione-"_

 _"Do not call me that!" Hermione angrily said as she tried to move herself away from the boy whose hands were tight around her waist._

 _"What?" he asked her angrily. "Everyone calls you that-"_

 _"Not everyone." Hermione corrected him coldly._

 _She looked up at the boy and was ready to pull her wand out any minute now._

 _His eyes flashed at her, her defiance and rejection seemed to amuse him further._

 _"Just one kiss – just one kiss Hermione, and I swear I will-"_

 _"You swear you will what?" asked a cold voice._

 _They both stopped and turned around._

 _Potions Master, Severus Snape, stood tall a few feet from them and were staring menacingly at either of them._

 _"Professor Snape.." Hermione breathlessly said quickly straightening herself up and pulling down the dress that McLaggen had been successful into pulling up so he could glorify himself by touching her inner thighs._

 _"And what would the two of you be doing here?" he asked slowly as he walked forward them._

 _"Professor Slughorn's party-" McLaggen began but Snape interrupted him._

 _"Had been over a few hours ago." Snape told him. "In a few hours it's dawn already. Certainly, there is that word 'curfew' you are aware of?"_

 _Neither of them spoke as Snape continued to stare them both._

 _Snape glanced from the boy then at Hermione who looked back at him with a pleading glance._

 _Despite his appearance, she seemed to have never been so relief in her entire life to see his presence._

 _"I'm just escorting Hermione back to her dormitory." McLaggen defiantly said._

 _Snape's eyes flashed in anger._

 _He looked back at the boy._

 _"Do you think I'm a fool, boy?" he asked him angrily. "Gryffindor tower is the other way around!"_

 _Neither of the two students spoke._

 _Hermione could tell that this was not going to end that well._

 _"Can't we stroll around?" he spat back at Snape. "Can't we stroll around to finish our date?"_

 _"Your date?" Snape repeated._

 _He glared at Hermione for a moment who was brushing the side of her arm and she did not look pleased at all with the boy's answer._

 _She was staring at him as if quietly telling him that it was not that way._

 _"But it looks and sounds to me as if Miss Granger is being harassed here."_

 _Snape nodded at Hermione's pale form and dress that was askew from the boy's advantages._

 _McLaggen did not say anything but his face turned pale._

 _"Should I just take off points since you're still out of bed after curfew and in a corridor that is leading to one of the forbidden areas of the castle?" Snape slowly asked. "Or should we go straight to the headmaster and tell him that one of his students is harassing another? I'm quite sure that harassment at Hogwarts is not tolerated and certainly exceeds the boundaries of suspension."_

 _"Professor Snape, he was just-"_

 _"Silence, Miss Granger. Let us hear what he has to say."_

 _McLaggen did not say anything but his fists were clenching at his sides._

 _"Very well." Snape said. "Fifteen points from your house, Mr. McLaggen. And get out of my sight."_

 _The boy did not seem to care nor wait for Snape to punish Hermione as he had quickly gone and ran out of the corridor without another word._

 _Hermione stared after him, shook her head and quickly turned to leave when Snape grasped her wrist._

 _"Professor-"_

 _"Not so fast, Miss Granger." Snape slowly asked her._

 _Hermione looked up at him and at the hand around hers._

 _"Professor Snape?"_

 _"Are you alright?" he asked her gently._

 _Snape stood still, holding her wrist to stop her from walking far from him but he did not look at her._

 _Hermione was quiet and did not know how to respond._

 _She was not alright._

 _And she could not thank the heavens more that Snape had arrived just on time._

 _She had enough to drink from Slughorn's party and the only reason she had agreed to bring the boy to the party was so that people around them – who had been spreading rumours and suspecting her dating Harry – would no longer think of them being together._

 _Despite their relationship and status, the headmaster best advised at the moment that they did not share publicly whatever it was that they have for safety reasons._

 _Not only for obvious reasons but because of Hermione's blood status for which the Dark Lord's loyalists would be excited about to eliminate without hesitation._

 _Harry was to take another for the party as she was._

 _They agreed despite that Harry was already correct in his instincts about Hermione's preference of boy to bring._

 _Hermione promised she could take good care of herself but the drinks they had at the party and Harry's very late attempt to get information from Slughorn had brought her into the unwanted situation she had just experienced._

 _Snape had just been very much timely but she would never tell him how glad she was to have him interrupt them._

 _"I'm fine, professor." Hermione quietly answered him. "Thank you."_

 _"Do you have a bruise?" Snape asked. "Did he hurt you?"_

 _Hermione quickly looked up at him._

 _She did not know how exactly he knew but he was right._

 _McLaggen had forced her into the spot and alcove earlier that she had hit the right of her arm against the stone wall. For sure, there would be a bruise there somewhere._

 _"It's alright." Hermione quietly answered. "I will tend to it."_

 _Snape let her arm go and she slowly lowered it without taking her eyes from Snape._

 _Snape heavily breathed and slowly turned to her._

 _"Where's your boyfriend? Shouldn't he be your date tonight?" Snape's voice was somewhat cold as he asked the question._

 _Hermione stared back at him and felt slightly embarrassed at the term._

 _"Shouldn't you be with Potter?" he asked her as he folded his arms._

 _"I was waiting for him." Hermione had said. "To finish his business with professor.." Hermione's voice trailed off as she realized that she wasn't sure if that information was to be shared with Snape._

 _Snape did not say anything._

 _He wasn't that informed yet but he was somewhat well aware of Harry's attempt of gaining some information for Slughorn and perhaps tonight was one of his rendezvous to try out for it._

 _"Harry and I decided we can't be seen much in public." Hermione's voice suddenly came back. "But I was waiting for him to finish on something.. that's when McLaggen tried to.. I'm alright professor."_

 _Snape stared at her concernedly._

 _He wasn't sure how to handle the situation at hand but she looked nowhere near grave danger._

 _"Tell Potter that the headmaster is expecting him at his office later today as soon as he can."_

 _"Yes, professor."_

 _"And please, do your best to not take chances with boys like the one you dated tonight as the circumstances are quite.. unwanted."_

 _Hermione only nodded at him._

 _Was the man concerned for her well-being?_

 _"Yes, professor Snape." Hermione said with a small smile at him. "I'll keep that in mind."_

 _"And-" Snape slowly said before turning from her. "Fifteen points from Gryffindor, Miss Granger."_

 _"What?" Hermione cried with eyes wide and suddenly feeling scandalized. "What did I-"_

 _"You see, you too are out of bounds at this time of the night and you are very drunk from the party. Is this anywhere decent for a lady and student like yourself?"_

 _Hermione couldn't say anything even if she wanted too._

 _Yes, it was truth they were out after curfew hours but did he not witness how she was harassed?_

 _She hated him._

 _She will take back all the gratitude she just had as a mental note to herself._

 _"But he was- We came from professor Slughorn's – professor, wait you cannot -"_

 _"You're very drunk. You could barely walk. Do you understand?" Snape spitefully pointed out._

 _Hermione no longer argued._

 _He was right._

 _The only reason she agreed for McLaggen to escort her back to Gryffindor tower was indeed because of her state at the moment._

 _She could barely think and walk straight half an hour ago due to the drinks they had._

 _"Sorry, professor." Hermione answered him. "I will go back to our tower now."_

 _Snape watched her defeated features as she limped her way from him._

 _She could barely walk._

 _"Miss Granger!" he called after her._

 _Hermione did not stop from walking._

 _"Miss Granger!" Snape called again, clenching his fists as he strode after her._

 _"Hermione!" Snape called her name out loudly._

 _Hermione halted._

 _She paused and slowly turned to him just as Snape reached her._

 _She looked up at him with a questioning glare from her dazed and sleepy eyes._

 _"Professor?" she asked quietly looking up at him._

 _Snape stared at her as if confused for a moment._

 _Hermione stared blankly at him, waiting._

 _"Professor Snape, what do you-"_

 _"Let's go to the dungeons." Snape coldly said. "I'll mend your bruise."_

 _Hermione blinked and stared._

 _Did she hear him correctly?_

 _"S-sorry?" she asked to make sure she heard right. "Did you say-"_

 _"I said, I'll mend your bruise down the dungeons and escort you to Gryffindor Tower."_

 _"I think I'm-"_

 _"I also need my book back."_

 _Hermione stared for a moment trying to comprehend what he said._

 _She suddenly remembered the book she had borrowed from him two weeks ago._

 _She had almost forgotten that it was still with her._

 _"Oh." Hermione said. "Right. The book. Yes, sure professor. I will – it's in our room – I mean, girls' dormitory and-"_

 _But Snape had already turned and had gestured that she follow him down the dungeons._

 _A few minutes later, Hermione found herself sitting on a stool while patiently waiting and watching as Snape brew some kind of paste over the table._

 _He was quiet the whole half hour he had been working around her._

 _"It won't be finished for five more minutes." Snape said after a while._

 _He walked to her side of the long table in his work area and offered a goblet with something warm inside it._

 _"To ease your headache in the morning from everything you've drunk tonight." Snape simply told her without looking at her._

 _Hermione just stared at the goblet for quite some time._

 _"It will also drain and ease the drunken feeling you have at the moment."_

 _Hermione nodded twice at him._

 _She really did not comprehend what was happening around her._

 _She felt quite exhausted and sleepy to the point that she felt she could just sleep on the table._

 _"Miss Granger?" Snape called out on her._

 _He stared and nodded over the goblet._

 _Hermione nodded at him and then she reached out for the goblet and slowly drank its contents._

 _It tasted like some rose tea and it was warm and comforting against her lips._

 _Hermione sipped the contents slowly as she stayed quiet, slowly watching him work his way in front of her._

 _He worked quietly but flawlessly in front of her._

 _Brewing and creating potions were really his highest skill._

 _It was his true passion._

 _She had wondered when he had found out himself that this was his true gift._

 _It was one of many things he could do flawlessly she was sure of and it sort of made her curious to know what other things he was well endowed with other than brewing potions._

 _Hermione made a sort of noise and slightly choked over her drink in her mental battle with herself to stop herself from wondering more about her professor's other skills._

 _Snape looked up at her but he did not say anything._

 _He returned his attention to the potion that finished brewing and had slowly turned into paste as it boiled and its surface was displayed through the air._

 _"So that's how you make that." Hermione quietly said. "It's seven times turned left and three times right and twice left again."_

 _Snape stared up at her with a raised brow._

 _"Sorry." Hermione quietly said shaking her head. "I've been trying to make one – for emergency purposes." Hermione quickly added seeing the look over Snape's face._

 _"Really?" he asked as he placed the small amount of paste into a smaller container to let it cool down._

 _"Well, not according to the Potions book. But in Harry's book, there's this side-notes about it being brewed that-" Hermione stopped talking._

 _Harry made her swear before not to tell anyone else about the book he has for Potions and the notes all over it._

 _She might not have agreed to Harry's use of the book but the further he used it, the further it proved that its side-notes were quite more useful and effective than the actual book._

 _"Potter's book?" Snape slowly asked her as he pointed his wand around the table to clear them of all the mess._

 _"I mean his notes." Hermione quickly corrected herself. "His notebook on potions. We've been taking notes together from the library. He copied some things that I did not. I just remembered I read it from his."_

 _Snape did not say anything._

 _He acted neutral and Hermione felt quite relieved._

 _She watched as he took the paste and walked to her side of the table._

 _She finished the rose-tasting potion he made and she sure did feel sober._

 _She watched as Snape pulled up a stool in front of her and slowly sat down as he gently mixed the bluish paste with a miniature paddle-like stick._

 _"I have never seen Potter take notes the entire years he has spent in my class." Snape slowly pointed out as he prepared the paste across the table. "The wonders you can do to enable him to stay put for hours at the library with you is amazing."_

 _"Harry's a responsible student." Hermione confidently said. "He does what he has to do and he can put an effort if he wanted to. And.." Hermione paused unable to continue her words._

 _"And what?" Snape asked, interested._

 _Hermione shook her head._

 _"And what, Miss Granger?"_

 _Hermione hesitated for a moment._

 _"And professor Slughorn has been.. sort of.. giving some fun lectures, advices and stuff to do at Potions that made Harry – well most of us – feel quite excited about the class. But I'm not saying yours wasn't interesting or anything." Hermione quickly added knowing she did learn a lot more in his class than in Slughorn's._

 _Snape snorted at her comment and shook his head but he did not say anything else._

 _"Your arm, Miss Granger." Snape said as he continued to mix the paste that has now turned into a lighter blue colour._

 _Hermione stared at it and could smell it from her position._

 _It smelled a lot like honey._

 _Hermione reluctantly pulled her arm over the table and pulled the thin fabric of her dress so Snape could clearly see where to place the healing paste._

 _Her ivory skin glowed beneath the candle lights that were lit around them in the dungeons._

 _A bluish-green semi-circle bruise was very visible over the side part of her arm in between her forearm and shoulders._

 _Snape's left arm was extended over the table as he waited for her to extend her arm out to him._

 _Hermione breathed deeply as she felt him trace the bruise with his long finger to estimate the amount of paste he would have to place._

 _"This might hurt a little." Snape warned her._

 _Hermione only nodded._

 _Hermione took another deep breathed and watched as Snape dipped the small stick over the paste and had gently placed it over the bruise on her arm._

 _For a moment it felt like nothing, then there was an icy feeling like it was being sliced down._

 _She flinched and writhed in pain but Snape held her arm in place by taking hold of her wrist._

 _"Bloody hell." Hermione muttered unable to control herself._

 _"Blood hell." Snape repeated. "Couldn't you have found yourself a better date?" he suddenly spat at her._

 _Hermione's eyes snapped up at him and for a moment she forgot the pain she was momentarily enduring._

 _She couldn't believe what he was trying to say at the moment._

 _"Excuse me?" she asked him trying to withdraw her arm from him but he wouldn't let go._

 _The paste was slowly dissolving over her skin but it was still slightly burning her._

 _"Couldn't you have found someone who wouldn't hurt you this much? What were you thinking?"_

 _Hermione stared at her unable to retort as the pain seared through her skin._

 _Hermione rolled her eyes disbelievingly before making a retort._

 _"Well Harry and I were thinking that we shouldn't be completely seen in public."_

 _Snape's brow arched a little and he dipped the stick over the paste and added more over her skin – a little more than Hermione thought was enough._

 _She squealed as the painful sensation repeated and twice as painful but Snape still kept a firm hold over her wrist so she couldn't move away from him._

 _The paste stung her so much she could feel her knees weakening at the pain of it._

 _Snape stared as she closed her eyes, bit her lower lip back and forth as if trying to stop herself from saying some swearwords from what she was enduring._

 _"It's not like I really have a lot of decent choices around here." Hermione angrily spat, eyes closed at the pain._

 _Her mind was too occupied with her answer and the pain she endured that she did not see the grin that passed Snape's face as he watched her writhed in pain as a result of her decisions for the night._

 _"Certainly I would have believed you have higher standards, Miss Granger. Mr. McLaggen is decent enough for you already?" he asked her as he dipped the stick for the last time and placed the last bits of paste over her skin._

 _Hermione banged her free hand over the table and terribly cried out in pain._

 _"Well if you wouldn't move as much, it wouldn't hurt as much!" Snape spat at her as he also struggled to hold her writhing form against his firm hold._

 _"You're purposely just throwing it over my skin!" Hermione angrily said as she opened her tearful eyes seeing that the paste were now slowly drying over her skin. "And I'm freaking not moving – how can I bloody move!"_

 _Hermione was so angry that at the moment all she wanted to do was hit his head with the empty cauldron at the end of the table._

 _Snape pulled his wand out and pointed it over the paste along her bruise._

 _He whispered some sort of enchantment and the paste turned into complete ice stuck over her skin._

 _Every bit of pain had vanished and was replaced by a comforting sensation of something damp and cold over her bruise._

 _Hermione opened her eyes and breathed deeply._

 _She stared over the frozen paste over her skin and breathed deeply as she tried to wait for any more pain but none came._

 _"What did you do?" she asked him accusingly._

 _Snape stared at her and simply waited._

 _He still hasn't let her wrist go._

 _They both watched in silence as the ice slowly dissolved over her skin and as soon as it slowly cleared and Hermione's skin was visible again, the bruise was clearly no longer visible there._

 _"I just healed you." Snape said letting her wrist go slowly._

 _Hermione did not say anything as she watched the ice melt away, leaving her skin painless and flawless once more._

 _"That kind of hurt though."_

 _"What did you expect?" Snape snapped at her ungrateful tone. "That it could be healed without any pain at all?"_

 _Hermione's eyes snapped back at him._

 _"Madam Pomfrey healed Neville once and he told us that it was painless."_

 _Snape shook his head and rolled his eyes at her._

 _"You do really fit well to be with Potter what with your ungrateful attitude."_

 _Hermione turned pale._

 _It was not what she meant._

 _"Sorry." Hermione quietly said wiping the melted ice over her skin with the cloth Snape threw at her across the table. "It's not what I meant."_

 _"I'm sure it's not." Snape snapped at her. "You see the problem with you and your friends is that you think everything should be easy – everything should be taught thoroughly, everything should be spoon-fed – you want everything to be easy."_

 _He waved his wand around the table again and cleared all the mess that were left over the table._

 _Hermione felt slightly hurt by that because she knew that she wasn't like that or like any of her schoolmates who felt that way._

 _"I work hard for everything that I've achieved at Hogwarts and at life, professor."_

 _Snape stared up at her and he could swear that he saw a glimmer of tear at the side of her eyes._

 _He opened his mouth to say something but quickly closed it again._

 _He pretended not to hear what she had said._

 _"Does it hurt that way?" Hermione slowly asked him._

 _For a moment he wasn't sure what she was asking and then he realized what she was actually asking him._

 _"I mean, your arm – if it does-"_

 _"It hurts nowhere near what you've just endured." Snape simply said._

 _He waved his wand and the table cleared of everything that was left._

 _"If you are feeling better, Miss Granger, you may go. I will just get the book from you tomorrow. I most probably expect you know your way back to Gryffindor Tower. Should Mr. Filch find you, tell him that you've been here because I asked you to."_

 _Hermione watched as he gathered all the ingredients from the other table and placed them back over their right storage places._

 _"I'm sorry." Hermione quickly said, sensing that she had offended him. "I did not mean to ask about- it was so insensitive of me pro-"_

 _"You may go, Miss Granger. I believe you know your way out."_

 _Hermione did not say anything else anymore._

 _She lowered the sleeve of her dress back to its place and left the room without another word._

"Hermione?" he called out to her walking in the living room.

They have returned to their apartment.

Hermione slowly looked up at him.

She was still slightly shaken about what has happened back at the Weasley's but she barely had any choice.

Harry looked down at her with gentle eyes.

He handed her a cloth.

"It has a special potion." Harry pointed at a saucer that came with the cloth. "Please put it over your arm and the bruise around your neck."

Hermione nodded but she did not say anything.

Harry waited for her to remove the scarf around her neck and began the procedure of placing the cloth that she damped with the potion that Harry had concocted the moment they arrive.

"I'm going to let you stay here in the living room. You can go around and about the house doing whatever you wish to do. But I'll expect you in our bedroom by eight. Is that a deal?"

Hermione stared at him and nodded.

Was everything from now on going to be this way?

"Harry, I'm sorry, about what –"

"I don't want to talk about it." Harry said turning away from her.

"Alright I understand."

"Occupy yourself and your mind with books. I really don't mind what you do around the house as long as you do not leave without my permission. Get some rest because you're going to need it for the next trial."

She watched as he gathered his belongs and his traveling cloak.

"Are you going somewhere?" she asked him as she followed him to the door.

Harry stopped and turned back to her.

"Yes." Harry simply answered. "I'm going to talk to Kingsley about something. Please do not try to escape, Hermione. I will know and you will not want the consequences. Do you understand?"

Hermione stared at his emerald eyes. The eyes that turned warm only for the briefest moment awhile ago.

"Yes." she answered him.

Harry nodded and turned to leave.

He was halfway out of the door when Hermione called him back.

"Is there anything you want for dinner?" she quietly asked him with a small smile. "Anything you would like me to make?"

Harry did not say anything and he looked at her as if he was contemplating what he had just asked him.

Then a smile slowly spread across his cheek.

He walked up to her and suddenly kissed her cheek and gave her an embrace.

"Surprise me, 'Mione." Harry simply said, "I'll be home by seven?" he excitedly asked her.

Hermione nodded at him.

She could slowly understand what was going on with him.

"Perfect then." Harry said kissing her. "I'll be home by seven and I'll buy that pudding you love from Diagon Alley."

Hermione nodded at him and without another word, Harry left and closed the door.

Hermione wanted to cry.

Something had gone terribly wrong with Harry _– emotionally_ – that has affected his way of thinking, his perspective in many things.

He no longer reasoned the normal way and he acted very jealous of everyone that would be around her. He was beyond paranoid and it was not a good sign at all.

She could only try to please him from time to time until she finds a way out of the place and get to Draco for help.

From where she stood, she could see the lights coming out from his wand as he recited spell after spell to charm the house and ward off unwanted people from getting any closer to their premises.

 _"Harry?" a gentle voice called out._

 _Harry turned from the window and saw Ginny enter the door with a smile over her face._

 _"Christmas dinner is ready."_

 _"I'll be right down the stairs, Gin." Harry answered nodding to the mug of hot chocolate in his hand. "I'll just finish this."_

 _Ginny stared as he turned back and stared at the window again._

 _"You're thinking about her, aren't you?" Ginny's voice softly ask._

 _Harry did not answer._

 _Five months._

 _It has been five months since the ambush._

 _Christmas has arrived with many first and changes to his life and the people around him._

 _It was the first time that the Weasleys were literary not complete because of death; first time in many years that he was not with either Ron nor Hermione; first time that he was spending it at the Weasleys' with such a gloom demeanor because of what has happened and most importantly, first Christmas he could have had with Hermione as a real couple._

 _"You think she's having a good Christmas somewhere?" Harry hopefully asked as he continued to stare at the falling snow outside the window._

 _Ginny did not say anything._

 _She saw how he has suffered since he had woken from the coma and how he suffered everyday thinking about her, searching for any news about Hermione. But there was absolutely nothing that came to all his hard work of searching for her._

 _"Maybe." Ginny tearfully answered. "Perhaps she is, Harry."_

 _She wanted to cry._

 _She was as hurt as Harry at seeing him this way._

 _Truth was that, everyone really believed that Hermione has died at that night of the ambush._

 _To have been hit by a curse and to have fallen in deep waters – she was not bound to survive that._

 _But nobody – not a soul – would dare and clarify nor remind that fact to Harry._

 _Not when they knew the consequences at hand._

 _They needed him to hope for something._

 _They needed him to have a will, a reason to live so that he may overcome the challenges that the war was throwing at them._

 _They needed him to have reason to live so that he can be brave enough to withstand the Dark Lord._

 _"I wonder what she's having tonight." Harry said with a smile over his face. "You know we always liked the chocolate pudding at Hogwarts and the treacle tarts and all. But you know Ginny her favourite is this milky flan –" he turned to her with a smile and began describing how it looked like with his hands. "- it's her most favourite. I remember always keeping some spare for her on my plate and then sneaking some more in our dormitory that I'll give her late at night if she's still up and doing assignments."_

 _Ginny nodded at him._

 _She remembered those memories well enough as well._

 _"Harry, let's go downstairs. Mum and the others are waiting."_

 _"Ginny, she's coming back, right?" Harry asked her. "I mean, you believe she's coming back? Because I'm waiting for her. I'm waiting.."_

 _Ginny nodded at him as she tried to cover up the tears in her eyes._

 _"I'm sure Harry." Ginny assured him. "I'm sure Hermione will come back when it's safe – when it's all better out here. I'm sure she will come back and you'd be together again."_

 _"I know." Harry said with another hopeful smile._

 _He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand._

 _"She will come back for me." Harry whispered nodding at her. "Hermione will come home someday."_


	17. Chapter 17

**_Chapter Seventeen_**

 _ **The Defense Council**_

 _"Harry?" Bill called out. "Are you sure you're going to be fine here?"_

 _Harry hurried down the corridor and saw him finishing his own ponytail while Fleur secured the buttons of his traveling cloak._

 _"Yeah." Harry assured him. "We'll be fine. Ron's sleeping and Charlie's-"_

 _"Leaving with Remus." Fleur pointed out. "Tonks is bound to arrive in a few hours."_

 _Bill and Fleur exchanged glares and Harry looked up at them with a confused look._

 _"I thought Remus is staying?" he asked them._

 _The couple stared at one another and Fleur said something in French before slapping Bill's chest._

 _"There were change of plans." Bill began and Fleur gave him another look._

 _"Just say it." Fleur snapped at him and then she said something in French again._

 _Bill looked up at Harry and heavily sighed._

 _"There were change of plans. Remus needs to go to Hogwarts to see the headmaster. And Tonks will unlikely make it in time."_

 _"That's not a problem." Harry said. "It's just a couple of hours. We'd be absolutely fine here."_

 _"That can't be." Bill said. "The headmaster specifically said that you are not to be left alone here."_

 _"It's Grimmauld Place." Harry reminded him. "We're safe here. It's not the three of us here."_

 _Fleur and Bill stared at one another._

 _"The headmaster decided you to be accompanied." Fleur firmly stated as if it was law. "Just don't try his patience. We all don't like him – that's already a given - but he's just also doing his job."_

 _"He?" Harry asked bewildered as he turned to Bill. "What's that? Who's coming?"_

 _Harry looked at him and was to ask when there came some knock upon the door and the portrait was wailing again._

 _"I'll get it." Bill quickly said walking out of the room._

 _Fleur rolled her eyes and turned away from Harry before he could even ask her._

 _It was pretty obvious that the couple was trying to avoid answering him._

 _Harry listened down the hallway as Hermione and Ron came down to help Fleur with the portrait while Bill opened the door._

 _A few minutes later, Harry found himself gawking at Bill as he returned to the kitchens and was closely and quietly followed by none other than Severus Snape._

 _"What's he doing here?" Harry asked, forgetting that he was still his professor._

 _Snape ignored him and stood quietly by the doorway._

 _"Harry." Hermione whispered discreetly taking his hand into hers and pulling her slowly next to her._

 _"Well, as I've said-" Bill began as he eyed Fleur that they were leaving. "-you needed to be watched by an Order member who will stay until the next shift arrives-"_

 _"He will watch over us?" Harry asked pointing at Snape. "Him? Are you serious?"_

 _"Harry!" Hermione gasped pressing his hand into hers._

 _He moved his hand away from her and stared back at Snape with all the hate in him._

 _He did not hold back at his displeasure upon finding out that Snape would have to stay with them for a few hours._

 _"Why him?" Harry bluntly asked as he stared back at the man._

 _Snape's eyebrows quirked._

 _"So much for pointing at your professor, Mr. Potter." Snape said curtly. "I am still your teacher."_

 _Hermione looked away from Snape and turned to Harry whispering something in his ear and pulling him with her._

 _"So much for pointing at your professor, Mr. Potter." Snape quietly said. "I am still your teacher."_

 _"But Bill-" Harry protested still eyeing Snape suspiciously. "We'd prefer to be alone here. We're alright and-"_

 _"Your preference does not matter." Snape interrupted him. "The headmaster and the rest of the Order do not think it appropriate nor safe for you to be left alone unattended. Believe me, as much as you do not want me to be here the feeling is very much mutual."_

 _"And the headmaster thinks we'd be safe with you?" Harry said in a sassy tone. "Is he serious? I think the headmaster is losing his touch in picking who should-"_

 _"Why you little insolent-"_

 _"Professor, sorry!" Hermione suddenly said placing herself between him and Harry. "We don't mean to sound ungrateful."_

 _Snape looked down at her with utmost question in his eyes._

 _"I'm sorry." Hermione said looking back at Harry. "We'll just be in our room. I will make dinner later. Do let me know if there's anything you would like me to make for you."_

 _And with that, she nodded at him and pulled Harry unwillingly with him back down the corridor and up the stairs into their room._

 _Snape's black eyes merely followed them as they disappeared into view with Hermione's whispers echoing as she and Harry debated down the corridor about Snape being there for the night._

 _Half an hour later, Hermione found Snape in the kitchens as if looking for something._

 _She was just about to prepare their dinner._

 _"Professor?" Hermione asked with a reluctant smile. "Would you like some coffee or hot chocolate?"_

 _Snape did not say anything._

 _Hermione nodded to herself and began moving around the kitchen to make a cup of hot chocolate for him just like she had done so for Harry an hour ago._

 _Snape watched her nervous yet flawless movements around the kitchen as she picked up a small coaster, a mug and was warming the water from the stove and had taken out a jar of hot chocolate, sugar and some cinnamon spice from the cabinets._

 _"How are you, professor?" Hermione asked as she moved around the kitchen. "I mean, your summer?"_

 _Snape was barely listening._

 _His eyes were following Hermione's movements and he took a mental note to himself how fluid-like her movements were like and how her voice seemed to trail softly around his ears._

 _"Uneventful." Snape simply said not even meeting her eyes._

 _"Things are quite uneventful here as well." Hermione said. "The boys get bored easily. But well, with my cleaning around the place to keep it and all I'm not very bored."_

 _She was too occupied in forcing some form of small-talk to him and reaching for the cabinet that she did not notice Snape's eyes were unconsciously staring at her legs that were quite bare from the short dress she was wearing._

 _"I mean, we've been here for some time and it really is tiring but-"_

 _"Here, Miss Granger." Snape softly said behind her ears as he quietly crept behind her and had reached for the object she was reaching for_

 _Hermione yelped at surprised but Snape managed to catch her back and steady her before she completely lost her balance._

 _Hermione's heart raced as Snape's hand held her arm and he stood just a few inches from her._

 _It was the first time she had seen him that close and she had noticed that his eyes seemed extremely tired as if he was not sleeping at all._

 _Snape was lost in her stare that he did not realize he was not letting her arm go._

 _"Professor Snape." Hermione quietly said as she gently pushed herself from him._

 _Snape quickly let her hand go and handed her what she was reaching for._

 _Hermione walked to the other side of the kitchen._

 _"Have you been getting enough sleep?" she asked turning away from him._

 _For some reason, her face was so red and that her heart was beating very fast._

 _Hermione pretended to be occupied on what she was doing at the other side of the kitchen to keep her red face away from Snape._

 _"Barely." Snape quietly answered completely unabashed by what just happened._

 _Hermione turned back to the table and saw that Snape had already taken a teaspoon from the container that Hermione had been reaching for and he was already making a hot chocolate for himself._

 _"I was going to offer you tea instead to make you relax." Hermione had said staring at him but he was busy making his drink._

 _He did not answer her._

 _"Right." Hermione muttered to herself._

 _She moved around the kitchen and grabbed a small platter and began taking some scones from the glass container._

 _"Professor, have some of these." Hermione gladly offered. " Fleur and I made them and I think this will taste well with tea or that hot chocolate you're making."_

 _Snape's eyes looked up from the drink he was stirring to the platter of scones and gingerbread Hermione had laid before him._

 _"No thanks, Miss Granger." Snape had said returning his gaze to his drink. "I'm already good with this."_

 _Despite that Hermione felt slightly off by his rejection of the food she only nodded at him._

 _"I'll make dinner early then." Hermione said with a small smile at him. "Tonks will be here soon and I'm sure the two of us can-"_

 _"Please do not bother, Miss Granger." Snape had simply said as he took the mug. "I will be leaving the moment she arrives. I'll be at the leaving room to finish reading some lesson plans. And I'm hoping that there would not be much noise from the three of you since you are no longer kids to be babysit."_

 _And without another word, he left the kitchen leaving Hermione half-confused and half irritated at the way he was acting despite that she tried to be nice and respectful outside of classroom premises._

 _"Hermione! Are you alright?"_

 _"Sorry – what-"_

 _Hermione blinked and stared at Ginny from across the table._

 _Ginny was flicking her fingers in front of her and waving a book right up to her face._

 _"Sorry, what?" Hermione repeated, blinking as she sat up straight._

 _Ginny was staring at her with a raised brow._

 _"You're thinking about Harry." Ginny smartly pointed out with a grin._

 _"No, I'm not." Hermione lied looking away from her._

 _"Oh come on." Ginny groaned at her. "I heard Ron asked Harry this morning about what happened lastnight."_

 _"About what?"_

 _"You tell me." Ginny said smirking. "What happened last night?"_

 _Hermione's face turned red as she tried to hide her embarrassment._

 _Well, nothing happened last night that was for sure._

 _It was just that the two of them snuck out onto Astronomy Tower under Harry's cloak and just watched the view from them._

 _There were too many stars lastnight according to calendar prediction and they did not want to pass it up._

 _Well, the view and ofcourse a couple of kissing session wasn't missed out lastnight._

 _"We just went to the Astronomy Tower." Hermione whispered at her. "Just had some view."_

 _"Some view huh." Ginny said grinning mercilessly. "I have to go, 'Mione."_

 _"Why?" Hermione asked as she helped her pack her things quietly in their spot at the library._

 _"I remember that I asked Neville for help in our Herbology assignment. He's waiting for me at the Common Room."_

 _Hermione looked disappointed that Ginny was leaving her alone to study in the library._

 _"Go to Harry." Ginny offered sensing her mood._

 _"I don't know where he is." Hermione replied. "I'm not sure if he has practice today. I totally forgot."_

 _"Don't worry. It's just a few hours and it'll be dinner and all. I'll see you later."_

 _And without another word Ginny left her to her work load and thoughts still grinning back at her._

 _She could hardly concentrate on her assignment._

 _She really had a good night with Harry at the Astronomy Tower._

 _They talked about their plans after Hogwarts and some things they'd like to do after they're done with the ordeal with the Dark Lord._

 _Hermione offered that he spend a few days the coming summer at their place so she could formally introduce him to her parents and Harry had immediately agreed to it._

 _Hermione could not be any happier with how their relationship was going at the moment._

 _She was so lost in her thoughts that she felt quite angry when she heard someone banging a couple of books from the other side of the book shelf where she was._

 _"This is a library, you're supposed to be quiet!" Hermione said in a hushed tone rolling her eyes and wondering who would be that rude._

 _There was no answer but she heard a chair being pulled up angrily and another bang of another book._

 _"Bloody hell." Hermione muttered._

 _She stood up and hurriedly shoved all her things back inside her bag and went to the other side of the shelf to check who was making the unnecessary noise in the library._

 _"Couldn't you keep it down?" she said as she walked to the other side of the shelf with an angry stance._

 _A pair of familiar eyes looked up at her._

 _Draco was standing over the table and he looked as angry and as shocked to see her there._

 _Hermione recoiled a little and stared at him._

 _Something was seemingly wrong with Draco Malfoy._

 _He didn't look as confident as he always did. In fact, he looked like he was – crying._

 _"Malfoy?" Hermione asked quietly._

 _But before she could do anything, Draco quickly grabbed his school things from the table and had angrily walked passed her muttering something that Hermione sure did not like._

 _"What did you just say to me?" Hermione angrily asked back._

 _She took her wand out and strode after Draco as fast as her legs could carry her._

 _Draco did not turn back as he walked and faced as fast as he could away from her._

 _Hermione wasn't sure if was she was seeing was correct but Draco did not look well._

 _He was paler than usual and he definitely looked extremely exhausted and stressed out._

 _He turned into the last corner and followed him._

 _Hermione halted as she saw Draco accidently dropped a parchment from the stash of things he was carrying with him._

 _"Malfoy!" Hermione angrily called after him but he didn't look back as he crossed the doors of the library and left without looking back at her._

 _She quickly picked up the parchment and stared at it._

 _"What's this?" Hermione thought to herself staring at what looked like a drawing of some large and antique-looking wardrobe._

 _Based on the parchment she was holding, it looked like Draco was copying it from somewhere and it served as some sort of guide or blueprint for him because there were arrows at certain areas and point of the wardrobe and notes on size comparison at the side._

 _She stared at the door and despite that she did not really care what it was, she quickly followed Draco out of the library._

 _It took her a few turns and two staircase ride to find Draco striding towards the boy's bathroom._

 _"Malfoy!" Hermione angrily yelled after him. "Malfoy!" Hermione breathlessly called after him._

 _She was sure that he has heard her but he was relentless in his strides and determined to draw her to the hallway leading to the boy's bathroom._

 _Hermione stomped her foot angrily and seeing that the last corridor was empty she decided to yell fully at him._

 _"Draco!" she called out his name loud and clear. "You've dropped something!"_

 _Draco suddenly stopped._

 _He stood with his back turned to Hermione but he was silent._

 _"You've dropped something in the library." Hermione said walking fast to get to him before he decided to walk away again._

 _Draco sharply turned to her just as she had reached him._

 _"What do you want, Mudblood?" Draco angrily asked him._

 _His eyes ran from her face then down at her hand with a wand._

 _He slightly looked alarmed but he did not say anything._

 _Hermione angrily stared at him._

 _She looked as if she was deciding which part of him was good to hex since they were at a deserted corridor._

 _"I have a name." Hermione pointed out raising her hand with the parchment. "And you've dropped this from the library."_

 _Draco stared at her then at her held up hand._

 _His grey eyes fell onto the parchment in her hand and they widened in slight shock._

 _He quickly snatched the parchment out of her hand and hastily kept it inside his robes. ._

 _"Get your filthy hands off my things, Mudblood."_

 _Hermione's eyes flashed in anger._

 _But as she continued to stare at Draco she was now sure that he had been crying._

 _His eyes were read and there were evident tears at the side of his eyelids._

 _"Malfoy, are you alright?" she asked concernedly and forgetting for a moment what he had just called her._

 _For a moment Draco just stood there as if deciding if he should hex her or not as she stood before him staring curiously and worriedly at him._

 _Draco sensed her worry for him and he quickly looked away from her._

 _"Draco-"_

 _"Don't ever call me on that name ever again!" Draco angrily spat at her and without another word, he quickly turned and strode off away from her as fast as he could possibly go._

 _Hermione stood there shaking in anger as she stared after Draco's disappearing back._

 _She wasn't sure if giving Draco back something he had left behind was a good idea._

 _He did not even thank her for what she had done._

 _"What an arse."_

 _"Who's an arse?" asked a cold voice._

 _Hermione's heart skipped a beat in surprise at the voice._

 _She slowly turned around and the Potions Master was standing over her with a curious gaze at her._

 _"No one, professor." Hermione quietly answered as she looked away and quickly turned from him._

 _"Not so fast, Miss Granger." he softly said crossing his arms._

 _Hermione closed her eyes and cursed herself._

 _Now she was going to get into trouble._

 _"Yes, professor?" she politely asked despite that she was sure he was just going to say something that was not so nice at all._

 _Snape stared down at her, closely observing her with his black eyes as if scanning if there was something wrong about her._

 _"Why are you here?" he asked gently._

 _"I was-" Hermione slowly said realizing where she was._

 _"This is the corridor leading to the boys' lavatory, yes?" he quietly asked her._

 _Hermione bit her lip._

 _She knew it._

 _She was going to get into trouble for helping Draco._

 _"I followed Malfoy." Hermione said deciding to just tell him the truth. "He was at the library and I saw him drop some parchment and I followed him."_

 _"All the way here?" Snape asked her with a raised brow. "Until here?"_

 _"Yes."_

 _Snape's black eyes stared down at her brown ones and for some reason he could not see through her._

 _Harry Potter was obviously teaching her some sort of mental defense or she had been teaching him and practicing Occlumency together._

 _"You are aware Miss Granger that this is the corridor leading to the boy's lavatory?" Snape asked her standing tall._

 _Hermione stared back at him without really knowing what to say._

 _His presence really intimidated her until this day – well, not really in classroom space when she was constantly trying to prove to him her worth to be in his class._

 _"Yes, professor." Hermione said. "I thought the parchment he dropped was sort of important."_

 _"Really?" Snape asked her as he walked around her with arms folded. "How valiant of you, Miss Granger."_

 _"The parchment looked important." Hermione insisted._

 _Snape did not say anything as he stared at her for a moment._

 _"What was the parchment about?" he asked her, eyes glinting. "What's so important about it?"_

 _"I.." Hermione began thinking of some way to describe what she was seen in it._

 _"Yes?"_

 _"There was just a drawing." Hermione slowly said visually recalling the parchment._

 _"A drawing?"_

 _"Drawing of what looked like a wardrobe, professor."_

 _"A wardrobe." Snape softly repeated and Hermione knew how stupid it had sounded._

 _"It looked like a blue print or something. I'm not sure." Hermione said feeling even more stupid by the moment as she continued to speak. " There were side notes about size comparison and stuff.." Hermione said her voice fading at the realization of how stupid her description sounded._

 _Snape stared at her and Hermione knew that he was thinking how big of a liar she was._

 _"Did anyone see the parchment?" he asked her after a while. "Other than yourself?"_

 _"No." Hermione said and she noticed a slight relief passed across his face. "Just me, professor."_

 _Hermione waited nervously but Snape seemed to have no interest to punish her at all._

 _"Very well." Snape slowly said. "Be out of your way here. Have you seen Potter?" he asked then before she could leave completely._

 _Hermione shook her head._

 _"I haven't seen him since three this afternoon, professor."_

 _Snape stared at her – scanning, tracing for any form of lie but there was really nothing he could see._

 _If she was indeed learning and practicing Occlumency with Potter these days, she was ahead of it and getting quite good at it._

 _It was both an advantage and disadvantage, Snape quietly thought._

 _Hermione stared at him as he seemed to be lost in thoughts._

 _"Professor?"_

 _"You may go and keep out of this corridor." Snape spat at her and without another word, he turned from him and followed the direction from which Draco had disappeared._

 _Hermione giggled as Harry mercilessly tickled her._

 _"Harry, I said stop!" she cried out. "If you don't stop I'm going to hex you!"_

 _"If you hex me, you're going to get into trouble because you're not supposed to use magic against another student!"_

 _Harry laughed so hard as Hermione tried to kick free against his grasp._

 _She was breathless as she lay against him down the breezy grounds of the castle._

 _The week had been too long with three quizzes they had over the week, Harry's preparation for the next Quidditch match, Hermione's constant research on all her subject essays and ofcourse their impending worries about the Dark Lord's recruitment around London._

 _Harry stopped tickling her and let her rest against his chest as he lay down against the large tree down the grounds._

 _Soft breeze passed their faces as they lay near the lake beneath the cloudy sky._

 _Harry slowly placed both his hands around her waist and held her hands across her chest._

 _"Harry, I sort of feel guilty that we didn't accompany Ron and Lavender down their date at his brothers' shop at Hogsmeade today."_

 _"Yeah." Harry lazily said as he stared at the beautiful view before them. "Me too."_

 _There was some silence and then the both of them burst out laughing._

 _"I knew it, you're not the littlest bit of guilty!" Hermione laughed at him looking up._

 _Harry tried to look serious at her as he looked down through with a charming smile._

 _"What?" Hermione asked him gushing red as he stared down at her._

 _Harry reached out for her and kissed her forehead gently._

 _"Hey, I remember we need to finish that long overdue essay for professor McGonagall." Hermione reminded him frowning. "I've finished mine so I'll help you with yours."_

 _"Let's not talk about school work now."_

 _"Yeah, but we need to hand it over before the deadline."_

 _"I can't really concentrate on it. I'm too excited. Dumbledore said he'll bring me with him in his next task or something. I'm really quite curious and excited about it. A little scared but I'm with him so why should I be, right?"_

 _Hermione looked up at Harry and she could tell the slight fear and bigger glow of excitement in his eyes at the prospect of doing something with Dumbledore like some secret mission they shared._

 _"You'll be fine with him." Hermione proudly said. "I'm sure it's quite important cause he wants to take no one else but you on this one."_

 _There was some silence between the two of them._

 _Harry's fingers touched the side of her cheeks and Hermione turned her face to the side so she could kiss the inside of his hand._

 _"Harry, I don't ever want to be far from you." Hermione whispered against his skin._

 _Harry bent closer and kissed her forehead again as he pulled her closer to him._

 _"I won't lose you." Harry assured her closing his eyes and feeling her heartbeat against his body. "I won't ever let that happen, Hermione."_

 _"Hermione?" his voice called out as he entered the darkened living room._

 _He walked and pointed his wand to the hearth and the room glowed with the light from it._

 _"Hermione?" Snape called out again but there was no answer._

 _He frowned and there was slight worry in his voice._

 _He walked to the couch and lowered the cake he had bought for the two of them for the night._

 _"Hermione!" he called out again, his chest rising with slight panic._

 _And then he heard it._

 _Something with a loud 'pop' came from the bedroom._

 _"Hermione!" he cried out, pulling his wand out as he ran as fast as he could to their bedroom._

 _He reached the door and quickly pushed the door open._

 _"Surprise!" a voice called out happily._

 _A pop, another and another one soon followed._

 _Snape stood at the doorway with mouth open and wand at the ready as he was slightly blinded by the confetti and light that came from the small party shenanigans in Hermione's hands._

 _Breathless, he stood by the doorway and stared around their bedroom._

 _She had placed a lot of rose petals across the bed and the room was lit with small candles, the fragrance of rose oil and vanilla could be smelled all over the room and there was a small table with a prepared dinner and champagne on ice in the bucket._

 _"Happy Valentine's Day?" Hermione asked seeing his face slightly red from panic._

 _Snape's eyes went to her and he could feel his heartbeat racing even more._

 _She was wearing the simple haltered dress he bought her a few months ago for which she promised him she would wear for a special occasion._

 _She may look very Gryffindor tonight but the smile over her face was too devilish to be a Slytherin._

 _"Hermione.." he breathed as he walked inside the room looking at her sweet face._

 _She giggle and slowly looked up and walked to him._

 _Snape felt time was slowing down as she did so._

 _Since when did she ever become this beautiful? No, she was becoming even more beautiful every single day that she spent with him._

 _She became more of a woman within all those years before his eyes. Her charm and grace only ignited her beauty._

 _The way their relationship had grown was beyond his comprehension._

 _She reached him and she gently placed both her arms around her neck as he slid his hands around her waist._

 _"You like it?" she asked with a grin._

 _Snape could not say a word._

 _Did he like it?_

 _Bloody hell._

 _He was speechless not just with the surprise but how she looked._

 _"You are beyond stunning, sweetheart." Snape whispered breathless as Hermione's face closed in around his teasingly._

 _Hermione quietly laughed and pulled his face closer to her._

 _"Happy Valentine's Day, Severus." Hermione softly whispered against his lips. "It's our eighth, isn't it?" Hermione asked him._

 _Snape pulled her closer to him._

 _He could feel his own chest beating so fast as he lowered his face to her._

 _"Is it not, seven?" he asked slowly as his long nose touched hers._

 _Hermione's eyes caught his black ones and he could just melt at the way her caramel eyes stared up at him._

 _"Will you not count the first year I was with you here?" she softly said moving her lips closer to him._

 _Snape's eyes were slightly in danger of tears at her words._

 _"Eighth it is then." Snape said and without another word, he moved his face to hers and lavishly captured her lips within his in a full, warm and passionate kiss._

It was just eight in the evening and Harry came home to another empty dining room with a prepared meal waiting for him.

Two nights in a row now that this was the occurrences in their apartment and he wasn't sure if this was what he really wanted.

Tomorrow was the hearing and Hermione was surely asleep as early as that hour.

He did not argue.

It was better that she kept herself in their room than have a tantrum wanting to go to places or spending time with other people.

As much as possible, he wanted to keep her there and just keep her with him.

He did not care much what she did at home when he was around and when he wasn't as long as when he opened his eyes she was there and when he gets home she was still there.

Hermione had been quiet since their return since the other day from the Weasleys.

She had spent as much time in the room when he was home but when he wasn't around she did her best to move around and about the household.

She had cleaned the living room, his small study and the kitchens and had prepared their meals in good quantity and quality.

The previous day, he came home around the afternoon to find her quietly reading in their bedroom.

Harry only smiled and kissed her on the forehead and handed her a warm package of baked pudding that Mr. Weasley had taken to the Ministry to him from Mrs. Weasley that morning.

Despite that he only came home to change, to bring her the pudding and take some files with him back at the Ministry, Harry stayed for an hour longer to have tea with her in their living room.

He sat quietly with tea in one hand and the other brushing Hermione's hair as she lay quietly by his side on the long couch reading a book.

It did not bother him that she was quite docile since they returned.

It was far more favorable with him and he find that her new attitude about the things happening around her was quite more pleasing than he had expected.

"Roast chicken?" Harry asked her before he left that afternoon as Hermione walked him to the door.

"Alright." Hermione smiled at him as he tenderly held her. "I'll add some carrots and potatoes – the ones you love like Hogwarts days?" she asked him.

 _"Like Hogwarts days, 'Mione."_ Harry answered her as he kissed her on the lips and bid her goodbye.

Hermione was quiet as she quietly watched move from their doorstep and down the lawn, carefully waving his wand around and creating his usual enchantments and wards – the very same ones Hermione had taught him many years go - to ensure that nobody gets into or leaves their premises.

 _Hermione could barely move her heavily bandaged leg._

 _She not only felt pathetic and useless at the moment but angry as well with herself for what has happened._

 _Maybe if she listened a bit more to his warnings about being 'unsafe' out there this would not have happened._

 _Maybe if she listened a bit more to her instincts and had come going back to the path and not being nosy around and about this would not have happened._

 _Maybe if she was a bit more concerned of their well-being altogether and not just herself this would not have happened._

 _But no._

 _She had to be nosy and pushy and stubborn about their whereabouts and about the world out there so this had to happen._

 _But could she blame herself?_

 _Could she blame him?_

 _She was frustrated._

 _No, she was beyond desperate._

 _How was Harry doing?_

 _She needed to be out there._

 _She needed to be back in the battlefield._

 _She needed to feel needed and important once more._

 _The Ministry of Magic has fallen alongside Gringotts and Hogwarts._

 _The Dark Lord has all his allies around the government and states of London to help him rule and he has people across the United States and even across Asia to do his bidding to create a new world order._

 _And despite all these mayhem, all these losses and wins, all there is about the war and involve to it, she was there – safe and sound with Severus Snape._

 _But she did not want to be safe and sound._

 _She wanted to help out into the world and contribute however way she can._

 _A knock came upon the door._

 _Hermione looked up from the book she was reading on the bed as the door slowly opened._

 _Snape stood at the doorway holding out a small open box in his hand._

 _"It's just three in the afternoon." Hermione told him. "It's not yet time to drink-"_

 _"We have to change the bandages." Snape simply said closing the door behind him._

 _"We've ran out of it already. I can change it with a cloth later." Hermione replied._

 _Snape did not say anything as he entered the room and settled the box on the end of the bed._

 _Hermione was quiet as she watched his progress at the small table near the bed._

 _He took out some tools from the box, a light green potion-paste on a small cup with stick, two small bottles of purplish liquid in them and three large boxes of bandages._

 _Hermione's eyes widened at the sight of them._

 _"Professor." her voice was hushed in slight surprise. "You've been to the hospital, yes?" she asked slowly but there was excitement in her voice._

 _Snape did not answer as he continued setting things up next to the bed._

 _"Professor – you've been – these bandages, you've taken them from the hos-"_

 _"I didn't steal them." Snape coldly said. "I bought them." Snape corrected her as he opened one large box of it and slowly took out and unrolled its contents. "And yes, from the hospital."_

 _"Yes, I mean you've bought them." Hermione breathlessly said._

 _Snape did not look up at her but he could tell the questions running and ready to jet-set fire within moments from her._

 _He tried his best to look quite passive and ignore the questions he was sensing to come out from her._

 _Hermione quietly watched him in progress biting her lower lip back and forth as if waiting for some sort of right timing to ask him questions._

 _She looked like she had so many questions but it also looked like Snape was not in the mood to entertain them at the moment._

 _"How – how did it go?" Hermione slowly asked unable to stop herself after a while._

 _Snape settled the rest of the objects aside and pulled up a chair next to the bed and began taking a measure of how long and how much of the bandage he needed to put around Hermione's leg._

 _"I'm not yet sure." Snape curtly said as he cut a few bandages and took the small cup of paste and settled it next to Hermione's leg._

 _"But did you-" Hermione continued to inquire as the tip of Snape's wand settled around her bandaged leg and began slicing it down just like it had done so to her pajamas a few nights ago._

 _"I don't know." Snape simply answered her. "But if all goes well, I'm sure you have nothing to worry about."_

 _"But how do we know?" Hermione said desperately. "How would we find out if it did work?"_

 _Snape stared at her as if her question was beyond stupid._

 _He breathed heavily and shook his head._

 _"I think, Miss Granger," he slowly began, "that if that occurs – it wouldn't be quite a secret to the world."_

 _"The word would reach us?" Hermione quickly asked. "We are still in London, yes?"_

 _Snape did not answer her but instead he gesture that she move her leg slightly to the side._

 _Hermione flinched in pain as she forced herself to do so._

 _She watched as Snape began cutting out the bandages and preparing the rest of the medical supplies to help her change the ones around her leg._

 _"Professor, what happened?" she slowly asked as Snape handed her the blanket so she could cover the rest of her upper thigh as he began slicing the old bandages with the tip of his wand._

 _"Professor Snape?" Hermione repeated, barely concerned at the pain she was enduring as he slowly progressed upon removing the rest of the bandages._

 _Snape did not answer._

 _Hermione thought he was trying to concentrate hard on what he was doing._

 _Once the old bandages were taken away, Hermione's bare skin were revealed to the both of them._

 _Three days' worth of potion boils, marks and damage were still visible over her skin._

 _Apparently, with their limited medical supply at the cottage, the healing process made by the damages from the potions accident were taking much longer than it would have been if they were at a real hospital._

 _Snape could only mend enough damage from the potion although the potion he creates in order to stabilize the wound and not create further infection and helps as pain reliever in the midst of the night does help a lot for Hermione's comfort._

 _"Professor Snape?"_

 _"Hold still, Miss Granger. This should sting just a little." Snape said without taking his eyes off the blue paste he was mixing over a cup with a stick and was about to place over Hermione's healing burns._

 _Hermione breathed heavily as she stared at the medicine that was to go all over her skin._

 _"Is that the same paste you used on me before?" she slowly asked and her voice was slightly accusatory._

 _Snape still did not answer as he sat down in order to take a closer look over the burns._

 _"Professor Snape is that the same-"_

 _"Miss Granger, I would be able to focus and concentrate better if you keep quiet just for a few moments while I do this."_

 _Hermione bit her lip and tried to not feel bad towards him for what he had said._

 _"Sorry." Hermione quietly said staring at him as he measured on how much paste to put over her burns._

 _Potion burns were not really hard to heal but it depended upon the amount and the type of potion that had burned the skin._

 _And unfortunately for Hermione, the boiling potion that severely damaged her skin wasn't some ordinary potion at all._

 _She bit the ends of the blanket and her fists were clenched tightly as she held against the sides of the bed as Snape began to slowly swipe the stick with paste over the burn marks._

 _Tears swelled at the ends of her eyes as the pain went through the surface of her skin and through her skin. It was pain beyond what she has endured the time Snape had healed her light bruise at her sixth year – or somewhere in time not so very long time ago._

 _Snape was quiet as he progressed._

 _He knew that it was hurting her but it was the only way to mend the burn marks._

 _It would take time to completely heal it and some more to actually remove the marks fully over her once perfect skin._

 _He did not want to admit it but he knew that he would have to 'literary' take care of her in order to help her live comfortably for the days to come._

 _"It does sting." Snape said as he continuously covered the burn marks with the paste. "It will take a few more minutes but it would go away. I made a Sleeping Potion for you to endure its pain while you sleep and keep your sleep uninterrupted and another bottle of pain reliever should it hurt later when I leave."_

 _"You're going somewhere?" Hermione managed to blurt out with eyes closed as the sensation of pain crippled and reached throughout her whole body._

 _"Yes." Snape simply said as he took final touches of the paste around her skin._

 _"How – how about me?" Hermione stuttered in me. "I mean, you're going to leave again?"_

 _Snape slowly looked up to her._

 _Her eyes were tightly shut and she kept biting her lower lip as she moaned and writhed in pain._

 _Did she want him to stay?_

 _Did his presence not bother her?_

 _Well, they've been together for the past months or so and he barely left her._

 _Most of the time he left would be very late for a Death Eater's meeting or a few hours in the morning or afternoon when his presence was needed at the castle at certain days or so._

 _He also left a few hours every weekend to buy them supplies like food, potion ingredients and other things that needed to be stored at the cottage._

 _Although he has never left her for more than 24 hours, Hermione never really cared how long he was gone because she always knew he would come back before the day's hours would expire._

 _This was the first time she ever said anything about him displaying his need to leave again._

 _"I'll be back before midnight." Snape slowly said as he prepared the bandages to be placed around her legs._

 _Hermione breathed in and out of her mouth as the pain slowly ebbed away and the paste drying thoroughly over her skin._

 _She slowly opened her eyes as Snape lifted her leg slightly to enable him to begin wrapping the bandages around her leg._

 _"I would be able to walk again, right?" Hermione concernedly asked him._

 _"Yes." Snape shortly answered her. "In no time you can try and escape again."_

 _Hermione did not say anything but only stared up at Snape who was too occupied with wrapping up the bandages that he barely noticed her concerned gaze at him._

 _"Professor Snape."_

 _"Miss Granger, as impatient as you are, I am also waiting for the same results that you are awaiting for. We cannot do anything at the moment. It has barely been more than 24 hours. The potion does not make wonders in how you imagined it to be. I've been very lenient with you so please bear with me and try to spare me the rest of the afternoon in silence and stop pestering me about the same topic over and over again."_

 _"I was just going to thank you for thanking good care of me, professor." Hermione quietly said. "And about.."_

 _Snape was silent._

 _He stopped in mid-action of finishing up the bandages around her leg as he looked up at her._

 _Her eyes were focused over her heavily bandaged legged now._

 _Snape did not say anything._

 _He looked away from her to stop himself for feeling the littlest most of pity for her._

 _It was not a time to feel sorry or pity for anyone._

 _It was a time to focus on tasks at hand._

 _"Drink these two bottles of potion now." Snape said clearing away the medical supplies from the bed and shoving them all back in the box. "Go take some nap. I'll be back before nine tonight."_

 _Hermione quietly nodded as she watched him gather and clean everything around the bed so she could lay back down comfortably again._

 _He turned to the bed and moved closer to her._

 _He pulled up one of the pillows so Hermione could raise her leg on it and then helped her put back the blanket on its proper place._

 _Hermione handed him back the two empty bottles of potion and settled herself into a sleeping position as she felt the potion quickly taking effect the moment it touched her lips._

 _Snape flicked his wand around to pull down the large curtains in her room to dim the room so she could sleep better._

 _He took the box and turned when Hermione suddenly reached out and grasped his hand._

 _Her small hand warmly held his long fingers._

 _"Miss Granger-"_

 _"Come home as soon." Hermione groggily said looking up at him. "Please come back as soon as you can."_

 _Snape did not say anything._

 _He waited a few more moments until the potion had fully taken its effect._

 _Hermione's fingers slipped from his hand and her eyes closed shut._

 _Snape stared at her small and exhausted finger._

 _Her breathing pattern told him that she was asleep already._

 _Snape turned back to the bed and stared down at her not knowing what exactly to say and feel._

 _He felt different these days._

 _He tried his best to ignore it but the more he spent time with her, something was seemingly amiss with him whenever he was not with her at Hogwarts._

Harry and Hermione arrived on time for the afternoon's court trial.

Hermione made him breakfast and had taken note that he seemed quiet and had kept himself in his office at home and missed the lunch she had made.

He had reasoned that he wasn't that hungry and he needed time to review some things the Ministry had sent him for the trial of the day.

It also took them an hour that morning to talk about what the trial was to be about that day as Hermione was expected to take the witness' stand.

Well, more like Harry had pepped talk her on what to say and the possibilities of her answers.

She was quiet.

She only quietly nodded the whole time he spoke which slightly annoyed Harry but did not show it in any alarming sort of way.

"Mr. Potter." a Ministry official greeted them as they reached their usual seats in the atrium.

Hermione quietly sat next to Harry and her eyes quickly swept the room.

Draco Malfoy was nowhere to be found in his usual seat.

She sort of felt nervous.

She thought that Draco had taken a 'Defense Council' for Snape's trial.

Shouldn't he be there for that?

Hermione kept glancing back and forth the entrance doors then at the opposite aisle at the atrium for where they sat but Draco was really nowhere to be found.

Soon enough, the full Wizengamot had arrived already and the attendee stood up and announced the activities of the trial for the day.

"Now let us begin." he had said in a loud and clear voice. "Let me call in the accused, Mr. Severus Snape."

Hermione's eyes shot at Harry who sat quietly next to her.

She wasn't aware that Snape would be present at the early part of the trial as Harry had discussed with her that for the first part, evidences and other documents would be taken into consideration first.

"Harry?"

He did not answer.

He was waiting quietly next to her as the attendee watched with the rest of the room as Snape was taken at his usual seat down the atrium with Ministry officials surrounding him, a few Aurors and ofcourse, the Dementors.

"The accused would like to present then his chosen council for the case." the attendee had said around the room.

The eldest wizard of the Wizengamot agreed and let him continue with his announcement as he explained that Snape was indeed privileged for one due to his professional backround and that he was able to afford one.

Hermione was sitting at the edge of her seat as they all waited.

The double doors opened and in came about four wizards carrying with them small boxes or objects and folders and parchments in their hands that they carefully laid out around the long table in front of the audience, jury and Wizengamot.

"These are evidences, factual dates and events for which the accused would like to present today by his chosen Defense Council." The attendee called out clearing his throat.

"Please call out your Defense Council." the head of the Wizengamot nodded at him.

The attendee cleared his throat as the double doors opened again and welcomed the new character to take part in the trial.

"The accused would like to present his legal Defense Council – Licensed for four years at Germany and had taken Legal Law Management and Services at Dublin, Ireland. The courtroom would like to welcome Mr. Draco Black Malfoy, the Legal Defense Council of Mr. Severus Prince Snape."

Hermione's mouth fell open as Draco strutted and strode inside the courtroom quietly carrying with him a few folders that he handed each towards the Wizengamot.

Hermione quickly turned to Harry.

He was quiet and his eyes were transfixed at Draco and Snape down the atrium.

His fists were clenching at his sides and Hermione could tell that he was fuming in anger.

She did not say anything.

She was speechless.

He looked back down as Draco finished handing out the parchments and folders and had smiled and had even shook hands with one of the Ministry officials around the room.

He stood up at the middle of the room and straightened his black formal robes.

Hermione noted how he looked very much like his father at the moment only his hair was shorted and he did not look like a boastful looney but someone with just and confidence with the matter at hand.

"Thank you." Draco slowly said with no trace of smug in his face.

He looked as serious as Hermione had ever seen him.

. "Today as the Defense Council I would like to present that I would be questioning my own client, Mr. Severus Snape."

There were a couple of murmurs around the room.

Draco's reputation as a Malfoy and the history of their family weren't the only things he was known for.

It wasn't quite a secret that he was the godson of the accused.

"But first." Draco slowly said with a smile over his face as he looked up around the atrium. "I would like to request someone else for questioning first."

"Go ahead." The head of the Wizengamot told him with an agreed tone and look with the rest of the Wizengamot.

Draco nodded gratefully at him.

He looked up at the atrium and straight at the spot where he knew Harry and Hermione would be taking their seats.

He pointed up with a look of complete confidence over his face.

"Miss Hermione Jean Granger." Draco called out clearly for the whole courtroom to hear.

Hermione's heart felt like it had stopped beating completely.

She could feel a large lump at her throat.

Despite that she knew the possibility of being questioned today and Harry briefing her of what to say or do, this was not what she had expected.

She was not prepared for Draco's questioning her regarding the case.

Nobody was prepared to find out that he was – out of the blue – a licensed Defense Council.

The possibilities there were now that he had the title and he is licensed and learned enough to possibility free Snape from what fate has already written for him.

Hermione was quiet and her eyes went to Snape.

As usual, his head was down and he was motionless at the trial. She even wondered if he understood what was happening around them.

Her reverie was interrupted when Draco spoke again.

"I would like to ask Miss Hermione Jean Granger – victim of the accused – to please take the witness stand so I could question her in regards to several events and dates from the time for which she was captured and abducted by the accused, Mr. Severus Snape."


	18. Chapter 18

**_Chapter Eighteen_**

 _ **Trust**_

 _"How long do I have to stay on this chair?" Harry asked Ginny as he wheeled his wheelchair around to face her._

 _Ginny did not answer._

 _Despite that he has woken from his coma, he was left invalid._

 _His mood was nowhere improving either._

 _"The Healers said it would take time." Ginny said for what felt like a dozen time. "They see no problem with your bones so they guess that-"_

 _"They guess what?" Harry asked her. "If there's no problem with my bones then why can't I walk?"_

 _He looked aggressed and Ginny remained quiet._

 _There was no point arguing with him._

 _"They will provide you with a therapist." Ginny said trying to assure his condition._

 _In truth, she was no longer sure how to cheer him up._

 _She had stayed by his bed day and night and tended to everything he needed and yet he remained cold and relentless and had kept on complaining about everything._

 _"I don't need a therapist." Harry spat at her. "I need them to find Hermione."_

 _Ginny gaped as he wheeled his chair again and turned to face the window again._

 _His miraculous awakening from the coma he had been in had left him weak and temporarily disabled._

 _According to the tests given to him since he woke up, his body was seemingly fighting what 'vegetable' state he would have been from his fall from the building floor._

 _There seemed to be an inner force taking him slowly out of the ill-fated life he would have been in._

 _"You will be able to walk in no time, Harry." Ginny assured him. "I mean, look at you – you've woken up from that state and you're getting better everyday."_

 _"I'll only recover fully if I know where Hermione is." Harry muttered. "I need to find her."_

 _She had been trying her best every day to make him feel better but she knew deep inside that nothing would make him feel any better at the moment or any day soon until Hermione was found._

 _Truth was that, no one knows for sure if Hermione was still alive._

 _Her fall across that high towards the London waters was too much to ask life from._

 _It would take another miracle for Hermione to survive that fall._

 _And nobody is merely brave enough to tell Harry that daunting truth._

 _They needed him to have the will to be alive, to continue – they needed some sort of hope for him to cling into._

 _"Once you are way better, I'm sure the Healers will let you out and you can help the Order look for Hermione."_

 _Harry did not say anything._

 _His green eyes were transfixed at the view of the sunrise expelling darkness across the city._

 _First they were ambushed and then he lost Hermione._

 _He had lost about more than a month's worth of time of looking for Hermione._

 _And upon waking up, his strength weren't as what he wanted or rather expected it to be as his body was still too weak at the moment that he was temporarily disabled from walking._

 _It frustrated him beyond comprehension and no matter what they say that they were looking for Hermione he simply wasn't that convince unless he does it himself._

 _"Harry, they're doing their best." Ginny's small voice came behind his back._

 _"I want to be alone for now, Ginny." Harry quietly said._

 _"Harry, the Healers said you shouldn't be-"_

 _"I said, I want to be alone for now. If you please."_

 _Ginny stared at him with tears in her eyes._

 _She wasn't sure anymore how to cheer Harry up knowing that Hermione was the only person who can do that for him especially at his very broken state at the moment._

 _"I'll just be outside Harry." Ginny said. "You know how to call for help outside incase you need any."_

 _The moment the door had closed, Harry's eyes shed quiet tears._

 _The broken pieces of his heart cannot seem to heal at all like the rest of his body._

 _The Healers said that his fall had been fatal but there was enough magic in his body to save him and keep him alive._

 _It had been more than a month that he was comatose and a lot of people had believed the point that he wasn't going to wake up on time to try to help the battle against the Dark Lord._

 _A lot of people also believed that he was never going to wake up._

 _But he did wake up._

 _He had miraculously woken from his state despite what the Healers at St. Mungo's had said._

 _But he was invalid._

 _Being alive for him wasn't enough if he was temporarily invalid._

 _He needed to find Hermione._

 _He desperately needed to find her before it was too late._

Hermione nervously sat at the witness' stand once more.

Despite that whatever Draco had prepared for her and she knew deep down that it would help Snape she was still nervous.

Harry was quietly staring at her from across the stand.

Despite that they did not 'rehearse' anything to say for the day as this was unexpected, she knew that he was expecting better of her.

The whole room was quiet as Draco presented random evidences to the jury of the Wizengamot and across the room through parchments bearing factual documentary of certain events that had happened from the decade that Hermione was taken in accordance to Snape and Hermione's statements.

"Miss Hermione Jean Granger?" Draco slowly asked staring at her.

"Yes." Hermione nodded quietly.

Draco was staring quietly at her but he wasn't giving her any secret signals nor any friendly gesture. And despite that he did not look boastful at all, he did look formal and in such a way as if they do not know one another personally.

The look he gave her and the gestures he did around her made her nervous and intimidated.

"According to records, you have attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?"

"Yes." Hermione quietly answered, curious where Draco was going to lead this.

"And that is the place where you have met the accused, Mr. Severus Snape?"

"Yes." Hermione said. "That is true."

Draco paced before Hermione's desk as if thinking.

"That is because he is a mentor at the school?"

"Yes." Hermione simply answered. "He was our Potions Master."

"For how long did you study under him?"

"For about six years." Hermione said. "In our sixth year at Hogwarts, he was replaced by Professor Horace Slughorn. He had then taken the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"And how was your relationship with your professor at school?"

Hermione was quiet.

Draco obviously knew this but he was after something.

"Well.. he was.." Hermione said clearing her throat before continuing. "Well he was strict. He was quiet distant with his students but he was a good professor. I did well with his subjects even if I wasn't his favourite student and he did not keep down from showing off his favourites."

Draco almost smirked at the commentary.

"Do you say he hates you in a way or two or vice versa?" Draco quietly asked her.

Hermione stared back at him but Draco was unblinking.

He looked and sounded as if he had a plan towards where this was going even if it looked so vague at the moment.

"I couldn't say so." Hermione slowly answered. "Like I said, I wasn't his favourite but that does not undermine that he hated me."

The jury seemed to agree with the logic given.

Draco continued to pace around the room and question Hermione.

"How were your grades at Hogwarts, Miss Granger? Other than Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts?"

"They were very good." Hermione confidently said and her brows were slightly raised because she could not understand where this was going now and how it were all going to help Snape.

"Above average?"

"Objection on this, Mr. Defense Council."

One of the juries interrupted.

Hermione looked up and knew that this man was some sort of friend of Kingsley making him someone on Harry's side.

"Yes?" Draco slowly asked him.

"We do not see where this is going. We are talking about the case of Miss Granger – not her grades at school."

"Sir, with all due respect, I assure you I am going somewhere here."

"Continue, Mr. Malfoy." the eldest of the jury had said gesturing his hand. "Let us give him some time."

Draco nodded gratefully and turned back to Hermione.

"Well, Miss Granger?"

"Above average." Hermione answered him. "I aced most of my subjects in my year. I was highest in our N.E.W.T.s exam as well."

Draco nodded at him and took a paper out from the many on the table.

He raised it around and nodded around the room.

"Here are records stating all of Miss Granger's grades since she was a first year at Hogwarts and until the final year she was able to attend to."

Draco laid out copies to the jury.

"According to these records, her grades are quite high – higher than most of her years and may be at par by those older than her generation - the best witches and wizards that ever studied at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, yes?"

He looked confident.

And despite that he wasn't smiling nor smirking, Harry's moody was slowly turning sour at the way things were going.

"These records shall state and give us factual and actual basis that she may be branded and was somewhat called as the ' _brightest witch of her age?'_ yes?"

"Your point, Mr. Malfoy? We see no relevance of Miss Granger's grades to this case." asked the jury.

"My point is, given all these facts, shouldn't we be aware of Miss Granger's comprehension skills, her capabilities and her intellect and therefore conclude that if she is indeed this bright, it is unlikely that she could be manipulated all those years by the accused Mr. Snape?"

There was silence in the jury and it gave Hermione the slightest of hope.

The jury was listening and thinking.

"I am aware." Draco continued. "And according to the medical records taken from Miss Granger as that there were absolutely no traces of the Imperius Curse in her blood, yes?"

"That is correct." answered the only woman from the array of juries.

"Therefore, we can conclude once more that her actions are based on her own choices?"

"Choices under impending danger and unwanted predicaments."

The attendee stood up and had taken his place before the witness' stand.

He was staring at Draco with pure loathing and back at Hermione as if he wanted to hit her.

"Impending danger?" Draco had slowly said. "But did he not protect her that is why he came to his wing in the first place?"

The attendee looked murderous.

"I would like to point out that he already admitted to the jury and the whole Wizengamot that yes that was his prior intention for which has changed in accordance to his own will and selfish intentions. His pure will to protect her had changed its course through time. Were you not present when that was discussed in this courtroom?"

The attendee raised a brow at Draco but Draco wasn't to be intimidated.

No Malfoy was ever to be intimidated by anyone inferior of their status symbol.

"I was present." Draco had said simply. "I have been here from the beginning."

"Therefore, I am concluding Mr. Malfoy that you are aware that he has admitted that he had changed his intentions to her?"

"Yes." Draco answered with a short nod. "I am aware of his admittance of that and many other things."

Draco turned about to the jury of the Wizengamot.

"With all due respect." he referred and nodded to the eldest member of the Wizengamot.

The old man looked down at him as he continued.

"Would the full jury and trial room believe if someone admits their faults? All of it? Would their admittance of a crime be legit and legal just because they have admitted it? Would not actual evidences and facts be of any importance to any case?"

Another silence.

Hermione looked from Draco and up at the jury who seemed to be taking consideration everything that Draco was offering the jury.

Her eyes slowly strayed then at Harry.

He was quietly still sitting on his spot but from where she was he could tell that he was almost not listening.

Harry's eyes were simply staring at Draco, quietly observing him.

The eldest member of the Wizengamot stared from Draco then at Snape then back at Draco and Hermione.

He quietly nodded as he observed Draco as if he had never seen anything like him in his trial room.

"That was the practice of the Wizengamot." he slowly nodded and agreed. " _However_.."

A pause followed.

"However.." he cleared his throat for the whole room to hear him. "Changes in practice were in order after several mistakes from the past that included – I'm sure everyone is now familiar of – the case of Mr. Marvolo – who has been wrongly accused of a certain crime just because he had admitted of it."

Harry's fists were clenching in anger.

He was restraining himself but it was harder to do so every minute.

How could the jury be taking into consideration everything that Draco was saying?

"Therefore, would these school records of Miss Granger be good as actual basis and evidence that she is – before the ambush – very capable of thinking wisely and intellectually for herself? Giving us a glimpse and an idea that the whole time she was under the custody of Mr. Severus Snape – she is not totally incapable, helpless or naïve not to understand and know that she can escape him if she wanted to?"

Murmur grew from every direction but it was Harry's severe movement on his chair that made Hermione gasped.

He had taken his wand out and Hermione could swear he almost lifted it to the point that it was directed towards Draco's back.

"I would like to clarify." the attendee began but the whispers weren't dying at all.

He had to clear his throat several times to be heard.

"I would like to clarify that according to testimonies of both parties as well that Miss Granger's wand has been taken and therefore she was wandless for the years that came. I don't suppose she could defend herself by any means."

"Wandless?" Draco repeated with a mocked smile over his face.

He looked back up at the jury.

"Did I just not mention that Miss Granger has been dubbed as ' _the brightest witch of her age'_?"

There was a smug look over Draco's face that insulted the attendee.

"Should it be not clear that whether with a wand or not, she can _obviously_ do wandless magic?"

Murmurs turned into louder voices talking, agreeing and protesting for the things Draco was presenting to the court.

Draco did not show it but he was silently happy by what was happening before his eyes.

If there were division in the jury and the audience, then he was creating a hole against the case of his godfather – a hole that may grew to be big enough for Snape to escape from.

"The accused wizard Mr. Malfoy, was and is up to today a Death Eater." The attendee had said with his face growing red in anger. "I supposed this one has factual and actual basis as well, yes?"

Draco was silent as he waited for him to boast around the room.

"I supposed when you are in the face of danger – say a Death Eater – you would be scared enough to not want to try something that might endanger your life? Is she not intellectual enough to find logic in that?"

Another murmur from the audience.

Hermione stared down at Draco but she could barely see his face as he was half turned away from her.

"Scared yes." Draco answered him. "We shall not take away that fact. I guess anyone would be scared of the situation they have been thrown together. But he was still her professor, yes Miss Granger?"

Draco turned back to Hermione who nodded quietly.

"He was you professor, yes?" Draco asked.

"Yes." Hermione answered uncertainly. "He was my professor for a long time before the ambush."

"Therefore, you are scared of him in some aspects?"

"Yes." Hermione admitted biting her lower lip. "I never wanted to fail in his subjects. I always studied Potions well so I could.. So I would pass the things he taught me."

"You believe in the things he taught you?"

"Yes."

"So you agree with your first statement earlier that he was a good teacher?"

"He knew his subject very well."

"You trust that he can teach you everything you need to know about Potions?"

"Yes."

"Then you can state in this trial room that whether it is a subject area, a classroom proper or not you trust Mr. Severus Snape?"

"Yes." Hermione said. "Yes, ofcourse."

She didn't have to think, she knew it was something in her heart that she felt.

"You trust, Mr. Severus Snape?"

"Yes."

"You trust him with your life Miss Granger?"

"Yes." Hermione answered with his eyes straight at Snape who was being held down by Aurors at the opposite side of the room.

Draco nodded and turned back to the jury.

"Will you be scared fully towards someone when you trust them completely?"

The eldest member of the Wizengamot did not answer.

His eyes were directed towards Draco as if seeing him for the first time.

He did not answer Draco.

Draco walked back towards Hermione.

"Did you never wonder about your wand then, Miss Granger?"

"I did." Hermione had said. "I knew he had it before."

"And?" Draco asked. "Did he refuse to give it to you?"

"Not really."

"Kindly specify this, Miss Granger."

Draco's eyes were straight towards her.

He was edging her to tell everything so he could _bend_ it to their will.

"I did not find the need to need it." Hermione had said. "He protected me in the cottage and gave me everything that I needed."

"Can you specify these needs, Miss Granger?"

"Food, shelter, clothing." Hermione said matter-of-factly. "He always made sure I was comfortable."

"And were you comfortable?" Draco asked her.

Hermione stared at him.

Despite that she trusted him, she couldn't help but think where these questions were going.

" _Yes."_ Hermione had answered. "I was."

"Comfortable enough to stay for several weeks and months?"

"Yes."

"Comfortable enough then Miss Granger to stay for several months and maybe a year or two?"

"Yes."

Draco smiled at her.

He slowly turned to the jury.

"You trust her, Miss Granger with your life?"

"Yes."

"You can tell right now to this whole room that in those years, you trusted Mr. Severus Snape completely?"

"Yes." Hermione confidently answered him. "I trusted him completely."

"Then you trusted him completely you can tell in this whole court room and verify that you were living a life with a man you trusted completely in a life whereas you were quite very comfortable with?"

"Yes." Hermione had answered truthfully. "Yes, I did."

"Comfortable enough Miss Granger to stay for more than a year or two?"

She did not answer.

Her eyes were quivering as her lips did.

Harry was staring quietly at her with ears awaiting her answer desperately.

"Miss Granger?" Draco's voice slowly called out. "Were you comfortable enough in the life you were living with a man you trusted with your life to choose for yourself to stay and live with him for perhaps more than a year or two?"

Hermione looked away from Harry.

She knew what he was thinking.

But these were the right answers and the right questions.

" _Yes."_ Hermione firmly answered.

Draco nodded at her and turned back again.

He faced the Wizengamot with an utmost smile at the ends of his lips.

"Dear Wizengamot and jury – did we not just hear what Miss Hermione Granger had just admitted to this room?"

Silence.

"Did we not just hear her admit that in all those years – she had indeed felt fear and wonder – but she trusted the man she was living with completely in a comfortable life – trusted him enough to _decide for herself_ that it was alright to live with the man?"

Another long silence fell.

Draco nodded again and turned back at the attendee with a quiet stare.

"I have no further questions at the moment." Draco stated with enough clarity in his tone that he had made his point.

The room was silent as they watched Draco grabbed certain documents from across the table and nodded at the jury and slowly returned to his seat and waited for the attendee's turn to question Hermione right after.

 _Three cups of empty coffee mugs lay on the table by the living room._

 _Despite the vast heat from the hearth of the fireplace in the room the coldness of the growing storm outside was overpowering the temperature in the whole cottage._

 _It seemed like the weather could sense Hermione's anguish and hatred for her professor._

 _Even though they had their usual arguments and brawls because of her relentless questions, his endless house rules and prohibition into many things, her fiery and disrespectful answers to him when she finds his answers unsatisfactory and a lot more of other reasons, they end the day closest to being well._

 _But today had been different._

 _It would soon be twenty four hours and Severus Snape still hasn't returned to their cottage after their fight the previous night._

 _It all began when Hermione kept asking him if she could be given permission to grow a small garden behind their cottage where she could possibly grow some plants or various of flowers and spices._

 _Snape and Hermione had been arguing about the same topic from time to time but for some reason she had insisted on really wanting one telling him that it was something that might help her boredom around the house._

 _Snape then began berating and telling her if the books he had just given her and bought her the previous week weren't enough to satisfy her 'boredoom'._

 _Hermione then began giving a list of reasons why she wanted a garden and it included that she read once that tending to a garden was therapeutic to stress and she could even grow certain spices and herbs that he would need for his potion ingredients._

 _But Snape would not bend his own rules._

 _He did not want her out of the doorstep. Not anywhere outside the house premises._

 _Hermione then turned really angry and had smashed a small vase from the living room and left its mess scattered all over the place and disrupting Snape's controlled mood completely._

 _Snape was hostile._

 _He had grabbed her by the arm and had dragged her back in her bedroom and had locked her from the outside telling her that she would only be allowed out of the room once she gives up her wailing and her childish manners._

 _Hermione had cried for hours on the floor by the door until at about 11 in the evening when she heard the spell being unlocked from the outside and Snape's voice came along._

 _She could hear him from where she sat that he was hurriedly wearing his travelling cloak and telling her that there were food in the kitchen should she become hungry and that he wasn't sure what time he would be returning as he just had to leave at that very moment for an emergency business he had to attend to._

 _Whether it was Order business or some Death Eater business, Hermione neither cared at the moment._

 _She was lost in thoughts and she felt like she does not have a care in the world anymore._

 _He had waited outside the door for a few moments for an answer from her but when it did not happen, he decided to leave._

 _Hermione heard his fading footsteps from the hallways, his hurried steps down the stairs and the sound of their door being locked closed._

 _A few reflection of lights from her window told her that Snape had once more placed his extra enchantments and wards around the cottage whenever he left her alone._

 _And now, nearly twenty for hours later, Snape still hasn't returned._

 _Hermione wondered if he was finally fed up with her and decided to simply abandon her. After all, she had been such a burden for him for quite some time – about four or five months to be exact._

 _She had barely eaten the whole day in her frustration and thought that Snape might have finally left her for good._

 _She had yelled at him and told him how much suffering he was giving her by keeping her there in the cottage, for keeping her away from Harry and the rest of her friends and loved ones and for keeping her from her parents._

 _She had argued and yelled that just because he was used to being alone meant the whole world was the same as he was._

 _And the three mugs of coffee she drank in order to keep herself from sleeping in his anticipation for his arrival, only triggered and attracted more unwanted thoughts inside her head._

 _What if something bad had happened to him?_

 _Not only was she worried about him but she had to be honest with the thought that she was locked inside the cottage and no rescue would be able to help her should that happen since nobody knew where they were._

 _There was no wand in the house and Snape had usually locked his potions laboratory when he left in order to keep her away from doing something unwanted._

 _But it wasn't really her thoughts about being alone or Snape abandoning her that completely left her broken at that moment._

 _But it was the reason why Snape might have left her for good for the things he discovered._

 _Hermione sat tear-streaked and staring blankly out of nowhere by the carpeted floor._

 _In front of her lay open a box with parchments – letters after letters and notes she had written herself and had tried to keep away from Snape's knowledge._

 _Since they arrived at the cottage, she began making a journal – some sort of diary to keep track of the hours, the days, and weeks that they had been there just to keep her somewhat sane out of her wits from all that was happening around her._

 _Her journals soon developed into letters for which she asked Snape if she could send Harry or he could possibly send Harry himself._

 _Ofcourse, all these requests were denied of her._

 _She instead, kept writing the letters as if she was going to send them._

 _She had kept them and prepared them so just incase she gets that one chance she could miraculously have, she could send it all to Harry no matter the consequence of their situation._

 _Apparently, since Snape had to clean the mess she had created herself in the living room a few hours earlier, Snape might have spotted the creaked floorboard where she had kept the box and all her precious letters._

 _A few hours since Snape had left, Hermione had left her bedroom to find something to eat in the kitchens only to find her box laid open on the carpeted floor and most of her letters read open and scattered all over the floor._

 _Now her conscience and her heart were breaking thoroughly._

 _Hermione felt she was losing her mind._

 _She had simply done it this time and now she was completely lost and all by herself._

 _How was she going to get back to main London when she does not even know what travel routes to take?_

 _Since she had stayed with Snape, after he had saved her from the dreadful fall from the ambush, she felt that things were going to be alright._

 _That he wasn't the traitor of the Order and that he was going to save her and bring her back to Harry._

 _She had expected and hoped that things would turn as she had wanted them to be._

 _He had kept her alive and had healed her for all purposes and matters._

 _He was even more patient with her than she was with herself in the most trying of times._

 _Despite her immaturity and childish behavior, he had been extremely lenient with her and had spared and spend hours with her there in order to ensure she was well and protected._

 _But as the hours days and weeks ticked by, she became a lot more impatient than he had expected of her._

 _She began asking for more things and had began questioning when they were going to return._

 _His answers were always quite frustrating and it always seemed that there was a reason not yet to go back._

 _And then came the interference of the curse that further prolonged her stay with him. They needed to find a cure and the cure was nowhere in sight yet._

 _She felt she was turning mad as the weeks turned onto months already._

 _She misses her family, her friends and misses Harry most of all._

 _Snape had assured her again and again that if there was something she needed to know, he would tell her._

 _He had assured her then and now that there was nothing to be worried about Harry Potter._

 _But when she asked if she could see him even from afar or write a letter to him, his answer was always a decline stating that she was intelligent enough to know that it was not possible at the moment._

 _Hermione knew and understood the precautions they were taking but there were just days where it was too much and that she wanted to rebel against the rules he set on ground for her own safety._

 _Sometimes she even thought it wasn't the boredom striking her rebellious side, but her fear of her sanity. Because there had been things she had been noticing about Snape and about herself that weren't normal at all._

 _For some reason, his use of her first name seemed to attract her to him in some different manner and she somewhat felt irritated whenever he called her 'Miss Granger' these past weeks._

 _And for some reason as well, she had accidentally called him 'Severus' a couple of times and as she remembered, he had not reprimanded her at all but neither did he react on it._

 _There are days, she felt she was hallucinating because more often than not, she would catch him staring at her and she would also find herself unconsciously staring at Snape and how he moved around and about the house seemed to fascinate her in some way._

 _She suddenly found herself being fascinated by his beautiful hands as he made their meals or if he was in his laboratory stirring potions._

 _It had been weird as it felt like she was actually 'hanging out' with him but the feeling inside was different._

 _Something odd but not unfamiliar seemed to be stirring inside of her and she wasn't sure if it was good or bad because she could just be hallucinating everything from that point._

 _It bothered her, but what bothers her the most was whenever they fight and she would protest, Snape would always bring up the subject of her being 'discontent' with the things they have or the 'life he provides' for her seemed to be never enough._

 _He always talked as if he she was being the selfish one and that he was giving her more than enough and yet 'he was never enough' for her._

 _Looking at it, she thought that he seemed to be rather jealous or behaving like some unreasonable lover. But when being reasonable, she thought if she was being selfish or he was just being selfish._

 _They bickered and argued and it always left her angry and wanting to leave him and wanting to just go back to Harry no matter the consequence of her action._

 _But whenever the thought occurs to her and whenever he left her for a few hours, she would suddenly look for him and feel empty and more miserable than when he was around._

 _And right now at that moment, the thought that he had completely abandoned her feels very destructive inside of her._

 _Did he really leave her for good now?_

 _Hermione stared at the fallen letters around her._

 _Was Harry alright?_

 _Was he still looking for her?_

 _Could it be possible that he had also given up on her just like Snape?_

 _He had so many things he dreamed for the both of them._

 _He had a lot of aspirations for their relationship and how they were even planning to get engage as soon as the trouble with the Dark Lord had gone._

 _And now, none of these things and plans would ever come true if she will not be found soon._

 _Hermione was half asleep and she had barely realized and heard the noise coming from the door if she did not hear the sound of Snape's raspy voice reciting the enchantment so he could get himself back inside the cottage._

 _"Severus?" Hermione whispered as she quickly sat up and listened._

 _She could hear someone trying to get inside the door and could hear his faint of a voice trying to complete the enchantment._

 _"Severus!"_

 _Hermione scrambled off her feet and quickly ran out of the living room and down the hallway that led to their entrance door._

 _She saw the knob being turned with difficulty as she could literary hear him outside._

 _"Severus?" she whispered again walking to the door._

 _But before she could walk to open it, the door had suddenly burst open and Snape fell forward, dropping his wand next to him._

 _Hermione almost screamed at the sight of him._

 _His cloak had been torn at the back where blood was also dripping from his shoulder blades._

 _Obvious and fresh wounds were cut behind his back like someone had used a whip behind his back._

 _"Hermione.." he had grunted helplessly as he tried to get up but his body could barely move._

 _Hermione's eyes were quick with more tears as he stared down at his bloody and almost lifeless form._

 _"S-Severus.." Hermione whispered not really knowing what to do._

 _Snape fell forward on his stomach once more at his third attempt to get up and try to make it all the way down his laboratory._

 _She could hear his uneven breathing pattern and could tell that he was losing more blood._

 _But it wasn't only these that distracted Hermione for helping him out of the floor and bringing him back to his bedroom._

 _It was the fallen wand across the floor from its master and the welcoming open door behind Snape that was inviting Hermione out of the miserable life she had been forced to live with._


	19. Chapter 19

**_Chapter Ninteen_**

 _ **The Lady of the Manor**_

There were two hours of court break and Hermione sat by the café table as she waited for Harry who was ordering their food.

They had not spoken since they left the trial room.

Harry was obviously in a foul mood after all of Draco's laid out evidences and statements he ruled out that were very much convincing.

He might not yet prove Snape's innocence but he obviously shook the minds of the jury and the Wizengamot giving a small but enough hole to make way for Snape's possible escape from the Kiss.

"Hungry?" Harry had quietly asked as he returned to their table with a tray filled with a variety of meals.

He had ordered a soup, salad, some sandwiches, two kinds of pasta and a three orders of different desserts.

Hermione quietly nodded and stared at the food that Harry was serving in front of her.

"Won't I be cooking tonight?" Hermione asked seeing what he had ordered as she handed him some pasta she placed on his plate and began serving him some of the sandwich across the table.

"Why won't you be cooking?" Harry asked staring quietly up at her.

He lowered the fork back over the plate as his other hand held the salad bowl.

Hermione recoiled momentarily but she shook her head.

"No, what I mean is that – well, I thought these are too much and you might be full when we get home-"

"Can't I buy you this much?" Harry asked her with a raised brow.

Hermione stared quietly at him.

"You don't think I can give you more than enough meals, Hermione?"

"No, Harry, I only meant-"

"You don't think I have enough money to buy you this much, Hermione?"

Harry lowered the bowl of salad or more like tossed it back on the table after he raised it to serve some for her.

Some people from the café stared back at their table at the slight noise it caused.

Hermione quickly shook her head, alert and aware that some people turned their heads at their direction.

"No, no, ofcourse not." Hermione quickly said forcing a smile as she picked the salad back and handed it back to Harry.

She grabbed his hand across the table and edged him to add more to her place but Harry pulled his hand and the platter back.

"You don't think I can provide you with abundant food, Hermione? Are you questioning-"

"No, no, Harry.." Hermione sweetly said as she reached across the table.

She quickly grabbed the pitcher of iced tea and began serving his glass.

"I only meant that you seem hungry and all but ofcourse I'll cook for you tonight or we can go out to dinner and have some desserts and coffee after?" Hermione offered with a nervous smile over her face.

Harry stared at her for a moment as if reading her thoughts if she really wanted to spend time with him.

Harry blinked then a smile slowly spread across his face as he picked the bowl of salad again and resumed to serving Hermione's plate.

"Actually, there is this coffee shop just a few streets from our apartment and Fleur once mentioned that they served authentic Parisian cakes. Do you want to try out there later?"

Hermione stared at Harry as he smiled hopefully back at her.

"Mione?"

"Yes." Hermione quickly answered him with a forced smile. "Yes. We can stay there and maybe just have some cozy time together. I'll bring – bring this book you bought me the other day and I could read it to you and – yes ? You like it? Sounds like a plan? Yes?"

Harry nodded at her and his joyous smile had suddenly returned as he took the glass Hermione had filled and drank from it.

Hermione quietly watched him and felt not just perplexed but somewhat scared at the way his mood changes nowadays and how she needed to quickly balance it in order to avoid unwanted circumstances.

 _"No." Hermione quietly answered from the room. "I'm not hungry. Please go away."_

 _"Miss Granger, please do not try my patience. Open this door or I will force myself in."_

 _Silence._

 _"Miss Granger?"_

 _Nothing._

 _"Miss Granger, if you do not goddamn open this door-"_

 _"I said, leave me alone!" Hermione angrily cried. "Leave me alone! I don't want anything to do with you! I don't want anything anymore! I want to die! I want to die!"_

 _Snape stood by the doorway with a shaking hand and a wand in his hand._

 _He so badly wanted to blow up the door, get inside and just strangle the life out of her because of all the melodramatic acts she has been acting upon for the past days._

 _"Miss Granger, this will not help you." Snape reminded her, "Nor would it help Potter."_

 _"Nothing can help us now." Hermione cried at out loud. "Nothing except you and you don't even want to help us!"_

 _Snape cursed as he heard something like glass being broken from the other side of the room._

 _He had just remembered that he had forgotten to take out the small vase of flowers inside the room that could possibly lead to danger in circumstances like one that was happening at the moment._

 _"Miss Grange, please open this door-"_

 _"I SAID GO AWAY! I DON'T WANT YOU! I DON'T NEED YOU! I WANT TO DIE!"_

 _Snape was shaking in anger as he stood by the doorway with her tray of food on the floor._

 _She hasn't eaten since the previous night that he had first bought news to her._

 _That was the very reason he never wanted to bring her news about the outside world or anything about her loved ones. He knew she was going to be this way._

 _It was too much to ask to save her but to have to baby sit her this way whenever tantrums like this occur was already beyond his patience._

 _"I did not say that I do not want to help you." Snape said as he listened to her restless cries since the previous night._

 _She hasn't eaten and she has somehow managed to lock herself inside the room and had done nothing but cry for hours and hours._

 _He was getting worried but he took a mental note of using enchantment after this incident that would enable only him to lock and unlock all doors in the cottage._

 _He wasn't sure what to do anymore. Her whining was driving him beyond mad but he was also worried that her health would go back into a relapse if she doesn't stop from exhausting herself._

 _"Miss Granger, you just healed recently, please you must think about yourself as well-"_

 _"What like you?" Hermione angrily screamed back at the door. "Think of myself first above anyone else?!"_

 _Snape's fists balled into a ball. He wanted to hit the door._

 _"Miss Granger-"_

 _"I said, go away!"_

 _Snape closed his eyes and breathed deeply._

 _The echo of her cries were dementing and he seriously was too tired today to endure another long night of hearing her helpless voice across the hallway and all the way to his bedroom._

 _"Hermione." Snape said knocking again. "Hermione, please have your dinner and if you feel better… we can talk about it."_

 _Nothing._

 _"Hermione, please." Snape said as he turned around and rested his back against the locked door._

 _"Hermione, if you take your meal tonight I'm going to consider it seriously and we can talk about it."_

 _Still, only her cries could be heard._

 _"Hermione, I cannot help you if you do not help yourself." Snape slowly said as he stood straight again and decided to leave because he knew that sooner or later he was going to lose his patience completely._

 _"I'm going to consider what you ask of me but you would have to help me help you gain strength first."_

 _Her crying seemed to falter but she was still on it._

 _"I need you to have strength, Hermione." Snape slowly said. "I need your help to create it. The potion cannot be done by one person alone. And there are certain.. ingredients that you would have to provide."_

 _Snape listened but there was no change at the other side of the room._

 _"I'm going to have my dinner. If you change your mind I'll be at my laboratory tonight."_

 _And with that, Snape slowly walked out of the hallway and down the stairs._

 _He was too occupied in his mind to consider what she was asking that he barely heard when Hermione's door slowly creaked open and she was staring down the stairs where his silhouette has faded as he disappeared to his office downstairs._

"Draco, are you certain these are the questions you would have to ask?" Snape slowly asked as he stared at a parchment across the table.

They were at the holding room at the courtroom but now the room seemed a little cozy.

Since Snape was now provided with a 'Defense Council', he needed to be transferred into a holding room not just for a prisoner but one that could provide room for Draco.

It was small with two long couches, a wooden desk with three chairs, a small fireplace and a decent foyer at the side of the room where food were placed for them.

Draco had ordered food for the two of them and four more for the Aurors guarding the outside of the room and who had all declined it.

Draco nodded in a mouthful of Italian cuisine he had ordered for them.

Snape stared momentarily at the pasta, greens and some bread across the table but he did not feel like eating.

Despite that Draco had been providing him with better meals nowadays, his appetite did not improve at all.

"Yes." Draco pointed at the parchment in his godfather's hand. "It took me hours to study and write them down."

"I can tell you've been studying the case and have been well-organized." Snape pointed out as he rested the parchment on the table and sat back down over the chair.

"Do you have a problem with the questions? Do you have more suggestions or better ones?"

Snape shook his head.

"I never imagined you would be one fit for this job, Draco." Snape said and a small smile spread across his face for the briefest of moment.

Draco stared up at him for a moment as if it was the first time that Snape genuinely complimented me.

"I've always been smart." Draco pointed out smugly.

"But you've never really put that head of yours to good use." Snape answered him with a small smirk.

Draco nodded and stared as his godfather continued reading the list in his hand.

In truth, he did study the case well and there were loopholes he could probably bend to their will in order to free him.

But he needed to be very smart and very fast with the transition of the case against Snape.

He needed to be smart enough to outwit the jury and the full Wizengamot especially the eldest member who seemed to know lies miles away from him.

Harry was also another case.

He might have been the Chosen One who saved the world but it was obvious that he was quite desperate to do anything that would take in order to win the case against Snape – even if it meant using his name, power and current status in the Wizarding World to bend the truth to his will.

"Draco?" Snape's voice came after a while.

"Yes?" Draco said staring up at him.

"Some of these questions.." he paused as he stared and read down a couple of them.

"What about them?"

Snape stared up at his godson.

He knew he was smart – way smarter than he thought – but the questions in his hand that he needed to prepare for and the questions that were to be asked to Hermione were of his concern.

They were brilliant – yes.

But some of the questions were actually things he did not want to go through or he thought might hurt Hermione.

"Are all these necessary?" he asked him. "Will you be asking all of this? _All of it?"_

Draco stared up at him and nodded.

"You want to be free." Draco said. "This is the strategy that we're going to use."

"And Hermione agreed?" Snape concernedly asked him. "She agreed?"

"I haven't spoken to her." Draco said. "Not yet anyway. But I'm sure that she will not have anything against these questions."

"Draco."

"Hermione begged me to help you." Draco said standing up from the couch. "She was the one who begged me to free you whatever it takes."

"Draco, how much did Hermione show you?" he quietly asked her. "How much memories exactly did she show you?"

Draco stared at him for a moment.

It was obvious that he did not want to answer the question at hand.

"I suggest you eat." Draco said as he grabbed a couple of the parchments from the table. "You need to focus and concentrate on the resume of trial once this break is over."

And with that he suddenly walked out of the room and left Snape lost in thoughts with the parchments in his hand.

 _"How is she?" Narcissa softly asked as she lay quietly over the four-poster bed._

 _"She's fine." Snape replied as he finished placing the bottles of potions in order over the table._

 _He looked up and stared at Narcissa's nervous physique on the bed._

 _"I still do not understand why we have to do it here and not at the manor."_

 _"I already told you why." Narcissa snapped at him. "Unless you do not want to help me, then I'm off."_

 _"You are easily offended." Snape said smiling at her. "Signs of aging?"_

 _Snape heard Narcissa stifle a laughter._

 _He stared at the bottles before him, at the wands at the ready and at the materials that were laid over the long wooden table._

 _"Does she know what's about to happen?" Narcissa curiously asked after a while._

 _Snape mixed two bottles of potions into a glass goblet and the liquid turned into a colour of red wine._

 _"Not everything." Snape replied taking the goblet and walking to the bed. "She's aware of some of the procedure but not everything. But she already understands what is going on."_

 _Snape helped Narcissa on the bed and helped her rest her body against the headboard of the bed in the inn he secretly checked her in._

 _For the past several weeks, he had been taking her into several inns around London in order to help her gain strength and heal what else could be salvage out of her._

 _She only had a handful amount of time in her hand as the curse had spread through her blood._

 _It was a blood curse that might have been passed through families and separate generations._

 _Narcissa was the unfortunate Black of the family to have received it._

 _"Take this." Snape said helping her drink the potion from the glass goblet. "It is a quick sensation. You will be asleep and I will be able to take some of your blood."_

 _Narcissa nodded and finished the wine-like potion in a few gulps._

 _"Tastes like grapes."_

 _"I'm doing everything to make sure this process will be as pleasant as possible for you."_

 _"Nothing is pleasant about dying, Severus." Narcissa pointed out._

 _Snape shook his head and stared at his friend._

 _Narcissa reached for his hand and pressed it firmly._

 _"Thank you." her voice was gentle but serious. "For everything."_

 _"Do not thank me yet." Snape said as he nodded at her ill-physique. "We are yet to sort this."_

 _"I am dying." Narcissa pointed out. "The least I can do is help you figure out a way out of the Urduja Curse."_

 _Snape did not say anything._

 _He gently withdrew his hand from her._

 _"How did she take it?" she asked him gently seeing the sorrowful look over his pale face._

 _"Not very well." Snape honestly said and Narcissa could sense the stress in his tone._

 _"Not very well?"_

 _"I've already caught her twice doing something that is not a good idea at all for her well-being."_

 _"She's depressed." Narcissa said nodding her head. "And frustrated."_

 _"She wants to go back, ofcourse." Snape told her. "She still wants to go back."_

 _"A desperate person will do anything to get what he or she wants." Narcissa said. "There is a danger in that."_

 _Snape didn't say anything._

 _"She must try and understand the consequences of that want." Narcissa said looking up at him._

 _"She does." Snape said. "She is trying but it is very hard for her."_

 _Narcissa did not say anything._

 _"The potion we need would be ready soon?"_

 _"I need two more tests and another week, Cissy." Snape said as he returned to the table with potions and ingredients and books._

 _"I am sure that it will work." Narcissa told him. "Bellatrix executed the curse. Bellatrix is a Black."_

 _Snape did not say anything._

 _"And I am a Black as well." Narcissa whispered after a while. "I worry about you."_

 _"You should not." Snape said. "I can take care of the consequences right after."_

 _"The aftermath wouldn't be easy. Attempting to seal it is already too much but the aftermath of it would be devastating."_

 _"She does not have a choice." Snape simply put. "Neither do I."_

 _Narcissa stared at the cauldron with boiling potion._

 _She could suddenly feel the heavy sleepiness inside her head and realized Snape's potion was already working on her._

 _"A few years, Severus?" Narcissa asked him._

 _Snape stared at her for a moment as if telling her that it wasn't something to be talked about._

 _"A few."_

 _"How few?" Narcissa sleepily asked him as the potion began working itself on her._

 _Snape nodded and kissed her hand in gratefulness for the friend he has in times of great need._

 _"Narcissa.."_

 _"How few, Severus?" Narcissa asked, her eyes were faltering, blinking as she tried to keep herself awake._

 _"A few years." Snape gently replied closing her eyes with his gentle hands. "Seven years."_

 _"Are you sure that you're ready to give this up?" Hermione slowly asked as she stared at the beautiful bottle in her hand._

 _It was a crystal vial with an emerald top and a golden design around its glass._

 _Snape stared up at her from large cauldron over the table that was bubbling with water and a few herbal ingredients._

 _"There's no point staying in the past." Snape simply said as he forced his attention back over the ingredients he was preparing on the long wooden table around the large cauldron._

 _Hermione stared at the bottle then back up at him and then back at the bottle in her hand._

 _"How did you get it?" Hermione asked staring closely at the contents of the vial with great interest._

 _"Hogwarts days." Snape simply answered her._

 _"Hogwarts days?" Hermione repeated. "Like how? Like how did you ask for it or how did you-"_

 _"Are you well rested?" Snape asked from the table and Hermione quickly realized that he did not want to discuss the subject nor the mere memory of it._

 _"I feel better, professor."_

 _Silence._

 _"Professor?"_

 _"Yes, Miss Granger?"_

 _"I'm sorry about the way I acted the other night." Hermione quietly said. "It was childish of me."_

 _Snape did not answer._

 _"This will be ready in a few minutes. Where's the parchment?" he asked her._

 _Hermione stood from the couch and walked to the table where Snape was busy with the rest of the ingredients he was preparing._

 _"Please put that aside for now." Snape said staring at the vial in her hand. "You can put it back at the box where you've taken it."_

 _Hermione stared at him as he kept his eyes on the cauldron he was mixing with some herbs._

 _Hermione nodded and returned the vial over the black box she has taken it from._

 _She took a parchment from the pocket of her clothes and handed it to Snape._

 _He took it from her and checked the ingredients around the table and then he took a quill and wrote something at the side._

 _"Please remind me about the stirs later. I might be confused."_

 _"I can do it." Hermione offered him. "I'll just stir them up. It's one of the last few steps anyway."_

 _Snape stared up at her and could tell how nervous she was as she watched him with his progress._

 _"Things will be better." Snape told her. "This was one of the potions I've made in my final exam before I got my license."_

 _Hermione stared up at him. The comfort of his assurance wasn't enough to satisfy her worry._

 _"How many did you make?"_

 _"Twelve." Snape said. "I had to create it in front of a full jury."_

 _"How many were there?"_

 _"Twelve as well." Snape simply answered._

 _He moved around the table and began chopping some things then and grinded them soon into smaller bits._

 _"Is that what I need to slowly add later as you stir?"_

 _"Not yet." Snape replied. "That ingredient will be added later. I will handle it."_

 _Hermione nodded and continued to watch him quietly with his progress._

 _"What's wrong?" Snape's voice came._

 _"What?" Hermione asked him, slightly confused. "What do you mean?"_

 _"Well, Miss Granger, you're usually nosy and noisy whenever you watch me create potions. But today.."_

 _"Today is different." Hermione said indignantly. "This potion is different."_

 _"So you think your silence will make it perfect?"_

 _"I think my silence will help you focus more." Hermione pointed out. "You always tell me how noisy I can get around here."_

 _Snape stopped chopping and he slowly lowered the objects in his hands as he stared at her mournful face._

 _She was quietly staring at the liquid that was brewing but he knew that her mind wasn't there._

 _"Miss Granger, things will be better." Snape said, standing up straight. "Miss Granger?"_

 _"I know." Hermione said. "I know, I know professor. I know things will be. You're making the potion – nothing can go wrong."_

 _"But you are worried." Snape said. "And worry will not get you anywhere."_

 _Hermione was silent as she stared up at him as if she wanted to hit him._

 _"You can't make me stop worrying." Hermione muttered._

 _She shook her head and turned away from the table and Snape could hear her stifled cry._

 _He watched out of the corner of his eyes as she sat quietly back at the couch, fidgeting with her fingers and nervously trying to focus on other things than the potion they were making._

 _"Miss Granger-"_

 _"So what were these twelve potions you've made for your jury?" Hermione asked cutting him short and obviously wanting to change the subject._

 _Snape eyed her carefully as she began walking around the small room, amazed by the walls paneled with bookshelves and several of his books that he has managed to transfer at the cottage from Hogwarts and Spinner's End._

 _"Do you still remember the potions you've made?" she asked narrowing her eyes as she read some of the titles that were hard to read from the shelves._

 _"Ofcourse." Snape confidently answered her as he continued making the potion by the table. "I've spent six months researching, travelling for the rare ingredients and working and practicing on each of the twelve potions before presenting it to the jury to just forget all of it."_

 _Hermione made a noise that sounded to him like a small laugh._

 _"So what were the potions?"_

 _"Polyjuice Potion." Snape began counting them mentally from his head as he added several ingredients on the cauldron with clear liquid inside it._

 _"Polyjuice?" Hermione muttered._

 _"I'm sure you remember how it's made."_

 _"Professor." Hermione said almost sounding as if she was warning him not to get on that memory._

 _Snape smirked and shook his head at the memory of it about her._

 _"Right. So there was Polyjuice Potion, Amortentia-"_

 _"A love potion?" Hermione repeated turning her head back at him and shaking it._

 _"What?" Snape asked her with another smirk. "Don't tell me you've-"_

 _"No, ofcourse not." Hermione said. "I mean, just in class at professor Slughorn. He introduced it to us."_

 _Snape nodded knowing of it as he was at the office of the headmaster when he presented the curriculum he proposed for the year._

 _"Why would that potion be included?" Hermione asked him curiously. "I mean it's not like-"_

 _"It's not important?" Snape helped out._

 _He shook his head at the naïve way she saw the potion._

 _"It's not just a love potion, Miss Granger. I'm sure you would see through it in time why it isn't so."_

 _Hermione nodded and quickly calculated and considered in her head the negative possibilities of the use of the love potion._

 _"It could be dangerous?" Hermione suggested as she looked closely up at him. "Right?"_

 _"Correct." Snape repeated. He looked up at her. "I would have given you points, Miss Granger."_

 _"No you wouldn't." Hermione blandly said turning her attention back to the shelf. "You've never given me any points for the correct answers I've ever given in your class."_

 _"Never?" Snape asked._

 _"Never." Hermione assured him confidently._

 _Snape was silent._

 _"Have you ever tried it?" Hermione asked him. "I mean I know you would NEVER really use it and all. But have you ever considered of it? Have you ever, you know, attempted to use it on her?"_

 _Snape was silent._

 _He stirred the potion several more times and covered the cauldron and reached out for a couple of ingredients he began grinding over the table._

 _"Sorry." Hermione quickly said realizing how personal the question was. "I didn't mean to."_

 _"I haven't." Snape answered her truthfully. "Never."_

 _Hermione did not say anything._

 _"There were several circumstances when chances were quite there." Snape slowly continued as he kept his eyes over the potion he was creating._

 _"Really?" Hermione asked, interested._

 _Snape nodded and he almost smiled as he gained back her attention._

 _"So what made you stop?" Hermione asked him._

 _"I just.." Snape breathed out, thinking why he never did and the answer was quite simple._

 _"You just?"_

 _"I just couldn't do it." Snape simply said. He looked up at her. "I couldn't make her fall in love with me and have my conscience bear the reason for it if she has fallen in love with me."_

 _"You loved her so much." Hermione pointed out. "You've loved her all your life."_

 _Snape did not answer once again._

 _He walked to the other side of the table and carefully read through the ingredients._

 _"Anyway, the purpose of the twelve potions were to create the most potent and most popular ones – the hardest ones to create actually – so that you can be fully qualified Potions Master. We had to make the most complex ones to attain the vast knowledge of each ingredients and the large varieties and sorts of potions. Intensive research were needed and they had me draw the potions."_

 _"Draw the potions?"_

 _"Draw lots." Snape said with a smirk. "That's how the potions were chosen."_

 _Hermione's eyes widened at the idea of having to take an intense potions exam in front of highly skilled Potions Masters._

 _"You must have memorized a dozen of them or hundreds of them to ensure that you've.. wow, professor Snape, I knew it wasn't easy but – just wow. The things you might have gone through to get to that point."_

 _"It wasn't really that hard." Snape said with a small boast in his tone. "Well, for me atleast."_

 _"Well if you've always been interested at the subject. I supposed you won't find it hard given that you're already gifted at it."_

 _Snape had given her a small smile that she had missed._

 _He was enjoying it actually, having someone to talk to at that moment as he created a very crucial potion. It lessened the stress of making it and the purpose of making it._

 _"What were the others?" Hermione asked after a while as she began cleaning away the unused ingredients._

 _"So we have Polyjuice Potion, Amorentia, Felix Felicis was also included and-"_

 _"And then this potion?" Hermione helped out. "This potion you're making?"_

 _"Correct." Snape answered her. "It was one of the potion from the twelve that got the highest mark."_

 _"You've been graded for each?"_

 _"Ofcourse." Snape answered her. "Did you think the exam was easy?"_

 _"No." Hermione quickly said. "I just did not think that the jury would be that scrutinizing and all."_

 _"They were very." Snape pointed out. "Professor Slughorn was actually there. Ofcourse he wasn't jury since he was my professor. But various of Potions Master and Mistress were present and he was there awaiting I finish it."_

 _"Were you scared to take it?" Hermione asked him. "Were you?"_

 _Snape put down the stirring rod he was using and stared at the liquid inside the cauldron and covered it again._

 _He slowly placed the ingredients aside and began rereading the parchment and two books that lay open over the table._

 _"Professor?" Hermione asked turning to him and walking to the table. "Were you scared?"_

 _"No." Snape answered her lowering the book and staring up at her._

 _"Really?" Hermione asked with a bright smile over her face._

 _He sighed heavily and closed the book as he gave her his full attention._

 _"I need you to listen to this." Snape slowly said._

 _"I'm listening."_

 _"Whenever you make a decision to do something – absolutely anything at all – you have to stand up for it."_

 _Hermione was listening and she knew that they were talking beyond the potion story and fear she was asking about._

 _"There are things you can't really be fearless about."_

 _"Yes, correct again, Miss Granger." Snape said with a small smile. "But you see, once you decide on something you must stand up for it. You see, each of us is scared on and about something and there is no point denying that."_

 _"So what do you do?"_

 _"Do not be scared or don't do it at all."_

 _"What?"_

 _Snape breathed and looked down at her curious face that seemed to glow in the candlelight from the small room._

 _"Miss Granger, listen to me." Snape slowly said and there was something in his voice that told Hermione that he was telling her something from his own experience._

 _"There are many things each of us will always be scared of but we need to decide on. But you see.. If you are scared to do something, then don't do it." His black eyes carefully held hers and it was almost hypnotizing for her. "But if you decide to do it, then you must not be scared."_

 _Hermione could only stare back at him after what he said._

 _He nodded and returned to the other side of the table and began listing down something from the two books that lay open on the table._

 _Hermione quietly watched his skillful hands write with the quill, turn the pages, back in touching some of the ingredients from the table._

 _She quickly blinked away the moment she realized she had been unconsciously gaping at his work and progress around the room._

 _She moved away from him and from the table upon realizing the uncertain, unwanted and sudden rise of her heartbeat that she did not understand._

 _Snape looked up from the table and to her as she withdrew herself at the other end of the table._

 _"The potion wouldn't be done down to its boil until about another hour. You can take rest. I'll wake you up when your help is already needed."_

 _"No, I can stay awake all night." Hermione said sitting opposite him on the large wooden table and reaching for one of the books across from her._

 _"Hermione, you look very tired. I think you should-"_

 _"I'll just read and wait here, professor." Hermione cut him short, avoiding his gaze and forcing herself to read the text on the book in her hand so that she wouldn't be enticed to look up at him again._

Hermione was woken the following morning by noises that came from their living room.

Dressed in her nightdress, she wore an extra robe over herself and walked out of their room.

"Harry?" she called at the top of the staircase as she tired her hair into a messy bun and began walking down the stairs.

"Harry?"

"I'm in here!" Harry's voice called up from the living room.

Hermione listened and could hear movements and various voices from the living room.

She felt slightly conscious and decided she wanted to change clothes but she was already halfway down the stairs and Harry suddenly came into view.

He was holding several parchments in his hand and was smiling up at her with an excited look over his face.

"What's going on?" she slowly asked him with a reluctant smile.

Harry jumped up the stairs to her and kissed her on the cheek.

"Come. I was going to wake you up. Good thing you're up." Harry pulled her hand to him and began showing her the parchments in his hand.

They showed different drawings, layouts, designs and colours.

"Harry's what are these-"

"Oh, here is the beautiful bride!" cried out a woman who suddenly jumped at Hermione and gave her a tight hug.

Hermione looked up, dazzled and confused as the woman let her go.

She stared at her and knew that she had never seen the woman in her life.

"Hermione?"

She looked around the room and Fleur walked up to her and gave her an embrace.

"This is Elise." Fleur introduced the woman who was gaping at Hermione with excitement.

"She was the woman who made my bridal gown and also the same one who helped me layout the decorations at my wedding with Bill."

"Wedding?" Hermione asked her. "Bridal gown?"

"Yes." Fleur said with a confused smile. "We're ought to plan the wedding today, right?"

"Wedding?" Hermione repeated with wide eyes. "My wedding?" she asked turning her head around looking for Harry.

Harry was talking to two other people from Elise's team and was checking some table that seemed to show a chart of table seating arrangements.

He nodded at the two witches he was talking to and looked up at Hermione adjusting his glasses.

Hermione was quick to notice the change of mood from the expression of his eyes from her earlier tone.

"Yes, today." Fleur's voice came from her side as she pulled a sketchbook that was filled with different bridal gown designs.

"Yes, today – today, I forgot, I'm sorry." Hermione quickly said avoiding Harry's gaze and quickly turning her attention to the sketchbook.

"I mean, we talked about it." Hermione had said not really remembering when they did, "But I just did not really –"

"Would you like to postpone this?" Harry's voice asked her in a serious tone.

Hermione looked up at him with a smile, pretending she did not hear what he had said.

"What? Sorry?"

Harry stared at her and without warning, he threw back on the table the charts in his hands.

The room had gone quiet from all the rabbles of excitement and talks.

"I said, would you like to postpone this wedding plans we have? All these planning we have to do today?"

His voice was calm but Hermione knew it was under controlled rage.

She stared at him and could swear that he was just waiting for her to make the wrong answer.

"No." Hermione quickly said taking the sketchbook and flipping through the pages. "Don't be ridiculous, Harry. It just slipped my mind, that's all. I was too tired lastnight-"

"So what are you saying?"

"I'm not saying anything, Harry."

"Hermione, if you don't want to continue this today I can cancel. I don't want to-"

"No, Harry." Hermione's tone was hard and fierce. "We're doing this today, so I suggest you take another look at those charts again."

She was breathless as she spoke. She was shaking deep inside in both fear and anger and what was happening before her. She obviously did not have a choice at the matter at hand.

"Alright." Harry said with a small smile spreading back in his face.

Hermione watched as he picked up the charts from the table and ignored the slight mess he had created.

He smiled at everyone and crossed the room and placed his hands around Hermione's waist.

"Relax, sweetheart." Harry had said with a smile as he gently pressed his nose at the side of her cheek. "No need to raise your voice. Yes?"

Hermione looked up at him with annoyance in her face.

"Yes." she simply replied with a forced smile. "Do you mind if I take the sketchbook with Fleur in our study?" she asked wanting some space and privacy from him.

"Can't you do that here?"

"I want my chosen design to be a surprise for you."

Harry stared quietly at her as if trying to read through her thoughts.

When it was obvious that Hermione wasn't really thinking or planning to do otherwise, he nodded and agreed.

"I'll have some drinks taken there."

He kissed her again and nodded at Fleur.

"I can take care of it, Harry." Hermione said gesturing for Fleur to follow her and the left the room without another word.

 _"I can absolutely take care of it." Narcissa voice was assuring and comforting for him. "Everyone will be at their position to ensure your entry is smooth and safe. Are you sure you can make it by the planned time?"_

 _"Yes." Snape said staring at the blueprint and map that Narcissa has handed him._

 _Narcissa was carefully observing Snape's face._

 _"You are worried?" she slowly asked him._

 _Snape did not answer._

 _He was infact, terrified._

 _"Narcissa, I must not be seen at all costs."_

 _"And it's my job to make sure of that." Narcissa confidently told him. "I tell you to trust me on it."_

 _"I trust you." Snape said with a firm nod. "But we can't make a mistake."_

 _Narcissa did not say anything._

 _What they are about to do was as good as a suicide attempt if they were caught or if the Dark Lord gets the slightest hint of what they were about to do._

 _"I have friends who will take care of the rest of the things that are needed once you are at the hospital. Your job is simply to get into that room."_

 _"Friends? Your friends?"_

 _"My friends." Narcissa said with a sly smile. "Not Lucius'."_

 _He knew that she was talking about certain people that only she knew of and none that were ever connected to Lucius Malfoy._

 _"Narcissa, you're the only one I can trust with this."_

 _"You're the only one I entrust with Draco and the rest that must be done." Narcissa's voice was so serious that Snape knew how important this was for her._

 _"I know what must be done."_

 _"It is crucial the boy lives." Narcissa said. "We cannot let him die, Severus."_

 _"He's not going to die."_

 _Another long silence fell._

 _"How is she?"_

 _"She's a headache." Snape truthfully answered. "We had to repeat the potion because of her anxiety to make it. I'm only grateful we haven't added the last and most crucial ingredient before the accident."_

 _"And her skin?"_

 _"Marred." Snape replied. "But it would heal soon. I was able to manage the damage before it could do something that would have been permanent."_

 _"What happened?"_

 _"I already told you. She was too eager and anxious about the potion. She made some miscalculations. We were making it for hours and she barely had any sleep and food when we made the potion. She's too exhausted but it would have taken another round of tantrums if I don't allow her to help and most importantly, the potion is really done by two people."_

 _"She's anxious and scared. She's also confused. She feels a lot of things all at the same time, Severus." Narcissa said in an almost amusing tone. "You must be patient with her."_

 _"Have I not been patient enough with her?" Snape irritably snapped at her. "Do you think she's the only one who can harbor so many feelings at the same time?"_

 _Narcissa laughed._

 _"Why tell me Severus, do you feel emphatic now towards what women feel? Boy, I did not know there was a feminine side of you."_

 _"Shut up."_

 _"You are truly amusing my dearest friend. Too much emotions, too much to bear lately?" she asked him with a smile._

 _Snape felt affronted._

 _"Or simply too much confusing emotions because she's around?"_

 _"That is most insulting." Snape said although he did not sound the littlest bit of insulted._

 _"Well, I told you already this was never a good idea in the first place. You and her?" Narcissa asked him. "How much should I bet that sooner or later one of you will surely confess certain.. feelings?"_

 _"Don't be pathetic."_

 _"Or perhaps you had already?" Narcissa teased him._

 _She uncrossed her leg from the couch she sat opposite Snape and stared back at her friend._

 _"Now tell me, Severus, have you confessed your long time feelings for the girl?"_

 _"This topic is already done." Snape pointed out. "I already told you that this is pathetic. I bore no feelings for the girl."_

 _Narcissa only stared up at him and shook her head._

 _"Alright, alright." Narcissa said shaking her hand in the air. "Anyway, I need to go back at the Manor. I'm sure you'll do fine."_

 _Narcissa stood up and Snape only nodded, eyes still on the map and blueprint he put on the small table._

 _"Don't be nervous." Narcissa said as she gathered her purse with her and straightened her clothes. "I'll deal with everything that would be needed to ensure that your way to the boy's room is clear. Focus on what you have to do."_

 _"I know what I'm about to do."_

 _"Severus, are you thinking twice of this?" she asked him in a firm voice. "Are you having second-thoughts in doing this? Because if you are, then I suggest we do not even go there because if this plan fails we're all going to-"_

 _"I'm sure about this." Snape said looking up at her. "I'm sure about doing this."_

 _"You don't look and sound like it." Narcissa pointed out._

 _Snape looked away._

 _In truth, did he want to do it?_

 _Once more, it was for the 'greater good' so he had no qualms of doing it since he knew he had to do it anyway._

 _There was no question if he wanted to do the right thing._

 _But somewhere in him, an unexplainable and inexplicable feeling was stirring._

 _"I'm doing it." Snape said standing up and picking up the papers from the table. "It must be done."_

"Do you want to make love tonight?" Harry asked in a teasing voice. "You've been staring at me."

Hermione quickly turned and looked away from him.

She finished the glass of milk that Harry had made for him earlier and placed the empty glass at the end table on her side of the bed.

She turned back to the bed and prepared it for them.

Harry was dressing and changing to his sleeping clothes and Hermione's eyes had been unconsciously staring at a small mark at the lower left side of Harry's ribcage area.

"Sorry." Hermione quickly said not wanting to entice Harry into an activity that she did not want anyway.

"You've been staring at it." Harry pointed out as he turned to the side of the room and stared at the reflection of his ribcage are from the mirror.

It was a small mark and bruise that never really healed.

"It must have been some sort of scar." Harry said. "I had it since I got out of the hospital."

Hermione did not say anything as he spoke and told her the story of the mark at the side of his body.

"Does it look ugly to you?" he asked her.

"No." Hermione said. "Just like your scar, it's a mark that you've survived." Hermione quietly said as she folded the blanket and fixed the array of their pillows.

Harry's eyes strayed down his own body and at the mark.

It wasn't painful but it smeared a memory in him.

He had guessed that it was a mark he had gotten from the fall from the building that he and Ron had jumped from in an attempt to escape the Death Eaters who pursued them as they created the bait and lured them in their search for Hermione.

"It never healed." Harry said as he dressed into black long-sleeves. "One of those marks, you know."

"Yeah." Hermione agreed as she pulled the sheets over so Harry could climbed up the bed. "One of those marks.

Harry nodded and pulled her close to him on the bed.

Hermione took a book from the side of her bed and despite that it irritated Harry to have another 'book reading' session before their bedtime, he did not say anything about it.

It was better settled this way than her having to try and escape again.

He found ways to tame her and so he would play the part for the meantime.

He decided that there was no good use for him to have Hermione having tantrums and trying to escape while the court trial was on-going.

But once that was done and Snape would be out of his way, he would have to deal with Hermione completely and have her follow what was apt and right for their relationship.

He pulled her closer to him and had her head rest against his chest as she opened the book and began reading quietly.

He kissed her fine brown tresses and kept her fingers brushing the side of her face and then her head to help her fall asleep as he had noticed it was a trick to tame her to sleep giving her almost night-mare free nights.

"Does it calm you when I do this?" Harry asked as he gently continued to brush her hair, his eyes running through the pages she was flipping but wasn't really reading at all.

"Mmmm." Hermione sleepily said with a short nod.

"Do you like it?" Harry asked.

"Yes." Hermione murmured as she turned another page.

They continued quietly lying against one another on the bed for another hour until Hermione could no longer understand what she was reading and decided to sleep.

She closed the book and laid it back on the end table by the side of her bed and turned back to Harry.

"I love you." Harry said kissing her forehead and tucking her right under the sheets close to him.

Hermione smiled sleepily at him and nodded.

She placed a brush of a kiss at the side of his face.

"Goodnight Harry." Hermione simply said and she turned her back against him and just scooted closer to him so he could place his arms protectively around her as if ensuring that she wasn't going to sleep away in his sleep.

"Goodnight." Harry murmured against her tresses as waved his hand across the air and the light dimmed a little giving a small star-like glow to just lit their room.

As Hermione rested and easily fell into a sleep, Harry did not.

He had absolutely no plans of sleeping tonight.

 _"We send our regrets to you and seek to hope for the comfort and peace of your heart and mind, Mr. Malfoy."_

 _Draco looked up and saw his old professor Lupin extending his hand to him._

 _Lupin was with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Kingsley, another Auror and to his great surprise, Harry Potter himself._

 _It had been two years since the downfall of the Dark Lord._

 _Death Eaters have been killed or have been sent to Azkaban and in his father's case, was sent to Azkaban while Bellatrix Lestrange suffered another fate in the hands of the Aurors._

 _His mother, Narcissa Malfoy however, had suffered a different fate._

 _He knew that something was wrong with Narcissa Malfoy but his father refused to admit it or more like he did not want to pay attention to what was happening to her to avoid division of his attention in pursuing the Dark Lord's wishes and tending to his family._

 _Ofcourse, Draco was different._

 _He knew something was different and something was terribly wrong with his mother._

 _But Narcissa was also a stubborn woman. She did not want to admit it to anyone, least of all Draco, whom she was aware was intelligent enough to figure sooner or later that something was wrong with her._

 _It had been a sudden, terrible and devastating two weeks for Draco._

 _Her mother had awaken at the midst of the night with a scream from a terrible pain that was searing through her heart and her nose was bleeding horribly._

 _Draco had quickly had them taken to St. Mungo's hospital._

 _He tried his best to keep it down from many people but he was a Malfoy and so was she, a renowned wife of a Death Eater bestowed to be punished at Azkaban._

 _The following morning, St. Mungo's was flooded with people from the Prophet seeking news that could be brought about what happened to the famous Narcissa Black Malfoy._

 _Draco was terrified._

 _He had no one to turn to._

 _His mother was taken into an intensive unit where she had been unconscious since she was taken there, the bleeding had stopped but something terrible was happening internally._

 _After two days of tests in her blood, Draco had been told that her mother had a few days to live due to the illness in her blood that was somewhat related to a long-term family curse that might have been passed down to her._

 _Draco was beyond devastated._

 _He did not know how to break news to his father and he did not want to waste time going to Azkaban to break the news as well._

 _He wanted to stay right by his mother's side._

 _The Healers had said that she was lucky if another week was given to extend her life span._

 _Narcissa had surpassed the week and had woken but was already at the edge of her life._

 _Draco had ordered security for them and had sought for complete privacy._

 _He had managed two days of isolation with just her mother._

 _At the third day, Narcissa requested to be taken back to the Malfoy Manor._

 _The Healers completely agreed seeing that she barely had days to live._

 _At the fourth day, she was taken back to the Malfoy Manor and was given peace and privacy with Draco._

 _By the fifth day, her health had faltered at a fast pace that not even the Healers could do anything about it._

 _At the sixth day, Narcissa was persistent upon seeing their family Defense Council who had arrived and had stayed with her and Draco the whole day._

 _By dawn of the seventh day, Draco had kissed her mother for the last time and Narcissa smiled at her own son, whispering only a few words before her beautiful eyes had closed eternally:_

 _"Bear change, my dear boy. I will always be proud of you."_

 _Draco nodded at the party that came to give their respect to her mother's wake at the large garden of the Malfoy Manor._

 _The whole garden place was elegantly decorated with the colour of black and dark emerald as to the last will and wishes of Narcissa._

 _Despite that the event wasn't something Draco could keep, he wanted everything to be small and private as much as possible._

 _Note cards, flowers and such were sent to the Malfoy Manor for the people who weren't allowed nor were listed at a list of guests that were allowed to arrive to pay their respects for the lady of the manor._

 _A couple of Ministry officials had arrived and paid their respects, some other friends of his father had arrived and Lupin's party._

 _Even if Harry and the rest were obviously not in the list of Draco's allowed visitors, they were allowed entry because of the magic and blood that bind Lupin to Tonks and Tonks to Sirius in the Black family._

 _Draco only nodded quietly at them._

 _He did not look surprised to see them but was surprised to see Harry._

 _He did not say anything about his arrival but nodded and gave them proper entry._

 _Draco's assistance took the black ribbons and flowers they had with them and let them seat in a spot in the garden where they were further assisted._

 _Harry was silent the whole time he attended the event._

 _He wasn't sure what to feel at that moment._

 _It was the greatest downfall of his school rival and the boy who bullied not only him and many others but who had bullied Hermione Granger most of all._

 _Harry had wondered what Hermione would have done if she was there with them or how would she feel for the boy._

 _Harry and the rest quietly watched as Draco tended and attended to each of the visitors that came to pay their respect for her mother._

 _It seemed to have taken him forever for him to get himself to their table where drinks had been served for them._

 _He looked and nodded at Lupin whom he looked and felt most comfortable with since he was his old professor._

 _Lupin seemed to have sensed this and so he did not pursue the subject of letting others say anything to Draco as it was very obvious that the situation was beyond awkward._

 _"Your mother was a charitable woman, Draco." Lupin had said as he sat for a moment with them._

 _Draco only nodded at him and slightly raised his glass._

 _"You may not know of it but your mother has a charity for.. for our kind.." Lupin said with a small smile. "I have not known it until recently. The business and charity was named after another name so as to have her wish to be kept anonymous, but recent news has reached me that it is actually her."_

 _"I've heard of it." Draco had said. "Just a few days ago before mother passed away." Draco pointed out. "Mother's Defense Council came days before she.. before she passed. They had discussed many things including businesses, estates and other properties that mother owned."_

 _Harry did not say anything to this._

 _He did not really want to be there but he wanted to be reminded that he was not like that of the Malfoys._

 _Only a few nods and gestures were exchanged between Draco and Harry as for formality._

 _The last time Draco had seen Harry had been in his father's trial where Harry had left the courtroom the moment that Lucius Malfoy had been sentenced._

 _Narcissa and Draco were left at the stand long after justice had been served towards Lucius Malfoy._

 _It was almost morning already when Harry and company decided to leave the manor._

 _Draco nodded and shook hands with them._

 _He was somewhat reluctant when Harry had extended his hand to him._

 _He stared but still accepted Harry's hand who shook it very briefly._

 _"Potter." Draco said staring reluctantly at Harry who stared back at him with question in his eyes._

 _"Yeah?"_

 _"If you would need anything for your search.."_

 _"I'm fine." Harry cut him short. "I have everything I need, thanks."_

 _Draco stared at him and nodded._

 _It had been two years since the ambush and the incident that made him lose Hermione Granger who was still not found up to that day._

 _"Yeah, but I mean if you just need an extra hand or a number of people to help with-"_

 _"I said I'm fine, Malfoy." Harry firmly said as he looked away from him._

 _"Is there any recent news?" Draco asked curiously unable to stop himself from doing so. "Anything at all that may help in finding her?"_

 _Harry looked at Lupin who quietly nodded at him._

 _"Mr. Malfoy, we do have to go." Lupin said taking his hand and shaking it to gain his attention. "The Order offers assistance if there would be anything you would legally need incase there would be problems of sorts."_

 _Draco was slightly confused until he realized that Harry obviously did not want to talk about Hermione._

 _Draco nodded and two of his assistants stood up and led them._

 _He quietly thanked them with a simple nod as the two men led Harry and company out of the garden and out of the Malfoy Manor._

 _"Harry are you alright?"_

 _"I'm fine." Harry said as they walked down the long walkway out of the gates of the manor._

 _"Harry, I've been thinking." Lupin began. "If Draco is offering his help in finding Hermione-"_

 _"I said, I'm fine." Harry simply said. "I don't need his help. I don't need anyone's help. I'm doing fine."_

 _Lupin only nodded as Harry paced past him and walked faster and farther from him._

It wasn't the sound of the guards that came and bolted to his cell gates that drew him out of his state of reverie at one in the morning.

It was the actions they've done as they entered their cell.

The three Aurors came inside and two had grabbed him out of his bed by the arms and the third one took out a long scarf from his pocket and drew the first around his eyes and the second around his mouth.

Not seeing and no speaking as it seems.

He listened intently as they dragged him without a word out of his cell door.

He felt the familiar cold breeze of the hallways as they dragged him out of his Azkaban room.

He wasn't sure where they were taking him but by their actions and the way it was done at that hour of the night, he was sure that it wasn't something very legal at the moment.

And to wherever they were dragging and taking him, he did not fear.

He already accepted his fate at Azkaban and the possible consequences.

He only hoped and wished that Draco will not be enduring the same possible fate he would and could possibly endure as he is taken out of the safety of the walls of his darkened cell.


	20. Chapter 20

**_Chapter Twenty_**

 _ **Pain**_

"Master Malfoy?" asked a voice.

Draco looked up and saw his old assistant by the doorway of his office bringing in a tray of tea.

"Come in, come in." Draco ushered as he looked up from the parchments all over his desk.

It was nearly two in the morning.

"You must rest." the old man had said serving the tray before him and staring around the documents all over his table.

"I'm just finishing some things." Draco said stretching up from the armchair. " They are needed for the next trial. I also need to work on the document that will request extension for the trial."

"You work very hard like-" he paused momentarily.

"Like my father?" Draco asked with a slight smirk as he looked at the tea tray over his desk.

The old man shook his head.

"Like your mother."

Draco did not say anything.

He only smiled.

"She would have been proud of you."

"You think?" Draco asked him with a sly smile.

The old man nodded.

"Very proud."

Draco nodded only and stared at the work at hand.

He wanted to make her proud of him.

And he knew that releasing Snape of a crime he did not commit would make her proud wherever she was.

He knew how close they were and how important Snape was for Narcissa.

He knew her love for him as a dear friend and how she would do anything to protect him.

"They have been very good friends." the old man had said. "Incredibly good friends. I remember the days when Mr. Snape would be here - when you were young and he would carry you over his shoulders."

Draco smiled at him but he barely remembered the memory of it.

"Did he?" Draco asked with genuine curiosity.

The old man nodded.

"Your mother always said he would carry you onto his shoulders any time he would see it fit." the old man said observing his gaze. "It was a joke for her but I know that Mr. Snape took that seriously. He was very fond of you."

Draco did not say anything.

He could barely remember the good memories with Snape at their house when he was younger.

But despite not really remembering those days, it does not matter.

He knew they were true anyway.

"Do you believe he is innocent?" the man had asked him. "Do you believe in him, Young Master?"

Draco stared at him and at the documents over the table as he recalled the memories he's been shown, the words and stories of Hermione and Snape.

He wasn't sure what to do really.

"I believe he is." Draco slowly answered as he stared over the parchments as if looking for something.

He looked up at the old man who stared at him with a knowing smile.

"I believe of his innocence but it will take me more than enough time to prove it. There must be something out of this.. an escape of some sort for him."

 _"Miss Granger if you already feel sleepy I suggest you go upstairs."_

 _"What time is it?" she sleepily asked him as she closed the book in her hand and lowered her legs from the couch in the small laboratory._

 _Snape looked up at her from stirring the potion by the long table._

 _"It's time for you to rest." Snape simply said without telling her the time._

 _Hermione stared and shook her head several times to clear her visions._

 _She must have dozed off for several minutes or so._

 _"Is it done?" Hermione asked him._

 _She put the book down on the couch and stood up and walked back to the potions table where the large cauldron had its potion at boiling point._

 _"Nearly." Snape replied as he added what looked like some black powder over the mixture._

 _Hermione watched the powder disappear in the boiling solution._

 _The smell around the room had changed. It smelled like some sort of garden around the room._

 _"What's that?" Hermione asked sniffing around. "Is that it?"_

 _"It's the Essence of Life." Snape replied without removing his gaze from the cauldron he was continuously stirring._

 _"I need a smaller cauldron for the last stage." Snape said pointing at the cabinet beneath the table._

 _"Oh, yes. Sorry." Hermione quickly bent down and opened the drawers and found the one that held smaller cauldrons._

 _She pulled one and placed it over the table._

 _"What do I do next?" she asked, feeling completely awake now._

 _Snape continued to stir the solution in full concentration. He was counting the stirs._

 _"Professor-"_

 _"Give me a moment, Miss Granger."_

 _His black eyes were focused over the boiling potion as he stirred it in a perfectly smooth manner._

 _Hermione stared up at him and knew he had been up for nearly 24 hours._

 _His stamina was quite astounding and his ability to focus despite the exhaustion in his body amazed her._

 _"You should rest after we do this." Hermione told him preparing the place where some of the potion will be transferred._

 _"I'm fine."_

 _"I'll cook for you." Hermione offered with a small smile. "The least I can do for you."_

 _"The moment we finish this I need to bring this to the hospital." Snape simply said._

 _"As soon?"_

 _"As soon." Snape repeated. "It has to be taken at the least within twelve hours."_

 _Hermione watched him silently as he prepared to transfer an amount of the potion at the smaller cauldron._

 _"Have you figured out how you're going to get there?" Hermione asked him. "I mean, how you're going to get there without being seen?"_

 _Snape did not answer her as he finished counting the stirs and lowered the rod._

 _He breathed heavily and a large towel from the end of the table and slowly began scooping some of the potion from the larger batch onto the smaller cauldron._

 _"I have." Snape said as he settled the potion and continued to transfer certain amounts. "Getting inside is easy. It's the getting out that might be a little tricky."_

 _"Do you.." Hermione slowly began clearing her throat. "Do you need.."_

 _Snape stared at her momentarily and knew what she was going to say._

 _"You know you can't." Snape simply said._

 _Hermione bit her lower lip._

 _"I was going to ask if-"_

 _"Hermione, you can't come with me." Snape said as he placed the final scoop of potion. "We've already talked about this."_

 _He lowered the towel in his hand and stared at her in a mixture of seriousness and suppressed impatience._

 _"Professor Snape, I'm only going to-"_

 _"You can't." Snape said with finality in his tone. "Please understand the risk I am about to take. And I cannot risk you."_

 _"But how do we know?" Hermione asked him. "How do we know if it's going to-"_

 _"Hermione.."_

 _Hermione stopped and nodded coherently._

 _His tone had already differed and she was sure to get the bad end of it if she does not stop._

 _"Things will be better after this." Snape said. "You need not to worry."_

 _She did not say anything._

 _She watched him carefully read through the steps of the potion for the last time._

 _"Should I stir it now?" she eagerly asked him with a small smile. "It's already the colour we're waiting for."_

 _"A few more minutes. Three more stirs clock wise and fifteen counter." Snape read out loud._

 _He lowered the paper and stared at the solution._

 _"I'll stir?" she asked him staring at the colour of the potion that seemed to be ready already._

 _"Not yet." Snape said shaking his head._

 _"But the colour-"_

 _"It's nearly there but not yet. There is a perfect colour and timing for it, Hermione. Wait for it."_

 _Hermione nodded and watched him walk to the other end of the room._

 _"Watch over it." Snape said._

 _"I will." Hermione replied._

 _Snape stared at her with a quiet warning._

 _He knew how much she wanted to finish the potion as soon as possible._

 _"Hermione, it's not yet ready. I'll go upstairs and get something. Where's the final ingredient and the vial?"_

 _"The second vial is here." Hermione said pulling something out from the pocket of her pajamas. "The ingredient is in my bedroom on top of my desk on top of.."_

 _"Why is the other one upstairs? I thought you were already holding it."_

 _"You told me to keep it away for a while until it was needed."_

 _Snape did not say anything but he looked slightly annoyed._

 _"I'll get it upstairs if you-"_

 _"No, stay here. I'll get it. Just hold that empty vial."_

 _Hermione stopped talking and nodded at him._

 _"Don't touch anything." Snape warned her eyeing her suspiciously. ._

 _He quickly left the small laboratory and headed upstairs._

 _Snape felt beyond exhausted._

 _The potion had taken hours little longer than he had expected and this was the only time he ever had to make it and the steps weren't quite easy._

 _The potion and the ingredients itself were complex. Creating it was another story._

 _But he had to make it._

 _He had to make it and in a few hours, it had to be delivered to its drinker._

 _Snape reached her bedroom and entered the room._

 _He inhaled the familiar scent of her dark tresses and the smell of the small vanilla-rose candle he had given her the previous night to help her fall asleep better due to her nightmares._

 _He walked over to her small desk and quickly found what he was looking for._

 _It was a smaller vial where he was going to transfer the ready-made potion later._

 _He was to place there the final staged potion and downstairs, in Hermione's hand was the other half of the enchanted vials._

 _It was the most crucial part and ingredient of the potion that would make its drinker return to his or her former and complete state._

 _He held the bottle in his hand._

 _This last ingredient will never be available again once he uses it._

 _He took one glance at its contents with a heavy heart and soul._

 _"This is for you." Snape whispered kissing the bottle gently. "For you.."_

 _Snape breathed heavily and his eyes slowly fell over the parchment on the table where the vial had been._

 _Hermione's familiar scrawl could be seen through it and the first word that catches his attention was the name 'Harry..'._

 _It was a letter for Harry._

 _He slowly opened it just out of mere curiosity._

 _He knew that she had no means of communicating with the boy but perhaps she had hoped that his leniency and her luck these past few days could be pushed further._

 _He was about to open it when he heard it._

 _A loud crash and an ear-piercing scream that came straight from the depths of his small basement laboratory._

 _"Hermione!" Snape called in slight panic._

 _There was no answer but he could hear the cry of agony._

 _Snape quickly pulled up Hermione's drawer and stashed the vial back inside it together with the parchment._

 _Her cries began to echo around the house._

 _Snape, driven by fear and panic, dashed out of the room and down the stairs as fast as his long legs could possibly carry him._

 _He had skipped most of the steps from the stairs and had seemingly flown down as he rushed back to the laboratory hearing the ear-splitting cries._

 _"Hermione! Hermione!" he called out in complete panic as he already had an idea of what had happened._

 _Snape pulled his wand out and reached the doorway of his lab._

 _The moment he entered and saw the scene before his eyes, his heart seemed to have stopped and his whole body shook in complete fear and panic._

 _Hermione lay helplessly on the floor crying and calling for his name._

 _The smaller cauldron had toppled over from the table, had fallen next to her and had spilled all its contents all over the floor and across Hermione's legs._

 _The clothing from her pajamas had quickly burnt out and her skin was quickly melting, red and blistered from the boiling potion that spilled through her skin._

 _"Oh god, no.. Hermione.. no.." Snape's voice seemed to have returned after a moment of being paralyzed by the doorway in shock of the scene before him._

 _He waved his wand around and the cauldron had moved away from the edged of the table and the spilling and dripping potion had slowly disappeared._

 _Hermione's eyes widened in relief upon seeing him._

 _She opened her arms to him and was crying so hard in pain at the burning potion over her skin._

 _"Professor.. p—professor.." she wailed unable to stop the shaking of her voice upon the pain she was enduring._

 _"Hermione-" Snape croaked out panic and fear growing inside of him as he saw the damage done as he tried to move Hermione._

 _"Aaaaargh! It burns! It burns!" Hermione screamed as she dropped the second vial in her hand and had tried backed away from the cauldron._

 _"Evanesco!" Snape commanded, and the caldron disappeared altogether._

 _He ran over to her. "Let me see it."_

 _Hermione felt a hand trying to bring her to her feet. "I can't walk," she cried as the boiling potion scalded her thigh and dripped over her legs._

 _"I need to see it,"Snape said, roughly pulling her leg to him._

 _"I can't stretch it out!" she wailed as the pain burned deeper. "Don't touch it. It hurts!"_

 _"I said I need to see it!" Snape barked, and without warning, he scooped her in his arms and carried her back to their living room and set her on the couch._

 _"Granger, I need to see it," he told her as he tried to stretch her legs, but she remained curled in a ball. "I need to—"_

 _"It hurts when I move it—" she cried, not wanting to see her own burning skin beneath her pajamas._

 _"I told you not to touch it! It was not yet ready!" Snape spat._

 _He grabbed a pillow and placed Hermione's leg over it._

 _"Really! You're going to scream at me right now about what I did or didn't do—aaaaah!" she screamed again. Her skin was blistered. Either he had to do something about it or they'd have to go to the hospital._

 _Her impatience had ruined an important potion._

 _"Granger, look at me," he said, kneeling next to the couch. "I need to see it so I can heal it. You need to stretch out your leg for me."_

 _"It hurts, I can't move it!" she wailed, trying to shove him away. "It's burning my legs!"_

 _"I can see it's burning," he spat, losing his patience with her._

 _He took out his wand and rolled up his sleeves. He tried to calm himself down so she wouldn't panic. "I need to see it so I can heal it. "_

 _"No! It hurts." She tried to shove him away, but he grasped her wrists tightly._

 _"Granger." He took hold of her arms, but she shook her head and refused to move. "Granger, look at me. Hermione! Please look at me," Snape said softly. She slowly opened her eyes and looked up at him. He saw the pain in her eyes as the potion continued to burn her skin._

 _He breathed heavily ."Hermione, you need to trust me. You know I can't take you to the hospital. I need to see it so I can heal it now, please." He was growing impatient, but he also knew that he couldn't do anything without her cooperation. The seconds were ticking. The more she delayed, the more damage the potion would inflict._

 _"It hurts." she whispered, reaching out for his arm as she shook her head. "It really hurts."_

 _"I know," Snape whispered as he knelt closer. He realized that he had to take off her pajamas so he could fully see the damage. He looked at Hermione, and she seemed to sense what he was thinking. She closed her eyes and more tears spilled out._

 _"Please just make it stop hurting." She lifted her upper body and started removing her pajamas._

 _Snape swallowed hard as he watched her. When they were halfway down her thighs, she refused to move any more. He slowly placed his hand over the waistband. "Hermione, I need to—"_

 _"Just do it." Hermione said, biting her lower lip in pain and embracing the other small pillow he'd given her. "Please hurry." She looked away, unable to watch._

 _Snape nodded and muttered an incantation as he placed the tip of his wand over her pajamas. He traced a line down each leg, and the material sliced itself following the path of his wand. He winced at the sight of her beautiful skin marred by the burns. He knew he could repair it, but it would take time for her to heal completely._

 _"Hermione," Snape said, still reluctant to touch her skin. "The potions I'm going to use are going to sting, but you need to just hold still and it will be all right." She didn't seem to hear him. He whispered a Freezing Charm and pointed his wand over the burn marks._

 _"This will cool it down a little." He carefully turned her face. "Hermione, look at me."_

 _Hermione stared up at the Potions Master. She'd never seen him so worried._

 _"I'll go get the potions." It looked as if she was on the verge of passing out from the pain._

 _She nodded incoherently and pressed his wrist tightly. "Please help me," she whispered, tears in her eyes._

 _"I will," he said, and without knowing why he did it, he moved towards her. "I will, love. Just hold still. I'll take care of you."_

 _Snape's voice echoed somewhere in her head as her eyes closed in pain. She blacked out after that._

 _"I'm here." Snape whispered, tears straining his eyes, "I'm here sweetheart."_

 _He gently kissed her forehead and unconscious form._

 _Despite knowing that she possibly couldn't hear him anymore, Snape kept whispering words of comfort for her as his eyes strained with tears at the sight of her figure._

 _"I won't leave you." Snape assured her. "We're going to fix this. You're going to be alright. Just hold still.. just stay still, love.. I'm going to heal you. I promise you, you're going to be alright, you're going to be fine. I am here.. I am here."_

Snape wasn't sure what exactly has happened in the last few minutes but he was sure that the pain caused to him did not even scare him the slightest bit.

He knew this was bound to happen sooner or later but he had to admit that he did fear it happening to Draco. He could only hope that he was better at that moment than he was doing.

He had been literary dragged by three individuals from his cell.

His hands were roped at his back, a cloth had been placed around his mouth and eyes but he knew that he was being dragged only to another room.

It was the middle of the night and it told him that it was going to be longer than usual.

He heard a door being opened and closed and then he was pushed back into a chair.

With his sharp senses, he could tell he wasn't in another cell but in another room instead.

The temperature in the room told him that he must be in the upper floor of Azkaban.

He heard footsteps settling and then fading away before the door had closed.

He breathed deeply, waiting for any sound or movement around him.

He wasn't sure what made him think so but he could sense that someone else was left in the room.

And then he heard it, a chair being pushed from the table just at the opposite side of his.

Silence.

And out of the blue, he felt the sharpest pain as someone from the back had forcedly, strongly and purposely banged his head with face forward the wooden table in front of him.

He did not speak but he inhaled sharply at the pain that his forehead and nose had just endured.

He felt as if his nose had been broken and he could feel the leaking of blood from his forehead.

He felt dazed and had barely recovered when another blow came but this time, it was harder and stronger than the previous.

He almost screamed in shock and pain but he was still able to control his voice despite the pain.

His nose was now bleeding and he could feel like his brain was being rattled off its place.

"Did that hurt?" asked a very familiar voice. "Cause I'm not quite sure if the pain made any impression on you, _professor."_

Snape sat still and shook his head with a small smirk spreading across his clothed covered mouth.

"What's that?" asked the voice.

He heard a chair being pulled in front of him.

Snape shook his head again and felt more blood dripping from the side of his head and nose.

"Oh sorry. My bad. Here, let me help you there."

Another sharp pain as he felt his face suddenly turn from the other side and back as the cloth from his mouth had been pulled away without the slightest warning so he could speak.

He breathed out heavily, coughing at the pain and the lack of air.

"You were saying something, professor?"

"Are you done now _, Potter?"_ Snape asked calmly.

He listened at the unnerving silence around him.

The chair moved again.

"No." Harry quietly answered him. "I'm just actually warming up."

Snape smirked at his answer.

He moved his head side to side as the blindfold was kept over his eyes.

"It's actually stupid. You putting this blindfold on me. It's not like I don't know who you are."

"You don't know me." Harry answered him. "Not anymore."

Snape did not say anything as he listened to the voice of the boy he had taught for so many years.

He could tell that there was indeed something different there.

Something almost sinister.

"So are you going to torture me, Potter?" Snape asked him.

Harry breathed deeply as he stared at the man he despised more than anything or anyone in the world.

He wasn't sure what he wanted to do with him.

Murder was ofcourse on the top of his list but that would give him a leeway; an easy way out of everything that he had done.

And he must pay for everything that he had done – slowly and severely.

"Why are you here?" Snape asked as the silence around him almost bored him. "Come now Potter, you wanted a brawl, did you not?"

Harry did not speak.

He stared at the man he wanted right now to kill with his bare hands but that would make his life easy.

He hated him for all that he was and everything that he had done.

"You've taken everything from me." Harry whispered. "I'm going to make sure you rot in here."

"By all means, Potter," Snape whispered at him. "I'm more than ready to rot in here."

"Are you happy?" Harry asked him. "Are you happy for what you have done to me and to Hermione?"

Snape did not answer.

He shook his head.

"Your arrogance makes you jump into conclusions. But then again, you are James Potter's son. What is the difference?" he silkily whispered. " _Nothing."_

He almost laughed and it gave Harry another reason to want to hit him at that moment.

He stared at the man he despised so much.

He was there, at his mercy and yet he wasn't sure what he really wanted to do with him.

"You sit there and feel like all of this is a joke?" Harry whispered. "You're going to pay for what you've done to Hermione."

"You know nothing so I wouldn't waste my time answering to all of these."

"Hermione does not love you." Harry said. "She must be disillusioned but she does not love you."

Snape did not say anything to that.

He remained quiet.

It made Harrry smile momentarily.

"She was scared of you." Harry spoke after a while. "She had always been scared of you. Whatever you two shared in that cottage for all those years – you think she will love you? No, _no professor_ \- you're disillusioned if you think she loved you. She might have followed your whims and wills but that was all because of her fear of dying and being murdered."

"Suit yourself for the reality you want to settle into, Potter." Snape said with such calmness in his voice that Harry wanted to strike again to just make him feel the slightest panic.

"Hermione does not love you."

Snape did not say anything.

"Hermione will be well soon and she will wake up from this illusion you've made for her. She will realize what a monster you were and she will bring you down at Azkaban."

Still, Snape remained quiet.

"Hermione has never and will never love you." Harry's voice came closer as he spoke giving him the idea that he had advanced a few inches forward him.

"She only followed you because she did not want to die. She only followed you because she pitied the man that you've always been."

Snape's fists clenched behind his back but he tried his best to not say anything to Harry.

"All those ten years?" Harry asked him. "Hermione is a victim. But that does not make her any less smart. She might have been traumatized but she would come around and she would see the monster that you really are."

"A monster?" Snape asked him slowly. "Have _you_ checked yourself on the mirror lately, Potter? Because you see, I heard otherwise."

A sudden blow came as Harry reached forward across the table.

He grabbed him by his long hair and had banged his face forward another time.

He screamed in pain but Harry could hear his smeared laughter beneath his bleeding lips and nose.

"You're the only monster in this room."

"Look at yourself, Potter." Snape said spitting out the blood from his mouth. "Take a good look at yourself."

Harry's fists were clenching at his sides and he was very much tempted to use the wand inside his robes.

He had managed to get inside Snape's cell and have him out despite the precautions given by Kingsley and the warnings by the Ministry and other Aurors.

There were no rules against him seeing Snape but knowing their history together and Harry's uncontrolled temper from time to time, they knew it wasn't a good idea.

But Harry was Harry Potter, the Chosen One and the savior of the Wizarding World.

There was nothing that would ever be forbidden of him to gain for whatever favor he would wish to ask.

"If I could kill you now, I would." Harry whispered dangerously. "The only reason you are still alive is because I know you would suffer longer in these celled walls and at the hands of the Dementors."

"Suffering?" Snape asked with an insulting smile. "You are still as naïve as ever, Potter. You think that suffering is only gained by physical pain. Look at me now." Snape said looking up at him. "Look at me now and tell me you are not enduring any form of suffering."

Harry did not say anything.

He was shaking with so much range in him that he felt he could just kill him with his bare hands now.

"Suffering is not only physical pain, Potter." Snape's soft voice echoed around the empty room. "I'm quite sure that for the past years you've learned that. How long has that been-"

"Ten years." Harry cut him short. "You've taken ten years from me and I'm going to make you pay for each of it."

There was danger in his eyes that resembled that of what Draco had described of him.

The dangerous gleam in his eyes that was surely hurting and scaring Hermione – his Hermione.

"Hermione will never-"

Another loud strike from Harry's hand.

His lip cut and bled and Harry's fist hung up in the air.

He was breathing fast and heavy and ready to strike again but Snape looked nowhere intimidated by him at all.

"How could you do all those things?" Harry quietly asked him. "How could you do all of those things when Dumbledore trusted you! The man had trusted you with his life!"

This time, he did not say anything. Not a word nor expression from Snape.

It was the first time in a long time he has ever heard of the old man's name.

The mention seared some pain in his chest at the memory of him.

If he had any choice, he would have done differently.

"He trusted you!" Harry angrily screamed banging his fists on the table. "He trusted you! _I trusted you!"_

There hung a silence right after.

A silence that was a result of shock from the two of them.

Harry did not expect himself to say that nor did Snape expect those feelings from the boy he had loathed for so many years just because he was the spawn of his greatest rival at school.

He did not say anything. Nor did he look up to stare at the familiar emerald eyes that gleamed of anger for him.

"If you have nothing else to say, Potter. I'd like to go back to my cell seeing that you are not planning to kill me at all tonight."

Harry was breathless as he stared back at the man.

He wanted so much to kill him. But it would have been mere mercy.

"You must think this celled walls are mercy, Snape."

"These celled walls are more than mercy, Potter." Snape answered him.

Harry looked up at him with question in his eyes.

He did not understand it.

Snape's voice seemed almost remorseful.

"I could kill you." Harry whispered holding his wand inside his robes. "I could."

"I know." Snape quietly answered.

He actually nodded at his hand he knew holding his wand.

Harry looked at him with so much hatred in his eyes.

"How could you." Harry whispered. "I trusted you."

Snape did not answer him.

He turned his head away from Harry.

"Know that I will find ways and ways to make you suffer." Harry's voice was full of hatred that Snape knew if he could only Avada him at that moment, he had already done so.

"I do not deny anything, Potter." Snape answered him. "I will not stop you from doing what you want to do with me. But I ask one thing of you."

"You have no right to ask me of anything."

"Mercy, Potter." Snape said. "Give _her_ leniency and mercy that you cannot show me."

Harry's eyebrow raised.

"I love her." Harry said. "I have always loved her and you took that opportunity away from me!"

Without warning, Harry had suddenly attacked him.

He grabbed him by the neck and with all his might and force, pulled him off his chair and punch him twice.

Snape, with his hands bounded behind his back was unable to defend himself.

But he did not look like he wanted to fight back nor defend himself at all.

He fell back on the floor in silence.

His black eyes were staring out of nowhere.

Harry stood over him with such rage all over him.

He had pulled his wand out by now and was pointing it directly over his left temple.

"The only reason I'm not yet blowing off your brains right now is because I know that you deserve the Dementor's Kiss."

"I deserve nothing in life, Potter." Snape whispered. "Kill me now if you wish."

The wand over his temple was deepening and it pained him but he was not scared incase Harry does the Killing Curse on him.

Maybe it was really better this way. Perhaps it would have been better to die this way.

"Kill me now." Snape repeated softly without any left expression over his face. "But spare her. Spare Hermione."

His hand was shaking in anger.

The Killing Curse was already at the tip of his tongue.

"Spare Hermione, Potter." Snape whispered. "Spare her from the anger you are feeling for me. She does not deserve to suffer the way I do. She has done nothing."

 _Draco entered the study in the West Wing of the manor and was surprised to see Snape in the room._

 _He entered the room to get the book he had left the previous day._

 _Snape was quietly sitting over the long couch at the other end of the room and had not spoken a word to him since he had entered the room._

 _Draco had found the book he needed from the table but he wished to know why Snape was there._

 _There was no Death Eater's meeting and his father was away with the Dark Lord._

 _The only possible reason for him being there is for Narcissa._

 _He was curious._

 _Draco moved about the room looking for books across the shelves despite that he was really not looking for anything._

 _When he could no longer take it as his curiosity was killing him already, he crossed the room and decided to talk to Snape._

 _"Why are you here?" he asked fishing as he continued to pretend that he was looking for something from the tall book shelves in the room._

 _Snape did not answer immediately._

 _He finished the tea served for him._

 _"For your mother." Snape said._

 _Draco nodded and took out a book from the shelf and opened it as if searching for something._

 _"What for?"_

 _"Excuse me?" Snape looked up at him with a raised brow._

 _"I said, why do you need to see my mother?" Draco answered continuing to flip through the pages._

 _"Should there be a specific reason for me to see her?" Snape asked back. "Am I not allowed to see my friend?"_

 _Draco smirked at his answer._

 _Snape lowered the cup in his hand and stared at Draco with curiosity._

 _"My mother called for you for some reason." Draco answered. "I want to know why."_

 _Draco snapped the book shut loudly and turned to Snape._

 _Snape did not say anything._

 _He walked over to where his godfather was and halted right in front of him._

 _"Why are you here?" Draco asked him. "What do you want from my mother?"_

 _Snape looked up at him and wondered where all these curiosity and questions were coming from._

 _"Are you deaf?" Draco asked him._

 _"Have you lost your ability to be respectful, Draco?" Snape quietly asked him._

 _"I asked you." Draco said folding his arms in front of him. "You are in my territory. I am permitted to know everything I want to know."_

 _Snape raised his eyebrow again and stared up at him with such amusement over his face._

 _"Go upstairs Draco." Snape said. "Your mother and I would need to finish some important business that does not concern you."_

 _"Right." Draco said with a spiteful look over his face. "It concerns her, doesn't it?"_

 _Snape did not say anything._

 _"It concerns only two things, right?" Draco asked him. "It's either about that Mudblood's whereabouts or about my mother's health. I'm not stupid."_

 _Snape did not say anything. He was losing his patience._

 _Where the hell was Narcissa?_

 _He had been waiting for half an hour in the room._

 _"I do not understand what you're talking about."_

 _"Liar." Draco spitefully said. "You know where she is and you know something is wrong with my mother and you wouldn't tell me-"_

 _"Draco, I suggest you go upstairs because this meeting really does not concern-"_

 _"Where is the girl?" Draco angrily demanded. "Where is she – I know it, I know you know where she is and you're hiding her and you know what the fuck is wrong with my-"_

 _"DRACO!"_

 _They both looked up and saw Narcissa enter the room looking livid._

 _"Mother-"_

 _"Go upstairs." Narcissa ordered him as she walked to them. "Severus and I have something to talk about."_

 _"I want to stay here and hear about it." Draco stubbornly said knowing that wasn't going to work anyway._

 _"I've just been telling Draco-"_

 _"Draco, please go upstairs." Narcissa's voice was quiet but it was serious._

 _Draco stared at Snape's gloating expression and back at her mother._

 _"Mother, please. I want to know what's going on – nobody's ever telling me anymore what's-"_

 _"Draco, I said go upstairs because Severus and I-"_

 _"NO, MOTHER!" Draco yelled back at her with an enraged expression._

 _"I SAID GO BACK UPSTAIRS TO YOUR ROOM DRACO-"_

 _"I WANT TO KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON!" Draco angrily yelled moving forward Narcissa._

 _"Draco, stop it!" Snape angrily warned as he stood up from the couch and quickly grabbed Narcissa from Draco's advances._

 _Draco moved forward and pulled Narcissa from Snape's grasp but he did not let her go._

 _"I want to know what's going on!" Draco angrily said. "I know you know where she is and I know that you know what's wrong with my mother!"_

 _"Draco, I said go upstairs and-"_

 _"Draco, stop it!" Snape warned and this time there was worry in his voice as he stared at Narcissa._

 _Her eyes had widened and she clutched her chest painfully._

 _Draco quickly let her go as she fell unconscious at Snape's arms._

 _"Mother-"_

 _"Call Lucius." Snape yelled up at Draco as he slightly shook Narcissa's form in his arms. "Draco, call Lucius."_

 _Draco did not say anything. He felt like he couldn't move a muscle._

 _Snape's tone was alarming._

 _Draco's eyes widened and tears filled them. He felt like he was frozen at the spot as he watched Narcissa's unmoving form in Snape's arms._

 _"Draco!" Snape yelled waking him from his reverie, "Draco, call Lucius! Use the enchantment that Bellatrix taught you-"_

 _"What's going on – mother – what's happening to her –"_

 _Draco did not know what to do but panic was rising inside of him._

 _Snape had taken his wand out and was gently touching its tip all over Narcissa's body as if casting something to ease whatever she was enduring inside._

 _"What's going on with her- what's-"_

 _"DRACO!" Snape angrily said looking up at him. "Send the enchantment to your father – NOW!"_

 _Draco nodded and spoke incoherently and he pulled his wand out and began casting the enchantment that Bellatrix had taught her a few weeks ago._

 _He wasn't sure what was going on at the moment. But he did what he was told._

 _Tears streaked down his pale face as his eyes watched Snape move Narcissa across the room while he began hurriedly chanting the spell from his wand._

 _He stared in horror as Snape carried Narcissa's unmoving body on the couch and was casting charms after another with great fear and worry written all over his face._


	21. Chapter 21

_**Chapter XXI**_

 ** _"Books"_**

"Where have you been?"

Harry looked up and saw Hermione standing across the hall with arms folded.

He closed the door behind him and hung his cloak on the wall behind the door.

Hermione was in her sleeping dress but she did not looked like she was able to sleep at all.

It was nearly six in the morning and he had not gone home the entire night.

Hermione stayed up waiting for him and wondering worriedly what he'd be up to this time around.

"Harry?" Hermione asked as Harry just walked across the hall and discarded his shoes at the rack.

Hermione's eyes stared at his muddy boots and at the cloak he hung over the wall and back Harry.

"Harry, where have you been?" she impatiently asked him again.

"Auror duties." Harry simply answered without looking up at her.

He moved to her and kissed her cheek and walked past her towards the kitchen.

"Auror duties?" Hermione asked him suspiciously. "You had spent the entire night doing that? What were the duties? Late-night catching Death Eaters?"

Harry didn't answer her.

Instead, he walked away from her and went to the kitchens.

"Is there coffee?" he asked her.

Hermione stood there staring at his dirty boots again.

She already had a hunch on where he has been.

She could hear him moving around the kitchen opening cupboards.

Hermione walked to the kitchen and watched his progress around the cupboards.

"I can make you an early breakfast." Hermione offered despite that she didn't look up to the task.

"I'm not really hungry." Harry responded pulling a bowl from the cupboard and looking for the milk and cereal instead of making coffee.

Hermione wasn't sure if she should ask him further knowing he wouldn't be honest anyway.

"Are you sleeping in today?" Hermione asked him as she handed over a napkin across the table. "Do I have to cancel our appointment to the invitations shop? It's this morning but I think you need some sleep."

Harry found the milk and Hermione watched quietly as he tossed the milk and cereal together over the bowl and sat down.

"Harry."

"I haven't forgotten." Harry irritably answered her.

"We can cancel if you-"

"We're not cancelling anything." Harry said with a slightly raised voice.

He looked livid for some reason.

Hermione held her breath and walked to him and grabbed a small wash cloth to wipe the small amount of milk that spilled from the bowl he was eating from.

She was quietly watching him and didn't miss the large circles around his eyes.

He obviously did not sleep the entire night.

No, he looked like he hasn't slept for days.

She finished clearing up the mess.

"We can move it this afternoon if you'd like to rest first." Hermione said. "I was just wondering if-"

"Damn it, Hermione!" Harry suddenly yelled at her.

Hermione stared, shocked and scared as he stared angrily up at her.

"Harry-"

"Just give me an hour to eat alright!" Harry angrily yelled at her moving the bowl away from him and nearly toppling it all over.

There was some silence.

It took a moment but Harry recovered and when he did he looked like he completely didn't know what he was doing.

"Sorry." Harry quietly said walking to the drawers to grab a cloth to clean his own mess.

Hermione stood silently, eyes transfixed at him and scared to move a muscle nor say a word.

Harry cleared the table but Hermione moved forward to help him out.

"I'll do it." Hermione gently offered taking the cloth from his hand. "It's alright, I'll do it, Harry."

Harry let the cloth go and watched her quietly as she progressed cleaning the whole mess.

"Hermione-"

"Get another bowl and finish you breakfast." Hermione said without looking up at him as she cleared everything away. "I'll get ready and we can leave in two hours."

Harry watched as she finished everything up and tossed the wash cloth over the sink and then wordlessly left the room without looking back at him.

 _Hermione's cries faltered a little as she looked up from the carpeted floor by the living room._

 _She had curled herself into a ball as her cries dragged over the hours._

 _Snape had already been too lenient with her but their argument that morning had been too much._

 _It had even come to the point where he tried to drag and force her back into her room but she had relentlessly refused and Snape had left her on the floor of the living room._

 _He had yelled at her and told her that she could stay on the floor for as long as she wanted and rot in there because he did not have time for her nonsense and her attention-seeking and childlike dramas._

 _Hermione had been reckless as well and in her anger, she grabbed one of the small vase decorations at the cottage right at Snape's back as he left the room._

 _Snape looking both shocked and living turned back to her with his wand drawn out._

 _Hermione screamed back at him to kill her but he didn't do anything._

 _There were only two of them in that cottage._

 _Just the two of them and he could kill her and murder her anytime he wanted to and nobody would ever find out about it._

 _She had been staying and living with the mere presence of her potions professor for months now since the ambush._

 _It was definitely not easy._

 _Despite his assurances, his promises and his words of comfort; the meals and clothes he had provided her, she had expected that he would have taken her back to the Order by now._

 _But he hasn't._

 _She had begun to be worried and began to have panic attacks and anxiety about his plans that for some time, she had been demanding things and answers from him with ways beyond being 'respectful' of their standing._

 _But today had been different._

 _Today was her birthday and she was stuck with him in the middle of nowhere – far and away from her loved ones whom she has not heard from a long time._

 _It was driving her mad._

 _They were in the midst of a war and she had no idea how they were doing and coping through it all and she wanted to let them know she was alive and well and perhaps better than the rest._

 _But how?_

 _Snape would not allow her to use magic._

 _She had not found her wand and had been suspecting that he had been keeping it. And she also suspected that he had placed a sort of enchantment around their place because even her attempts on using wandless magic seemed blocked and useless._

 _It made her worry for she knew that forcedly suppressed magic could only do two things – dry its owner of its full potential or have the owner's powers greatly blow something or someone up sooner or later._

 _Both choices were not very pleasant to even just think about._

 _He had promised her weeks ago that things will be better but nothing good seemed to have come out of those promises except for the fact that she was being fed at the proper times of the day and was being given enough 'necessities' to survive the daily life._

 _But other than, the freedom she had expected and he had promised her was nowhere in sight._

 _"Miss Granger." Snape's soft voice spoke somewhere above her._

 _Hermione blinked and moved her head an inch and see the blurry image of an object being placed in front of her._

 _"Miss Granger."_

 _"I don't want anything." Hermione croaked out quietly._

 _Hot and silent tears streamed down her already red face._

 _"Miss Granger." Snape's insistent voice came and she heard him settle on the floor next to him._

 _He moved and pulled something closer to the both of them._

 _Hermione looked up and despite that she could barely comprehend what was happening, she saw what looked like three boxes and two of them were quite larger than the last one._

 _"Miss Granger."_

 _"I don't want anything." Hermione simply repeated but she was watching his movements out of the corner of her eyes._

 _He had moved about and with a flick of his wand, she saw him lit what looked like a circular object on a large platter that came out of the smallest box._

 _It was a chocolate cake._

 _She moved and looked up and behind her._

 _Snape was sitting on the carpeted floor holding out the cake as he sat there with his back against the long couch behind them._

 _"Miss Granger, stop this nonsense." Snape whispered taking placing his hand over the magically floating candle above the cake._

 _Hermione's eyes glimmered at the sight of the cake and she wasn't sure what she was feeling._

 _"What are you doing?" she slowly asked him remaining in her half turned position from him._

 _Snape slowly glanced down at her and glanced away again as he patiently held the large platter of cake in his hand._

 _"What do you think I'm doing?" he slowly asked her._

 _Hermione stared at him with an angry stance._

 _"I don't want that." Hermione spat turning away again and resuming her position from earlier._

 _"Miss Gra-"_

 _"I said, I don't want that. I don't want anything." Hermione bitterly said and Snape could hear the threat of more tears again._

 _He sighed heavily and stared at the cake in his hand._

 _He wanted to throw it away and wanted to walk away._

 _He should not even be doing that in the first place._

 _"Miss Granger-"_

 _"I don't fucking want anything from you!" Hermione angrily yelled at him._

 _She was fuming in anger and at the same time, crying helplessly with their situation._

 _She stared at him, eyes wide at what she had just done._

 _She wailed again, this time in great frustration about everything and in fear of being hit._

 _Snape has never really hit or hurt her physically but she felt like she had gone beyond by now despite that she hardly care at all._

 _She wanted to end it all, she wanted out and if her provoking Snape's temperament and patience would will him to hurt her physically that would end her life, perhaps that would be better than all that she was enduring._

 _But it wasn't pain she next endured._

 _She felt his gentle hand over her arm._

 _"Don't touch me!" she angrily moved her arm away from him._

 _She heard him sighed heavily giving her the impression that sooner or later he would be walking out._

 _"Hermione." Snape's voice was quiet and warm this time._

 _"Please go away." Hermione cried knowing that his being gentle with her would only make her feel guilty of her actions against him._

 _"Hermione, this is not any easier for me."_

 _Hermione tried to ignore the emotional pain growing inside of her and the sound of his voice that was somewhat becoming comfort in her ears._

 _She knew it wasn't his fault and that he was only doing his job as an Order member, as a professor and as the man whom Dumbledore had tasked to protect all of them._

 _Despite that she hated him and that she deeply hated their situation right now, she had him and she could not deny that fact._

 _She did not have anyone else in the world at the moment and she had to be honest with herself at the truth on that._

 _She had him and he was taking good care of her if not one that would expect from a close friend or a family._

 _"You told me we would go back." Hermione quietly cried. "You told me we would go to them soon. It's been months."_

 _Snape closed his eyes and clenched his fist._

 _Did she really think he was enjoying all of these hiding they were doing?_

 _"I know I made you a promise." Snape said. "And I intend to fulfill if once it is safe."_

 _Hermione closed her eyes knowing that these might be empty words again._

 _"But when?" Hermione asked him. "When will you bring me back?"_

 _"When it is safe." Snape quietly answered flicking his wand over the dying fire of the candle and igniting it anew._

 _"When will it be safe?"_

 _"When the war is over."_

 _"And how far is it from over?"_

 _Snape did not answer._

 _"How far from over is it, professor?"_

 _No response._

 _"See? You can't even tell – you should just bring me back to them even if there is a war-"_

 _"We've been over and over this, Miss Granger. It is not safe out there and you are bloody saf-"_

 _"Bloody safe." Hermione spat. "Bloody safe my arse!"_

 _Snape's eyes flashed in anger._

 _He was going to lose it any minute now._

 _"We've talked about this. It's not safe out there." Snape sighed heavily. "The war is still on-going and here you are – being ungrateful while you are protected and safe. Do you know how many people out there are dying? Do you know how many would give their lives to their wives and children just to keep their loved one safe? All you have to do is wait for that bloody goddamn right time and you can go back to them. Is that so hard to understand?"_

 _Hermione did not say anything._

 _She had stopped crying and had seemed determined to spend the night fighting him._

 _Snape sighed heavily._

 _"This isn't something I want."_

 _"Well do you think I want to be here?" Hermione irritably snapped at him. "Nobody wants to be stuck here. Least of all, to be stuck with you."_

 _Snape's eyes sharply turned to her._

 _What an ungrateful little chit._

 _Her words were true but nevertheless, it did not make him feel better nor did it make the hurt of it any less._

 _"Fine." Snape snapped angrily. "I don't care if you go fucking hungry, Miss Granger. I'm not going to fucking wait and waste my time here with an ungrateful child like you."_

 _"I'm not a child!" Hermione angrily said._

 _"Well you sure are acting like one!" Snape angrily yelled back at her._

 _Hermione heard him lower the cake in his hand and had moved it hastily next to the two other boxes._

 _He stretched his legs out and took out his wand._

 _Hermione slightly turned her head right at him._

 _He had positioned himself and was ready to leave her._

 _"Wait." Hermione suddenly asked turning back at him with an alarmed expression all over her face._

 _Snape had ignored her._

 _"Wait." Hermione scrambled back on her knees. "Where are you going?"_

 _Snape stared down at her as he straightened his robes up with an irritable stare._

 _Hermione furiously glared at him for his refusal to answer her._

 _"I asked you-"_

 _"I'm bloody going to work back in my laboratory if you'll excuse me." Snape coldly spat at her._

 _Hermione was becoming more furious by the moment._

 _"I already made an effort for you." Snape spat. "I can't stay here all night long baby-sitting you and trying to comfort you when you're bloody not even interested with my efforts to make you feel better on this very day."_

 _Hermione looked more alarmed than anything._

 _Guilt and fear were both creeping all over her body and taking over her head._

 _Her eyes moved from the cake with the small floating candle and then at the two boxes next to it._

 _Snape shook his head and hastily turned from her when he felt it._

 _Hermione's small and weak hands reached out for his wrist._

 _He turned back to her and their eyes met._

 _"Please don't go." Hermione suddenly whispered._

 _Snape's heart seemed to be pierced with pain._

 _The anger from her face and voice had completely vanished and was replaced with complete sorrow and sadness._

 _"Hermione-"_

 _"Don't go."_

 _And without warning, Hermione had thrown herself over towards him._

 _Snape was frozen on the spot on the floor as Hermione fell forward him with her arms tightly wrapped around his neck, holding for dear life and her tears smearing water all over the side of his face._

 _"Please don't go! Please don't go!" Hermione cried. "Please don't leave me here! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"_

 _Snape did not know what to do at that very moment._

 _He had been trying his best to protect her and guide her through all of these knowing there might be circumstances that would soon become too awkward or complicated between the two of them._

 _And this is precisely one of those circumstances he had been trying to avoid as much as he could._

 _"Miss Granger-"_

 _"Please. I'm sorry."_

 _Her grip on him was getting tighter and the look over her face more desperate by the minute._

 _"Professor, please don't go."_

 _Snape stared and sighed at the look she was giving him._

 _This was nothing something that could continue any longer._

 _Either he controlled her by his words and actions or she controlled him by her whims, cries and that look in her eyes._

 _"Will you calm yourself down?" he quietly asked her._

 _Hermione nodded several times at him._

 _He placed his hand over hers around his body and gently removed them from him._

 _Snape slowly lowered himself back on the floor and moved Hermione a few inches away from him._

 _"Please wipe your tears away."_

 _Hermione did so as she was told as Snape sat back on his position and had reached back for the cake again._

 _He waved his wand to renew the fire in the candle that was almost gone by now._

 _He took the cake and held it back in his hand and had moved it between the two of them._

 _Hermione stared at the cake with tearful eyes and back at Snape._

 _"Well, I'm not going to sing you a birthday song, Miss Granger."_

 _Hermione almost laughed at that._

 _She shook her head and nodded at him._

 _Snape almost smiled at what his own lips had uttered._

 _He nodded towards the candle._

 _"I suppose I don't have to tell you what to do."_

 _Hermione smiled and nodded at him._

 _She moved another inch closer to him and at the cake he held with both his hands._

 _She sighed heavily and closed her eyes as she muttered words that Snape barely heard nor was even interested to hear._

 _She then opened her eyes and the glow of the candle's light seemed to have showed her face to Snape in a different and new way._

 _Snape quickly blinked what he called as 'the illusion' away from his eyes and looked away._

 _"Go on." he said edging her._

 _"Thank you professor." Hermione said._

 _She suddenly grasped his wrist and then moved herself closer to the cake and blew the candle as she finished her wish._

 _A gleeful smile spread over her face – one that he had rarely seen since they went or rather he kept her in hiding._

 _Snape gave her a very short smile and nodded as the smoke from the candle appeared between their faces._

 _"How are we going to eat it?" she asked with a smile as she picked the chocolate icing over the side of the cake._

 _"Yes, well I didn't think about that." Snape honestly said realizing the mistake himself._

 _Hermione only smiled at him and suddenly she rested her head against his shoulder._

 _Snape was too taken aback that for a split moment, his hand had weakened and had the cake slightly slid and go off balance from his hold._

 _"Miss Granger-"_

 _"I'm sorry, professor." Hermione said thinking about how grateful she should become._

 _Tears still fell from her eyes but she tried her best to smile._

 _She had him there, trying his best to do everything the headmaster had asked of him, risking his life for many and one that is hers and she was in no place to be ungrateful at all costs._

 _"Miss Granger, I think you should-"_

 _"Thank you." Hermione whispered placing her head comfortably against him and her hand over his._

 _Snape did not say anything._

 _He simply nodded quietly and tried his best not to move around her._

 _He wasn't feeling well about them being physically close together._

 _He didn't like the idea of their bodies touching no matter how much or small of a part of their bodies touch close – he absolutely did not like the idea of it._

 _But he didn't do anything against it at that moment._

 _He didn't really return the favor but he didn't do anything against it either._

 _Not tonight, perhaps._

 _It was, her birthday after all._

 _"Happy birthday, Miss Granger."_

 _"Thank you, professor." Hermione replied, sighing heavily and staring sadly at her cake._

 _Snape nodded and held her for what felt like a seemingly endless moment._

 _"Would you like to see what I've got you?" he gently asked reaching for the two other boxes._

 _"You've got me something?" she asked with a surprised tone._

 _Snape shook his head and nodded at her._

 _He almost smiled again at her expression._

 _He pulled over the two boxes and moved them closer to Hermione._

 _She quickly settled the cake aside and excitedly went for the two boxes._

 _She opened the first one and pulled the object inside it._

 _"Enchanted." Snape said pointing his wand at it._

 _It was a golden lamp with intricate designs and the inside quickly lit with a glowing globe-like fire with bluish and gold colour floating inside the glass._

 _"What's it for?" Hermione asked knowing what lamps are obviously for anyway._

 _Snape nodded and pointed at the second box._

 _Hermione stared at it._

 _The second box seemed more special since it had a ribbon and a gift-wrap in dark emerald colours._

 _She laughed and wiped her tears at the pun of it but she excitedly opened it anyway._

 _Her jaw quickly dropped and her eyes went very wide._

 _She seemed to have lost her words._

 _"Do you like it?" he asked her knowing she would anyway._

 _Hermione couldn't speak._

 _She only nodded vigorously as she pulled the contents._

 _Four thick, large and expensive looking books were inside the box._

 _They were special edition, rare finds – a collection of the selections that contained a full an in-depth information and history of the largest wizarding schools all over the globe._

 _Hermione read the golden text of the first book "Hogwarts, Beauxbatons" the next one had "Durmstrang, Ilvermory" and had continued reading the other two books._

 _"Professor, how did you-" Hermione asked with excitement running all throughout her body._

 _The look over her face told Snape that she had quickly forgotten of the day's argument, the sadness on her having her first birthday with just him and their overall situation at the moment._

 _"I'm glad you liked them." Snape said with a very short smile._

 _"Like them?" Hermione said happily. "I love them!" she said staring at all the books in her hands._

 _Snape only nodded._

 _"But how did you – how – they're very rare and not to mention very, very expensive-" Hermione said staring hungrily over the books in her hands._

 _Snape didn't say anything._

 _Hell yes they were very rare and hard to find and very expensive._

 _Well, they weren't expensive since he had them for free and wasn't rare to find because he found them from a box of books and other selections that Narcissa was about to discard the previous weekend when he visited her._

 _She informed him that she was discarding the contents of the library since it wasn't being used for its true purpose and only Death Eater meetings and Draco was nowhere interested in reading any of them._

 _He asked if he could have a look around and Narcissa had said that he could take any book he would like no matter how plenty he wanted to take with him instead of them rotting in the library._

 _And the books he had given Hermione were some of the selections he had taken from the aisles of aisles in the large library of the Malfoy Manor._

 _She had informed him that these books have been ordered or bought and most of them had never been used nor read nor even opened from their original packaging._

 _The books in Hermione's hands have been ordered and were only read once by Narcissa herself as she was looking for something about the community of Durmstrang students._

 _They were very much as good as brand new._

 _"Can I-" Hermione asked unable to stop herself from pushing her luck. "I mean, it's my birthday and I can – you're going to allow me to take all these to my room and read, right?"_

 _"They are yours, Hermione." Snape replied, finally satisfied to see a smile on her face that was proof that she had completely forgotten all sadness she had since the other day._

 _"Oh my – oh my! Thank you! Thank you professor!" Hermione excitedly said._

 _Snape watched as she scrambled on her feet and had quickly placed the book back inside the box and had taken the lamp and placed it inside._

 _"I'm going to come back for the cake." Hermione quickly said as she carried the two boxes from the floor._

 _Snape only nodded at her. "I'll keep this away."_

 _"No, no-" Hermione said with a smile as she walked to the door. "I'll come back. I'll bring some plates, professor. I'll just bring these to my room." Hermione excitedly called back._

 _Snape heard her excited footsteps fade away and turned back at the cake next to him._

 _What a day it has been._

 _He did not think that he was going to be able to pull up a good birthday for her._

 _He knew how she must be feeling but he was glad that even for just a split moment, just for a few hours, he would be able to take away the hurt in her eyes and the hurt of the reality that had been thrown at them._

"Hermione, I'm sorry." Harry whispered placing his head gently over the table across from her and reaching out to take her hand.

He moved his fingers slightly from her hand that was one the table holding the book.

She was no longer reading to be honest. She had been livid and was merely trying to control her patience in order not to anger Harry.

Despite her fear of Harry and his anger management issues lately, Hermione recognized when she could possibly hold it against him.

"Hermione.."

"It's fine." Hermione said forcing herself to read again as she continued to ignore Harry.

She felt his fingers reaching out, making small and gentle circles at the back of her hand.

It was his signature move ever since their Hogwarts days.

He used to do it a lot especially when he knew he irritated her.

This form of caress was what usually worked before and he had hoped that it still worked.

Hermione ofcourse has not forgotten that moved and knew that he was that desperate to win her no matter what it takes.

"Just order Harry. I want to go home after."

"I'm not hungry."

"Then we should get home." Hermione suggested snapping the book shut and getting up.

Harry grasped her wrist and raised his head from the table.

"Hermione, please-"

"What-" she asked with a raised brow.

"Are you still mad?"

"Are you done about now?" she coldly asked back.

Harry stared up at her and breathed heavily. He let her hand go.

"I'm sorry about how I acted this morning."

Hermione stared at him.

She could not trace if he was lying about being sorry or not.

"You don't have to do that and you know that, Harry."

"I know."

"Harry, let's get things straight here. I thought we are trying to live again?"

"We are!" he angrily said raising his voice again "Ofcourse we are!"

People stared at their direction at the café.

Hermione folded her arms and stared at him.

He gently reached out for her and she moved away and more people stared.

Harry forced a smile at her and reached out again.

"Please sit down and let's talk."

"I'll only sit down if you promise not to raise your voice."

"I promise I won't raise my voice."

Hermione nodded and slowly sat back down with a small smile over her face to ensure the audience awaiting more of their drama.

She looked back at Harry with the same scary gleam over his eyes again but she did not want to be scared of that anymore. Not when people were staring and could help her anytime Harry tries something physical against her.

"You need to control your anger." Hermione said defiantly

Harry did not say anything. He only stared at her and Hermione knew that he was being that 'scary Harry' again as she would like to mentally call it.

"I'm not angry all the time."

"Yes you are." Hermione said with a distinguished irritation in her voice.

"Fine."

 _"There you go."_

"What do you want me to do?" Harry asked back slightly banging his fists on the table.

Hermione stared at his hand and he quickly withdrew it from the table.

"Be reasonable and be open to talking to me. You can't always just walk away or just throw things whenever you don't feel like talking about things-"

"Do we talk about things, Hermione?" Harry asked her back. "Do we ever really talk about things?"

Hermione did not answer. That was something she knew was a part of her downside.

"Okay. I'll talk to you, Hermione. I'll tell you everything. But you also need to do the same. We can't stay in this relationship if it would always be one-sided."

Now it was Hermione's turn to look weak again.

She looked away from him but tried to look passive still.

"Come Hermione. Let's talk about this. We can absolutely talk about everything. Which would mean that you would have to tell me everything else that I'd like to know."

"Harry-"

"You want to know where I've been last night?" he asked her. "I've been at Azkaban. Yeah, Auror duties. I went there as part of my Auror duties to know how a certain bastard is doing with his time at Azkaban."

Hermione's eyes widened in fear at his shameless revelation of his actions.

"No, don't worry. I didn't do anything. I wouldn't do anything to really harm him. I'd rather enjoy the pleasure of knowing the idea that he'd suffer at the hands of those Dementors-"

"Is that why you got home angry and all this morning?" Hermione asked breathlessly. "Because you weren't really satisfied with the hurt you caused him?"

Harry did not answer.

"I've already answered you where I've been and what I've done this morning. My turn to ask questions, don't you think?"

"Harry-"

"No, Hermione, you said you wanted to talk about things- about everything. Alright here we are talking."

Hermione suddenly looked pale.

She withdrew her hand from across the table and was staring around her as if wanting some form of escape from him.

"Should I continue, Hermione?" Harry challenged her.

"Stop talking."

"No, you wanted to talk so were talking now. Should I begin my questions-"

"I said, stop talking."

"Where do you want me to begin Hermione?" Harry asked his eyes now gleaming with the same scary look he had with him.

"Harry, I said-"

"Should I begin to ask you why all those ten years you didn't _try harder_ escaping him? Or why everyone now thinks you've chosen your abductor over your fiancé? Or maybe should I just ask you why you didn't tell me honestly in the first place about how he has used you and made you drink that pregnancy potion?"

Hermione looked back at him – Harry looked demented and aggressive at the same time.

It scared her and angered her as well.

"Why it's so fucking obvious Hermione that he'd been physically abusing you and you deny that to the world and yet you tell me, you fucking tell me you want to marry me?!"

Harry had lost it.

And in a split second he also felt like he lost the ability to really feel.

A pain like he has not felt before passed through his cheek as if breaking his jaw.

Hermione had stood up and reached across the table and had slapped his face so hard that her hand actually made a mark at the side of his cheek.

Harry opened his eyes and was shaking in anger.

Hermione's face was so red in anger she looked like she was going to blow up.

" _You have no right to judge me."_ Hermione's voice came after what felt like an eternity.

Tears started flowing down her cheeks but she did not seem to care at all especially at the people now openly gawking at their direction.

"You have no right to judge me or judge him or tell me these things because you have no idea what has really happened all those ten years! You are so ungrateful Harry! You are so ungrateful, you have no idea what he has done for us – for me and for you most of all! You have no idea what he has done for you of all people-"

"Then goddamnit, tell me!" Harry yelled back at her standing up and banging both his fists on the table.

Hermione slightly recoiled but did not move from her position.

"TELL ME HERMIONE!" Harry angrily screamed back at her. "TELL ME WHAT THE HELL HE DID TO YOU ALL THOSE YEARS AND WHY YOU DON'T WANT HIM IN AZKABAN WHEN HE DESERVES TO BE THERE MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE I KNOW OF!"

Two of the staff in the café had begun walking at their direction and the manager had walked at Harry's side of the table.

He had kindly and quietly asked them to not cause a scene but they only continued to stare at one another.

One of the female staff walked behind Hermione and took her hand and handed her a napkin.

"Miss Granger-" she whispered recognizing the pair of guests they have at the café.

"Thanks." Hermione said wiping her face with it and then she grabbed her book from the table.

Harry stared with a livid expression all over his face and his fists balled at his sides.

"I'm going to see you at home." Hermione quietly said and she threw the napkin back over the table and stared at Harry and turned from the table.

With the people staring at them and the staff around and the manager holding Harry's shaking left arm, Harry stood quietly and watched as Hermione stormed out of the café bringing her cloak and dignity with her out of the café's glass door.

 _"Hermione, let's go to sleep."_

 _"I'm going to follow."_

 _"If you don't come now I swear I'm going to smash that light."_

 _Hermione sniggered and continued reading the book in her hand she had been reading for three hours._

 _It had been her 21_ _st_ _birthday the previous day and Snape had given her several gifts she has never gotten tired of for the past few years._

 _Snape walked into their room as he finished his shower and found her by the fireplace in their bedroom._

 _She was sitting on the carpeted floor licking her fingers off as she flipped through another page with her chocolate-free hand._

 _The bottle of red wine was half empty next to her with her half-finished wine goblet, the large box of chocolate, truffles and eclairs lay open next to her and the box of varied new books of special editions of many kinds lay open on the carpeted floor._

 _"Someone's still enjoying her birthday." Snape commented seeing her gleeful smile as she read through the second book she had been occupied with the whole day._

 _He had left her early that morning to cross town and sell a couple of potions and had left her reading by the living room that morning._

 _He had come home and brought her dinner and she was left in the kitchens still reading as he showered, finished a couple of potions._

 _And now it was bedtime, she was still reading and was finishing the box of chocolates he had bought her the previous day for her birthday._

 _"Do you like my gift?" he asked as he dried his long strands of damp hair with a large towel._

 _"Hmmm." Hermione merely replied finishing another truffle in her mouth and flipping another page._

 _Snape shook his head in his amusement of her._

 _He gently walked across the room and removed his robes wearing only his black pajamas._

 _"Hermione."_

 _"Yeah?" she asked mindlessly as she flipped another page of the book._

 _He stared down at her form on the carpeted floor._

 _Sometimes he felt jealous of those books she held dearly._

 _"I said, it's time for bed."_

 _"Yeah, I'm going to follow."_

 _Snape waited and watched her grabbed another truffle and flip another page._

 _"Hermione-"_

 _"I'm going to follow."_

 _He waited for a few more moments, just standing over her but she was still very emerged in the book she was reading._

 _He bent over and grabbed her glass of wine and had finished it in one go._

 _She didn't even look up at him._

 _"Alright, that's it, we're going to bed." Snape said._

 _He gently moved to her and grabbed the book from her hand and closed the box of chocolates._

 _"Hey – wait, I'm still reading –" Hermione protested moving to where he was bringing the book and box of chocolates._

 _He tossed it towards the couch and held her arm._

 _"Severus-"_

 _"I said, I want to go to bed."_

 _"I said, I'm going to follow." Hermione moaned at him trying to grab her book and chocolate back._

 _Snape took hold of her waist and moved her away from the couch._

 _His black eyes met hers and he could tell that she was seriously irritated._

 _"I want to go to bed." Snape simply repeated staring at her._

 _"I'm just finishing just one last chapter."_

 _"You've been reading all day."_

 _"Yeah, but you gave me those books. You've always told me to occupy myself with them."_

 _"When I'm fucking not around." Snape said but not unkindly._

 _"But just one last chapter-" Hermione protested as he placed his arms around her, moving it up and down the side of her thighs over her silk nightdress._

 _"Hermione, what did I say-"_

 _"Just one last chapter – please-"_

 _"No, I said it's time to go to bed. You know the drill."_

 _Hermione frowned at him as she rolled her eyes._

 _"Are you being defiant?" he asked her._

 _Hermione frowned further._

 _He placed his long fingers beneath her chin and slowly made her to look at him._

 _"I asked you-"_

 _"No."_

 _Snape stared at her._

 _He wanted her tonight. He really wanted her tonight._

 _The day had been tiring and very stressful and he would get home only to find her unwilling to have him for the night or not even looking forward to his presence._

 _"Do you prefer to read for the night?" he asked her._

 _Hermione quickly looked up at him._

 _She knew that tone too well._

 _"No." Hermione answered truthfully. She bit her lower lip and moved closer to him._

 _"No what?"_

 _"No, I don't want to read the whole night. I'm just entertained and occupied with what I'm reading."_

 _"Well, if you prefer to read than-"_

 _"No, Severus, it's not like that-"_

 _But she didn't finish her words._

 _Snape had moved and pulled her hard against him and had given her a very deep kiss._

 _Hermione moaned and dropped the last bit of chocolate in her other hand she had been holding the whole time._

 _She gasped as he pulled from the kiss._

 _She could feel his hard-on between their bodies._

 _"Severus-"_

 _"I've given you lastnight." Snape whispered kissing her again, nipping her neckline, her chin and moving his hands all over her body._

 _"But I-"_

 _"I've given you lastnight. Why can't you give me tonight?"_

 _"Are you counting the times we're sleeping together now?" Hermione asked with fire in her eyes._

 _Snape's black eyes flashed in anger at being questioned on the topic._

 _"Would you like to start counting the times we're giving in to one another's needs?" he asked back._

 _Hermione didn't say anything._

 _She knew she did not have anything to say against that._

 _Yesterday was her birthday and he had given her presents more than enough for one birthday and had left her to enjoy them all throughout the night as he finished his part of the strong alcoholic drink he concocted for them and had passed out right after._

 _"Hermione, I just want you." Snape gently said now and she felt his fingers running up and down her thighs, moving beneath her silk clothing and creating circles over her skin._

 _She breathed heavily at the reaction her body had given away and how it shamelessly betrayed her._

 _Snape smiled at the way her body moved against her will._

 _"Please, sweetheart?" he whispered. "Sweetheart, please.. please.." he whispered against her neckline where he knew she was weak._

 _Snape moved his hand more confidently this time beneath her dress and was tinkering between her legs and gently pulling the garter of her undergarment._

 _"Yes?" he asked her softly moving his nose closer to her face. "Yes? Yes, Hermione?"_

 _Hermione looked away but her body was betraying her by each moment that passed._

 _Snape moved his fingers further and felt the wetness between her legs and beneath her sheer clothing._

 _"Sweetheart?"_

 _"Yes." Hermione whispered breathlessly as he pulled away her undergarment and had quickly slid his finger inside of her whilst he carried her effortlessly with his other arm._

 _Snape moved and carried her back to their bed as he kissed and groped each part and inch of her that he could as he continued to intricately moved his finger between her wet folds._

 _Hermione lost her will against him as she knew that there was no use anyway._

 _He moved around her and had taken the initiative to take both of their clothes off._

 _Hermione soon found herself beneath him, his touches, his kisses and his caresses one more time for the nth night and the nth time._

 _He kissed and whispered words of comfort against her skin at each part he could reach._

 _Hermione closed her eyes and submitted herself at the sensation and fire he ignited in her entire body as whenever they made love together._

 _Tears welled up in her eyes and soon flowed at the side of her cheeks._

 _She closed her eyes tightly as Snape pushed her back against the bed, kissing the side of her face and licking the tears away uncaring what they were for anyway._

 _He moved about and in one, two, three and deep and hard thrusts, he moved in and out of her shaking her and fucking her completely to a mindless and blissful night._


	22. Chapter 22

**_Chapter Twenty Two_**

 _ **Seven**_

 _"Damn it!" Hermione angrily banged her fists against the laboratory door._

 _She had been trying for minutes now to use wandless magic to open Snape's potions laboratory but to absolutely no cause. The wards upon the door were too strong and would only submit alliance to its master._

 _Panic was written all over her face as she walked back to the kitchen opening drawers after drawers looking for some tools or anything at all she could use to help him._

 _He had come back within the perimeter of the magic he casted around the cottage and Hermione had found him literary dying by the doorway._

 _Hermione had a few moments to decide what she had to do – her freedom or Snape's life._

 _Without second thoughts, she had tearfully but not grudgingly chose the latter._

 _She had picked up his wand that had been abandoned next to his bloody figure on the floor and casted the protective charms back around the cottage and had literary dragged his professor back inside the cottage._

 _Staring longingly at the outside of the door, Hermione closed the door and warded them back again knowing that once done, there was no undoing that magic again once Snape awakens and the magic he has casted around their place becomes stronger again._

 _Right now, that wasn't something she was deeply concerned about but how she was going to save his life._

 _His laboratory – where he kept most healing potions and bandages and other materials to save life – had been locked and heavily warded with magic. And for some bloody reason, his wand that she tried to use against it wouldn't open the door._

 _The wand seemed to know that its master wasn't the one using it for his sacred room._

 _She literary dragged him on the carpeted floor of their living room._

 _The hearth in the fireplace was still magically ignited as he would always leave it whenever he left her alone in the house so she quickly made sure that the comfort of a warm room was to be given to Snape._

 _Hermione ran back upstairs in his open bedroom and ransacked his drawers looking for new clothes for him and cloths or anything she could use to clean his body off blood and anything to stop the bleeding from his body._

 _Remembering the stashed excess old bandages he had used on her before, Hermione ran back to her room and opened the end table next to her bed._

 _She found several rolls and ran back downstairs._

 _Staring around his unconscious and bloody figure and the scattered objects around him, Hermione tried not to panic at the situation._

 _His wand was useless to her for some reason and her magic was nowhere useful at the moment since she did not have a wand herself and her wandless magic was very weak due to her suppressed ability to use magic for weeks now._

 _She could only heal him the Muggle way._

 _"Basin, water.." she whispered to herself running back to the kitchen and bathroom to look for a basin she could fill up with water._

 _Barefoot, panic-stricken and breathless, Hermione ran back and forth around the house looking for objects that could survive the life of her professor at that moment._

 _Minutes later, she was kneeling next to his still unmoving form over the carpeted floor._

 _She had first tended to the worst part of his body which was his shoulder blades that were severely wounded._

 _He looked like he had been whipped or cursed just right there._

 _She had cleaned his skin with water and the cloth and had quickly wrapped cloth and bandages over the heavily wounded area._

 _Then she focused on the rest of his body that was either dirty with blood and soil or had been wounded or bruised._

 _She was unconsciously crying as she rid him off all the damage over his body._

 _She was regretting every word she had yelled at him when she last saw him._

 _What was she going to do if he dies?_

 _It wasn't that she was going to be in peril or probably die alone in the cottage but the idea that she was going to lose her only ally. The thought for her at the moment was quite unbearable._

 _She had used every ounce of Muggle way knowledge she had to tend to all the wounds and give comfort to him as she created a small bed-like place by the fireplace using the sheets and pillows she had gathered from both their bedrooms._

 _The only consolation she got was that as she tended to the wounds, he would groan painfully giving her the impression that he was still very conscious and quite alive._

 _"You're going to be alright, professor." Hermione had said as she wiped the tears in her eyes with the back of hand._

 _She watched at his weakened figure that she was sure in deep pain._

 _"I'm here, I'm going to help you." Hermione promised him not knowing if she could really do so without the magic that would completely heal him._

 _She knew the bandages weren't enough and wouldn't last for more than twenty four hours but she had no choice and there was nothing really she could do to close and heal the wounds without her or his magic to help the situation._

 _She gasped as he moved his body along the made-up bed she had created using several bed sheets and pillows from both their bedrooms in order to give him a comfortable position._

 _But she knew it was nowhere comfortable._

 _He was still slightly bleeding and the pain he had from the bruises weren't really going to heal all on its own tonight._

 _His body was no longer used into healing the Muggle way but tonight, that was how it was going to be._

 _Hermione patiently tended and scrutinized every part of him that seemed not only bloody or bleeding but seemed hurt in any way._

 _She wiped and cleaned and rid him of anything that could say he had a rough night tonight with the damp and extra cloths and had only the bandages left over his wounds._

 _She could only guess that he was tortured by the Dark Lord and his fellow Death Eaters or they had a clash with most probably, Aurors of the Ministry or anyone from Harry's side._

 _Momentarily, her mind wandered and remembered Harry._

 _Could Snape have seen her beloved Harry hours ago?_

 _Hermione shook her head and quickly focused again at the task at hand._

 _"This might help you, professor." Hermione whispered as she opened a small bottle and had forcedly poured its contents to his mouth making sure he swallowed each drop._

 _She had found a small bottle in his room that was labelled as a pain reliever to be taken and had recognized it when he let her drink it before._

 _He only groaned and turned back over the bed she had created for him._

 _She tried to move him and talk to him but he was not answering nor making any sounds anymore._

 _Despite that his breathing pattern seemed rigid and heavy, she knew that he was slightly better and had most probably fallen into an uneasy sleep._

 _"Professor, I need to know how I can get rid of the wards in your laboratory..There must be something in there that could help you."_

 _He did not answer her._

 _She only heard him groan out something and he had completely zoned out after that._

 _Hermione had stared at him and was crying silently at his form._

 _Despite that she had tended dutifully to the first-aid needs, she was sure that what she did wasn't enough and he could still be hurt in the morning._

 _She stayed up for another hour, watching him sleep and waiting for him to wake up to use his magic to help her find a way to help him. But he didn't wake up._

 _His breathing was labored and heavy giving her the idea that he was still in pain but at the least, he was breathing. She only needed to make sure that it does not stop._

 _She was halfway into a nightmare from her half-awake state when she felt his rigid movements next to her on the carpeted floor._

 _Hermione opened her eyes and was quickly alarmed to find him slightly shaking._

 _"Damn it." Hermione whispered, scrambling around the carpeted floor._

 _She stared at his form and wondered what could be wrong._

 _She quickly checked the bandages but he was no longer bleeding heavily._

 _So what was wrong?_

 _She stared at him and tried to look for what could be causing his movements until it hit her._

 _He was having a feverish attack._

 _She placed her hand over his forehead and around his neck and she was right._

 _He was having some sort of convulsion from a fever that was clamoring up high. It could be due to his bleeding or some sort of infection from the wounds._

 _"What to do.. what to do.." Hermione silently cried trying to wake herself fully and thinking hard on what to do._

 _She limped and ran back up the stairs again to his room to grab the last sheet from his bed to cover on his convulsing form back in the living room._

 _Hermione quickly covered him with sheets after sheets of cloth in order to keep him from getting any colder from the fever that was attacking his body now._

 _Hermione stood and looked around her for anything else she could use._

 _She grabbed the last small cloth from across the floor and quickly changed the water from the basin and soon returned from the kitchen carrying new water with her._

 _She damped the cloth several times and placed it over his forehead to comfort him and to lower the fever._

 _He was shivering harder than ever._

 _"Professor! What am I gonna do!" Hermione cried out loud not really knowing anymore what to do._

 _She was forcing herself not to panic but it wasn't exactly that easy. Not when she was with someone close to dying and there wasn't any help she could get from nor any form of magic she could use._

 _She hated herself, she hated herself more than ever as she felt very stupid and felt that her so-called brilliant mind was of no use any longer._

 _She should not have fought him earlier and should have behaved as she was expected of her age despite their situation._

 _But he had angered her and he had left her for some sort of 'work' he had excused himself._

 _She knew he got fed up with her and she now regretted deeply all the words she had yelled right at him._

 _She regretted him finding out about the letters she kept for Harry._

 _"Professor, what do I do.." Hermione cried touching his hand beneath the sheets she had covered him under, "Professor.. please, please wake up.."_

 _Hermione breathed heavily and tried to think straight and not panic at what she was doing._

 _She had tended well to the wounds, and she had stopped the bleeding but he now had a fever._

 _They were at the living room, next to the hearth of the fireplace that was already obviously warming and heating the temperature around them but the fever he was having was relentless._

 _Where else could she get heat to secure his worsening condition?_

 _Hermione's eyes widened at a sudden idea she had read somewhere before._

 _She stared at his suffering body and bit her lower lip._

 _It was the stupidest idea of it all but it could just save his life._

 _She was ofcourse reluctant, but it seemed logical seeing that the wand next to her was nowhere useful anyway._

 _Nervous and unsure, Hermione moved herself over the carpeted floor and had moved beneath the same sheets where he was on the bed she had made up on the floor._

 _"Uh.. professor.. I'm not sure.. I really don't know what to do but this might help. This might just help and I swear I'm going to just do it for a few minutes."_

 _Hermione reluctantly moved beneath the sheets with an unsure head and a guilty conscience._

 _She slowly took off her clothes and left only her pair of undergarments._

 _She moved towards and closer her own professor and had placed her slightly shaking arm around him and slid it under the black long-sleeved shirt she found in his room earlier to change him into._

 _"Body heat.. body heat.." Hermione kept muttering and reminding herself that it was only for that very reason she was doing this and nothing else._

 _It wasn't an easy decision for her though it seemed the most logical at the moment._

 _She had hated the idea of it but she had no choice._

 _But it did not make any less easy for her to decide on._

 _These past few days and weeks, she had been battling with herself about some 'things and thoughts' she had been having towards Snape – her professor._

 _She had reprimanded herself several times and had hated how these unwanted thoughts were crossing her head every time he was around or anywhere close her perimeter._

 _She wasn't sure if she was having some 'stupid crush' over his intellectual side or if she was merely infatuated at the heroic deeds he was doing for them or if she was just completely running mad due to the course of their situation._

 _Nevertheless, she had tried her best to push these thoughts off her head and away from her and had kept her distance from him as much as she could possibly do so._

 _Snape seemed to be the same anyway – he was always distant if not indifferent._

 _But tonight, she would have to face these devilish and insane thoughts inside her head incase they attack her._

 _She was doing this for him, for his health and well-being._

 _She couldn't let him suffer further and die with the fever._

 _Not when they weren't alright and that the last time they've talked, they weren't in good terms anyway._

 _She felt more guilty than ever._

 _Hermione moved her almost naked body beneath the sheets and laid herself next to him, securing him with the body heat she was giving off._

 _She placed her head behind his bandaged shoulder blades and had rested her arms tightly around him as she pulled the blankets closer and tighter around them._

 _"Professor, please be well.. please be well…" she silently muttered as tears came down her cheeks._

 _She couldn't lose him. No, she just couldn't lose him._

 _He was the only living being she had at the moment and if something bad does happen to him she wasn't sure what was going to happen next._

 _If he had been injured tonight by the Death Eaters or the Dark Lord himself and dies because of it, they will surely look for him if he stops reporting. And given that, they would surely trace him and his magic thus – tracing their place and finding her._

 _And everything they had gone through would be for absolutely nothing._

 _"Please be well.. please be well." Hermione silently prayed, whispering words of comfort against his back as tears streamed down her face._

 _She felt both shameful and ridiculous at what she was doing but she didn't really have a choice._

 _Her bare arms and legs were hung over him and she had pushed her body closer his so that the body heat she was giving off could be felt further by his._

 _She lay against him, silently crying and praying and hoping against hope that his fever would go down with this method and that he would also be well in a few hours because she did not know what to do without him._

Hermione's eyes momentarily passed the bouquet of red roses at the foot of their bed and at Harry who was kneeling at the end of the bed holding it.

"I'm not seven or seventeen, Harry." Hermione snapped returning her gaze at the book in her hand.

"I know you're not." Harry quietly answered.

Hermione did not say anything on the truth of his words.

"Hermione, I don't want to fight anymore."

"I don't want either, Harry." Hermione answered. "But you're making it harder every day."

"I'm sorry. I'm trying to change, aren't I?" he asked her.

Although he knelt by the bed, Hermione could sense the struggle he had in him of holding back his anger.

"You're trying but not hard enough. You're angry all the time, Harry."

"It's not easy for me."

"Neither for me." Hermione answered her.

She kept her face passive and her eyes on the book.

She felt his movement across the bed.

He moved over the bed and laid himself by her legs that was across the bed.

"Hermione." Harry gently whispered placing his hand over her knee. "I'm sorry."

"I know you are." Hermione said. "It's fine. Let's not talk about it anymore."

"You're not fine." Harry answered. "And I know things are not alright."

Harry moved closer and placed his hand over the book.

Hermione held it tighter.

"Hermione.."

"Harry.."

"Mione please?" Harry said gently.

He moved his fingers on top of hers and gently caressed her.

Hermione heavily sighed and rolled her eyes at him.

"What?"

"Please, let's talk. This is ridiculous."

"You're being ridiculous."

"You slapped me." Harry had reminded her.

"Do you want me to remind you that you've done the same thing to me?" Hermione challenged him.

Harry's eyes flashed in anger.

For a moment, Hermione thought he was going to do something again but he didn't.

He only sighed and kissed the back of her hand.

Hermione let the book go so she could withdraw her hand away from him.

Harry moved further the bed and pushed the book and sheets away from him and advanced towards her.

"Harry-"

"'Mione, please let's talk.."

"Harry, let my arm go-" Hermione gasped as Harry held both her hands by now and was holding her down against the bed.

Her face turned slightly pale at what he was doing.

He had moved closer her and was aiming to kiss her.

"Harry-" Hermione warningly said. "Let my arm go if you want to talk-"

"No, let's just make up for the whole thing-" Harry whispered against her neck trying to reach for her and kiss her lips.

Hermione angrily nudged and moved him off from her and quickly scrambled to the other end of the bed.

She heard Harry angrily cursed but he didn't do anything.

He slowly turned to her as he straightened his clothes.

He looked like he was struggling not to hit her again.

Hermione stared up at him, waiting for his hand to hit her or his words to be screamed at her face.

"I've tried, Hermione." Harry spat getting himself off the bed. "I've really _, really_ tried."

She watched as he grabbed the roses from the end of the bed and hastily threw it on the carpeted floor.

Hermione watched him step on it on his way towards the door.

"Where are you going?"

"None of your bloody business." Harry angrily yelled back at her as he exited their room and slammed the door very hard.

 _"Well?" asked a soft voice by the doorway. "Are you still going to deny it to me?"_

 _Snape turned from the bed and saw Draco standing by her mother's doorway._

 _He stood there with arms folded and a cold expression over his face._

 _He walked inside the room and stared over at Narcissa who was sleeping blissfully on the four-poster bed._

 _They were having dinner and had Snape and Bellatrix for the night when out of the blue, Narcissa began to rigidly shake and had collapsed in the dining hall._

 _Snape quickly tended to her while Lucius and Bellatrix Disapparated to the Dark Lord's presence in order to ask permission and beg for Snape not to be summoned within the coming few hours or day because of what happened to Narcissa._

 _It was only Draco, Snape and Narcissa that were in the manor that night as they waited for the other two to return._

 _Snape stared up at Draco with a narrowed glare from his black eyes._

 _"It's half past one, Draco. You need to go to bed."_

 _"I'm not seven." Draco reminded him as he closed the door behind him and crossed the room._

 _He stopped next to the bed and sat at the edge and stared down at the sleeping form of Narcissa._

 _"She is only exhausted." Snape simply said. "I've already administered the potions she needed."_

 _Draco did not say anything but Snape saw his fists were clenching at his side._

 _"Is everything alright?" he asked him._

 _Draco stared sharply up at him as if he was struggling not to hit him._

 _"When will you tell me the truth?" Draco quietly asked. "When she's about an inch from her death?"_

 _Snape sighed heavily and folded his arms._

 _"Like I've said, I've already tended to her needs." Snape pointed at the table near the bed where bottles of potions were laid out next to a roll of parchment._

 _"What do you want me to do?" Draco angrily said. "Act as if everything is alright when I know it isn't?"_

 _"The instructions to the potions and which ones to be given and taken by Narcissa in the right hours and times of the day are on the parchment. I'm quite sure you know how to read and you can help your father tend to these things. Your aunt Bella would surely want to help out."_

 _"And where are you going?" Draco asked in a mocking tone. "Are you going to go back to your little pet?"_

 _Snape's black eyes flashed at him at the word he had used._

 _But he did not say anything._

 _No matter what Draco says, he wasn't going to be affected. He was stronger than Draco in aspects more than one._

 _"I need to leave within an hour." Snape simply said turning away from the bed and gathering some of his things from the table where he had quickly concocted a potion for Narcissa._

 _"What's wrong with her?" Draco repeated and this time, it was in pure form of demand._

 _"Draco, I already told you that your mother-"_

 _"You're not fucking going to leave this room until you tell me what the fuck is wrong with her!"_

 _Draco had drawn his wand out and was pointing it directly at Snape's chest._

 _Snape wasn't sure if he wanted to be amused at that moment or wanted to reprimand him for the stupidity he was doing._

 _"I've already told you that I am fucking not a seven year old you can lie to anymore!"_

 _"Draco, lower your voice, your mother needs rest and she's going-"_

 _"You need to tell me and you would tell me right now what's happening with her! What is fucking wrong with her!"_

 _"Draco, I said-"_

 _"I warn you, I'm going to use this against you if you don't tell me – don't give me bullshit that-"_

 _"Draco, I said lower your voice and lower your wand. You do not need to do this. Your mother is well. She is only stressed and exhausted due to the things happening around-"_

 _"She's not a warrior or a soldier in this war so there's nothing to stress her out there." Draco pointed out at him._

 _Snape stared back at the boy, calculating his movements to ensure that he wasn't about to hurt Narcissa on the bed between the two for them nor himself._

 _"Draco, I'm warning you-"_

 _"I don't give a damn if you're keeping that Mudblood anymore, just tell me what's going on with my mother. I have the right to know – I am his son and I have the right to know!"_

 _"Draco, I said lower your wand before your hurt yourself or Narcissa-" Snape warningly said seeing green sparks emitting from the end of Draco's wand._

 _He stared back at his godson who was wearing a look of anger, fear and desperation over his face._

 _He knew too well what he was going through but he couldn't tell him._

 _Narcissa made him promise and he has never broken any promise he had made with this woman he called as his only true friend._

 _"Don't tell me what to do!" Draco angrily yelled at him and another jet of green spark emitted again._

 _Snape had drawn his wand out now incase he had to suddenly attack or disarm him._

 _"I want you to bloody tell me the truth! She's dying isn't she?!" Draco demanded with tears forming at the lids of his eyes._

 _"Draco, calm yourself down and-"_

 _"Don't fucking tell me what to do!" Draco angrily yelled again. "Tell me about her! She's dying isn't she!"_

 _Draco cried and glanced for a moment at Narcissa's form._

 _She had gone very thin and face was always pale._

 _Despite her glamorous clothes and her finesse features, she had grown to be unrecognizable to those who do not see her often._

 _"She's dying, isn't she?!" Draco yelled at him. "Why don't you – why won't you tell me! I want to know! I have the right to know! I'm her son! I'm her son! I am her bloody son and I have the right to know if she's dying! Please…"_

 _Snape looked away from Draco._

 _He did not need to feel Draco's anger and pain as well. He already has too much of that from the cottage._

 _"Draco, please. Your mother is-"_

 _"She's not well so don't lie to me! I just want to know! I just want to - I'm not a child anymore – I have the right to-"_

 _"DRACO!" a cold and harsh voice had spoken._

 _They both looked up and saw Lucius and Bellatrix standing by the doorway._

 _He was looking very angry at Draco while Bellatrix looked very surprised at the scene before them._

 _She quickly moved towards Narcissa on the bed and held her close in her hand._

 _Snape looked disgusted as he moved away from the bed to make way for her._

 _"What foolishness is this?" Lucius asked as he walked towards the room._

 _One flick from his serpentine staff and Draco's wand flew into his hand and Draco was left empty handed._

 _"I want to know what's going on." Draco asked in a controlled voice._

 _Lucius stared at his son and could read his thoughts through his angry and vulnerable mind ._

 _"Your mother is well." Lucius assured him firmly "This is her age catching up and her exhaustion from this war-"_

 _"You're going to lie to me too?" Draco angrily asked his father._

 _His eyes strayed from him then at Snape and back again._

 _"Draco, I suggest you go back to your room-"_

 _"I said I'm not seven!" Draco yelled at Lucius. "You believe him?" Draco pointed at Snape._

 _Snape did not do anything._

 _He silently stood there watching Draco's breakdown._

 _"You believe him father or you have completely no idea of what's going on too?"_

 _Lucius did not say anything._

 _He looked livid._

 _He never wanted to be thought of as ignorant from anything that he was supposed to know anyway._

 _"Draco, your mother is sick at the moment but she will be well. There's nothing for you to-"_

 _"I can't believe you don't know anything about it. And you?" he angrily turned to Bellatrix._

 _Bellatrix stared back at Draco with eyes wide._

 _It was the first time that Snape saw her as speechless and unknowledgeable about something._

 _"Draco." Bellatrix whispered softly. "Sweetheart, your mother is-"_

 _"You're also going to lie to me?" Draco asked her._

 _Snape saw a glimmer of tear passed his face as he turned to his beloved aunt Bellatrix._

 _"Draco, sweetheart, no it's just-"_

 _"It's either you're going to lie to me or you also don't know anything about what's going on with her!"_

 _Lucius looked like he had enough and Bellatrix looked stricken at Draco's accusation_

 _"I'm not an idiot!" Draco yelled at the three adults in the room. "I've observed my own mother. I watch her every single day and I see signs and see physical attributes in her that is not normal! I know something is wrong – I know something is terribly wrong – she's dying! Why don't you just admit it to me that my mother is dying!"_

 _His cries echoed all over the large room of the manor._

 _Bellatrix looked away from Draco and stared at her sister on the bed as she held her hand._

 _"If she dies." Draco slowly said as he turned to Lucius. "If she dies - you're never going to see me again. I swear that. I swear that to her grave."_

 _And without another word, Draco left the room banging the heavy doors behind him._

 _Silence took over the room._

 _Snape heavily breathed and was the first one to speak._

 _"I've tended to everything, Lucius. Narcissa will be well as soon as she gets enough sleep."_

 _Lucius only nodded as he stared at the sleeping and pale figure of his wife on their elegant four-poster bed._

 _Snape nodded and turned to the door to leave._

 _"What are we not telling Draco?" Bellatrix's voice suddenly asked._

 _Snape stopped from his tracks._

 _It was the very first time he had heard her tone like it._

 _There was no trace of lunacy, boast or anger in her voice or anything in particular that was her persona._

 _No, her tone was very low, clear and serious._

 _It was as if it wasn't her that had spoken._

 _"What is it that we are not telling Draco?" she repeated with her eyes focused on her sister's sleeping form._

 _Snape closed his eyes and tried to control and suppress any possible expression from his face._

 _He wasn't sure what to answer_

 _But before he could do so, Lucius had clearly spoken._

 _"Nothing." Lucius' tone was firm. "There is nothing for Draco to know because there is nothing to know."_

 _For a moment, another silence fell. Then to both Lucius' and Snape's surprise, a sound of what was like suppressed tears or the slightest hint of sniff came from Bellatrix._

 _"I am not Draco. I am not a child." Bellatrix whispered softly. "I am not to be lied to about Cissy's condition."_

 _Lucius and Snape stared at one another for a moment._

 _"I supposed that Narcissa will tell you if something is wrong with her." Snape simply said. "You are her dearest sister. I believe that she would entrust you things she wouldn't to others. I also believe that you would be the first to know if something wrong befalls her."_

 _A tear fell from Bellatrix's eyes._

 _She did not say anything anymore._

 _And with that, Snape left the room without another word but only with a very heavy heart._

 _"Fuck."_ Draco cursed staring at his godfather. "Fuck. How the fuck did this happen?"

He looked beyond angry as he stared at the bandaged head of his godfather.

He had visited prison in order to fix their discussion for the following trial only to find him with a bandaged head and a broken nose.

He pointed his wand over his nose and with a painful groan, his nasal muscles turned to its normal place as Draco fixed it.

"You bloody hell tell me." Snape said shaking his head. "Or I think we both know how."

Draco wasn't sure if he wanted to break Harry's nose at that moment.

He knew that he was desperate but he wasn't particularly happy with how desperate he seemed lately.

His actions were becoming alarming by the moment and his main concern rests with Hermione's well-being.

"We need someone to ask for a court order for Hermione to be out of Harry's custody."

"How brilliant." Snape spat at him. "Potter is as good as her guardian. He's her fiancé, remember."

"If I can only summon her parents and all that shitload." Draco said shaking his head.

"We both know you can't." Snape pointed out. "Remember that Hermione Obliviated them and last I know, it's her decision to keep it that way. We don't want them to suddenly remembering her and asking further questions. It will only further damage a lot of things."

"I know that." Draco said burying his face in his hands. "I don't know what to do."

Truth was that, he had a lot of things he could possibly think of doing but they were only going to complicate things.

"Can't we have her in Lupin's custody?" Snape suggested.

Draco shook his head. "And on what grounds?"

"For Harry's unstable mentality." Snape answered him.

Draco shook his head. "We have no evidence on that one. The evidence has to be a hard one."

"Yeah, well right now we're very short on that."

"He not going to hurt her. Not to a certain point anyway."

They both fell silence on the truth on that.

Harry might seem mentally unstable and he could be doing things that were beyond what was necessary, but they knew that he wouldn't go overboard for what was at stake.

"So we're going bank on the idea that he wouldn't hurt her because he loves her?" Snape asked him.

"I think.."

" _You think_?" Snape asked irritably. "Draco, the reason he's hurting her is because he loves her – he's obsessed with her!"

"Well I kind of have figure that one out, thanks!" Draco irritably said standing from the table and turning away from him.

Snape heard him curse over and over again.

"Calm yourself down." Snape said seeing the frustration over his face. "This will not help us."

Draco crushed the fine strands of his blonde hair and sat back down before Snape.

"Yeah, well I'm running out of things and ideas lately."

"No, you're going to find a way." Snape replied. "We're going to find a way. We must be patient."

"Yeah, tell me about being patient. You're the one in there."

"Yeah, would you like to switch places?" Snape angrily asked him looking as frustrated as his godson.

"The trial is two days away. There must be another way of putting and tilting the balance off again."

"Yeah, well while you figure that one out I need to go back to my cell." Snape said standing up from the table.

"I just got here."

"Yeah, well I'm not feeling well. My head still bloody fucking hurts." Snape said and without another word he turned away from Draco and walked back to the door that would lead him back to his form of hell.

 _The door had burst open and all heads turned to the double doors._

 _"Is it true? Is this true? Where are they? Where is she?"_

 _Everyone at the room stared at Harry who had come in three in the morning for the emergency meeting of the Aurors at the Minsitry of Magic._

 _He was on leave for quite some time now but a news unlike anything they have been expecting had suddenly come out several hours ago._

 _Remus Lupin entered the room after Harry and had closed the door behind them._

 _"Harry, calm yourself down. We've only been hinted about it."_

 _"Don't tell me to calm down!" Harry angrily said. "I'm not seven goddamnit!"_

 _They all stared at him and his loss of temperament once more._

 _It was becoming a habit and had become a trademark of him since Hermione had vanished without a trace many years ago._

 _"I don't care what we got!" Harry angrily said as he turned to his old professor Lupin. "Something has turned up!"_

 _Kingsley, the Minister himself, had stood from the head chair and had walked to Harry's side._

 _The other Aurors began discussing things that Harry did not really understand at the moment._

 _"Harry, let's talk. Calm yourself down first."_

 _"What did you find out?" Harry quickly asked staring around the room with wide eyes._

 _A Patronus from Kingsley had been sent to Harry but he did not really think that he would come down three minutes after sending it and that Harry would come down at the new Auror's headquarters at that hour._

 _"What did you find out?" Harry repeated impatiently._

 _Kingsley grabbed a parchment from the table and nodded at it and handed it to Harry._

 _"Sources from this particular place had sent message that these names were triggered. We are still checking Harry to ensure that it is legit."_

 _Harry nodded vigorously and stared at the parchment he was handed._

 _It was a map and a parchment of message from another Auror at another place in Europe._

 _"It could be them-"_

 _"No, it's them." Harry had said staring at the two names clearly written and scrawled over the parchment._

 _"Harry, we're not yet sure. We need to check the legitimacy."_

 _"We're going in right?" Harry hurriedly asked him. "This is sure, Kingsley. You've got to believe me."_

 _Kingsley stared at the boy in front of him. He could feel the tension from him and the anger that was slowly rising._

 _He was slowly regretting informing him about what they found out and had thought if he should have told him in a later time._

 _"I would have someone look in-"_

 _"NO!" Harry angrily said._

 _People stared at them and Lupin had to walked behind Harry to grab his hand back gently._

 _"Harry, let's talk-"_

 _"No, Remus!" Harry said. "This is the first time – you hear me? The first time in a very long time that a source this informative and this precise and specific has been sent to us – it's them! IT'S THEM! I'M QUITE SURE IT'S THEM!"_

 _The Aurors around the room were all looking at Harry as if he had lost his marbles._

 _He turned back to Kingsley as he read through the parchment._

 _"Is this the place?" he asked them pointing at the certain point from the map. "Is this where?"_

 _"We've traced that it came from this particular place." Kingsley pointed out helping Harry understand the linings created around the map and the notes all over it._

 _"Who's your source?" Harry asked as he created his own markings and notes over the map._

 _"Someone from the closest city from Beltane."_

 _"How did they trace it?" Harry asked reading through the travel guide at the side notes._

 _"The Ministry has connected office across the globe, Harry."_

 _"I see. How did their names come up? I mean, how come – after all these years?"_

 _Kingsley stared at Harry then quietly at Lupin whom he had spoken to before Harry._

 _"Harry, perhaps we should leave the other particular details for the Aurors to study. What's important is that we've already got a traceable location-"_

 _"Where were they traced?" Harry asked Lupin and Kingsley in a firmer tone._

 _He looked at the two and knowing them for a long time now, he knew they were keeping something._

 _"Well?" he asked them both with a raised tone._

 _He lowered the parchments in his hand with his wand still firmly held in his other hand._

 _Kingsley looked like he did not want to answer and Lupin looked like he wanted to hit Kingsley for calling them at that hour._

 _"Their names came up at a smaller branch of an office that resembled the Ministry." Kingsley said unable to keep it anymore from Harry._

 _"And?" Harry asked._

 _Kingsley nodded at Lupin who sighed heavily and gave Kingsley a threatening glare._

 _"Professor?" Harry asked turned to his friend, confidant and father-figure._

 _Lupin heavily sighed and walked closer to Harry._

 _"What's going on?" Harry asked his voice shaking. "I want to know what's going on!" he angrily demanded._

 _Lupin pointed at a certain location at the map and nodded at him._

 _"Their names came up from the office that had magical tracks and records that were connected in the Ministry of Magic were their births have been registered that quickly notified our Ministry that they are looking for their records in order to use them for something."_

 _"Use for something?" Harry asked turning to Lupin. "What office were they traced from?" Harry asked._

 _Lupin looked at him with a deeply concerned look over his face._

 _"Marriage Registry Office, Harry."_

 _No word came from Harry._

 _Except that the next thing they knew, both Lupin, Kingsley and the other Aurors close to Harry had come running after him and were calling his name and yelling some warnings after he blasted his wand on the floor from shock and anger and had stormed out of the room without another word._

A breakfast buffet seemed to have been laid out for Hermione as she woke up the following morning.

The previous day wasn't well and this morning was another of those days they were going to try. Or rather, one of the days when Harry wasn't going to force another 'try' on their relationship.

All her favourite breakfast dishes were laid in the dining table and Harry was wearing all smile in his face as he finished the platter of pancakes for her.

"Morning, _sweetheart."_ Harry said pulling up a chair for her.

Hermione did not say anything.

A frown was worn over her face as she sat down on the chair anyway.

She was getting tired of this routine.

They always fought and a few hours later, Harry would act as if he did not hurt her – physically or emotionally at all.

It was maddening her.

"Would you like to eat here or in the living room?" Harry asked her.

"Why would I want to eat there?" she quietly asked as she grabbed a plate across the table.

"I have a surprise for you there. You can go and check for yourself."

Hermione stared at his kind face. It reminded her of the smile he always wore in their so-called 'Hogwarts Days' – a reality that was very far now.

"Go on," Harry said, "I'm still finishing the bacons."

Hermione nodded at him not wanting to stay in the dining at all anyway.

She quickly walked to the living room wondering what surprise that could be this time.

Walking in, she wondered what it could be until she saw it.

About seven really large boxes lay open on the carpeted floor.

Hermione walked over to the boxes and read the labels.

They were special editions and selections of various of books that Harry had obviously ordered.

He was spending more and more money everyday in order to please her.

Hermione knelt on the carpeted floor to check out the selections of books until her hand froze in mid-taking one of the books from the boxes.

Her eyes narrowed and she frowned.

She pulled the boxes nearer her and quickly went for the labels on each box.

Harry had walked into the room and he was wearing a proud smile over his face.

"Bacons are ready." Harry announced. "You can take a book and bring in the dining or should I bring the food in here?" he asked happily.

Hermione was frozen on her spot on the carpeted floor.

It wasn't the money Harry had been spending or wasting for her lately that was scaring or alarming her at that very moment, nor was it the smile he was wearing over his face that scared her at that moment.

But it was the titles and selections of books written over the boxes that Harry had just bought her.

They were all the very same selections, editions and titles of precisely each and every book that Snape had in their cottage at Beltane.

The very same amount and titles of books that Snape had given and bought her through all those years they had spent together at the cottage of Beltane.

 _Snape heavily breathed as he walked down the empty white corridors._

 _This was a suicide mission._

 _He wanted to turn back, he wanted to run away from it but he knew he couldn't._

 _It was the right thing to do._

 _And she was waiting for him to fulfill his promise to her._

 _Despite that he had already passed scathed-free the main entrance and three more hallways as he reached the elevators that led to the twelfth floor, he still felt nervous as hell._

 _His only consolation was that Narcissa had come true to her word as always._

 _Her connections had made sure that his entry at St. Mungo's would be untraceable and of completely stealth._

 _He had his entry at east and had not come across anyone along the way._

 _Her measurement of time and her ability to predict all possible obstacles and how to evade them all still astounded Snape._

 _He had reached the last floor as the elevator doors opened for him at the final floor._

 _He only needed to walk down this empty corridor and at the very end was the very room he was looking for._

 _Garbed in his travelling cloak and a hood that kept his face well-hidden, Snape continued to walk down the corridors with hand inside his cloak ready with his own wand if every something goes wrong from their original plan._

 _As he reached the last hallway that would lead him to the double doors at the end of the hallway, he had found himself walking opposite from two wizards that had just left the double doors._

 _He halted from his steps and had quickly stopped and walked stealthily closest to the wall watching them turn another corridor where a staircase could be found._

 _He had memorized the full map of St. Mungo's and he was sure that unless they turn back from the staircase, he would not be found at all._

 _The moment they vanished from sight, Snape quickened his footsteps and soon he had reached for double doors._

 _He stared at the double doors and pulled out his wand._

 _As expected, the room was heavily warded._

 _But he did not come unprepared._

 _Uttering an incantation that only a very few people knew of from the hospital, Snape muttered the charm that turned down all spells casted to protect the room he was about to enter._

 _Snape took a mental note to congratulate Narcissa on informative, how resourceful and useful Narcissa's connections were in comparisons to her husband's._

 _Snape breathed heavily as he pushed the double doors and entered the large room._

 _It was a very large room that held two long tables at the end of the room where potions of sorts were laid out and a smaller table where other necessary hospital supplies were spread-out._

 _Snape walked further to the room and halted only halfway through the destination he came from._

 _A very large bed with sheer white beddings was at the end of the room._

 _It took a lot more of courage and will from Snape for him to continue his halted steps._

 _He heavily breathed and walked forward and closer to the bed._

 _Once there, he slowly took his wand out and stared down at the person laid on the bed._

 _Harry Potter, unconscious and vulnerable as he had ever been was laid on it._

 _Wires of sorts were connected all over his skin like some sort of life-support._

 _Snape stood before the boy that had been there for weeks and weeks now._

 _The war was far from over and the light side of the war was not going to win until this boy recovers from the magical comma that embedded him into a very deep sleep._

 _Snape stared down at the boy and how he looked like his father more than ever only because his eyes were closed and the emerald orbs that resembled that of her mother were not visible._

 _Snape wasn't sure if this was what he truly wanted but he knew that it was what must be done._

 _But what knackered his conscience deep down was that he knew he wasn't doing this because the light has to win but because she had begged him to save his life._

 _Dumbledore had asked him to save anyone he could._

 _But he was about to save this spawn of the man he hated more than anyone all his life not because the headmaster has asked him nor because the world needed him… but because she desperately loved him._

 _Snape tried to suppress the emotions he knew were starting to show on his pale face._

 _Knowing he was wasting time, he slowly took out the vial from the innermost pocket of his cloak._

 _He stared at the bluish content shimmering inside of it._

 _It had taken him all his energy and effort together with hours and hours spent to create this potion._

 _It had also taken great damage on Hermione's side._

 _But most of all, it had taken his last remaining memory of 'her' to create this potion._

 _A few hours ago, it was mere potion and a separate ingredient. Not potion and ingredient were one._

 _He stared at the vial in his hand and knew the contents inside of it, the effect it would provide and the memories now being held within the potion._

 _He pointed the tip of his wand over the stopped and it slowly dissolved and had turned into what looked like a very pointed end._

 _Snape stared at the vial and the glimmering bluish potion inside of it._

 _He could not help himself but think twice if he was going to administer it._

 _He knew it was the right thing to do._

 _But once the boy awakens.._

 _There was no undoing it once the enchantment of the potion is administered._

 _Snape held the vial tightly in his hand._

 _He kissed it gently as if bidding goodbye to the last memory of his last love he had ever had with a tear forming within his black eyes._

 _Snape breathed heavily as he prepared to administer the potion to Harry still blissful upon the bed before him._

 _He was about to check his arms when he heard it._

 _There was commotion outside and he could hear hurried footsteps coming down the stairs and the hallways._

 _He was suddenly very alert at the sounds he heard._

 _He could not be seen there at all costs._

 _It would endanger himself and he would endanger the boy and will cost everything he had been working so hard for._

 _He grabbed the boy's wrist and suddenly, an alarm had gone off in the entire room._

 _Snape cursed as red lights and a hail-like howl began screeching from the room._

 _He was going to get caught._

 _He turned back and let Harry's limp arm go but the alarm did not stop._

 _There must have been some sort of protective charms within the bed's perimeter that he had passed through and did not notice._

 _He looked around him and at both his arms seeing wires tangled all over him._

 _He would not be able to place the vial's point at his wrists because it may collide with the other potions being administered directly through his veins._

 _The voices and hurried footsteps outside grew louder and closer the room._

 _Snape's black eyes ran around him and all over Harry's body looking for a place to administer the vial's point._

 _When he no longer had any choice knowing time was running out and people would be bursting inside the room any moment now, he had come to sudden and unfazed decision._

 _Snape moved closer the bed and had grabbed Harry's arm and with all his strength, had moved his limp and unconscious form to the side._

 _Holding it firmly so he could balance him and he would not fall back into place or would turn over his stomach, Snape used his free hand and took the vial in his hand._

 _He hurriedly inched up the white hospital robes he was wearing and had found a perfect spot right around his ribcage._

 _Without thinking twice as he knew he was running out of time, Snape stabbed the vial's point thoroughly through that part of his body and watched closely as the potion slowly dried out from the bottle and had gone through the vial's point and through Harry's skin and had slowly administered itself through his body._


	23. Chapter 23

**_Twenty-Three_**

 _ **First Kiss**_

 _"Harry! Harry, come on now! It's time for your birthday cake!"_

 _Harry turned from the gardens of the Weasleys and stared back at the sunset._

 _Another birthday. Another dinner with the family and friends he had. Another year without Hermione._

 _Harry turned his back and slowly walked back to the Burrow with a big frown over his face._

 _He entered the household and looked around at the decorations, the food and the people around him._

 _As usual, Mrs. Weasley took a lot of time and effort to celebrate his birthday._

 _Mr. Weasley and Bill arranged the visitors and ensured that the most important people in his life were there._

 _From professor McGonagall, to Kingsley, to Oliver Wood, Neville and some other of his closest Gryffindor and Hogwarts friends came._

 _Fleur and Ginny had arranged for all the food laid out over the large wooden table at the middle of the room and had put an amount of effort to decorate the house._

 _The birthday routine had been the very same for about seven years now since the ambush._

 _Everyone made sure that everyone was there and that it was celebrated it the best way possible._

 _Everyone wanted Harry happy despite of the obvious reasons for him to be unhappy on his special day._

 _He did not have his bestfriend anymore and the love of his life was mostly believed to be dead._

 _Despite that the Dark Lord has already been defeated, Harry was nowhere happy._

 _He had saved the Wizarding World._

 _And fate paid him back by taking the love of his life._

 _Lupin smiled at Harry as he gestured him at the middle of the room._

 _Bill had lit up the cake and Lupin had handed Harry a glass to toast with the rest of the family members and the visitors around them._

 _"To Harry!" Lupin cheered and everyone followed._

 _Harry gave a small smile as he raised his glass together with the crowd._

 _"Birthday wishes Harry?" Ginny asked as she helped Bill pull the cake across the table nearer him._

 _The crowd's cheer slowly died down as Harry stared down at the birthday cake before him._

 _It was the same cake he always requested – chocolate with cheese and blueberry._

 _Hermione's favourite cake._

 _Harry smiled down at the cake before him with a seriousness appearing before his eyes._

 _"I guess everyone knows what I'm about to wish again this year." Harry said._

 _Nobody said a word and they all just stared and listened quietly at him._

 _Ginny looked away and stared at his mother who was now teary-eyed._

 _"I mean, it's the same birthday every year.. so it's basically the same wish every year."_

 _Harry's voice seemed to falter as he suppressed the tears threatening to come down from his face._

 _He swallowed hard and cleared his face of any deep emotion he had in him._

 _He forced a smile and silently wished what he had been asking for years now._

 _Harry closed his eyes and whispered the words before he blew the lit candle on top of the cake and then he straightened up and raised his glass to everyone with a big smile over his face._

 _"To Hermione!" he said with a smile._

 _As routine every year, they all slowly raised their glasses with a forced smile over their faces muttering the same cheer and words he had spoken._

 _Mrs. Weasley crossed the room and embraced him while Mr. Weasley patted him on the back._

 _Charlie and Ginny quickly began singing to diminish the awkward silence and everyone soon followed the cheers and the singing of his birthday song._

 _"You alright?" Lupin asked as he sat next to Harry over the couch half an hour later._

 _Harry only nodded and gestured over his plate with the slice of cake and a few cut of fruits from the buffet over the wooden table._

 _"Good." Harry simply said with a smile at him. He raised the nth goblet of wine in his hand. "There's more if you want."_

 _Lupin stared at him and nodded with a smile. He took a mental note of ensuring to Mr. Weasley and Mrs. Weasley to keep all alcohol from the house in the morning._

 _Harry was only allowed to drink in his birthday, on Christmas and other big celebrations. Other than, he had been advising not only the Weasleys but anyone close to him to ensure that he stays away from the drink._

 _Harry had been sent a memo several times by certain establishment for small fiascos he creates after staying in for hours at night bars and leaving completely out of his wits._

 _The habit had been going on for a few years now and Lupin had to admit that he was beginning to be worried._

 _"Harry, I think three glasses would do for tonight."_

 _"I think professor, it's my birthday. I can drink for as much and as many glasses as I want tonight. What do you think?" Harry asked back raising his glass and taking another sip with an intention of refilling it once it was empty._

 _Lupin only nodded at him. He did not want to mess with Harry and have him cause a havoc for a party he knew Mrs. Weasley had worked so hard to have tonight._

 _Lupin only nodded at him being mindful and having no intention of leaving the place until he was settled on his bed even at the early hours later._

 _He wanted to ensure Harry's and others' safety at all times._

 _"Seven years, right?" Harry asked back and Lupin could tell that he had perhaps more than three glasses tonight._

 _The alcohol was talking already._

 _"Yes, Harry."_

 _"So seven glasses it is tonight." Harry drained the glass in his hand and slowly stood up._

 _Lupin grabbed his hand and made him sit again._

 _"Empty your pocket." Lupin quietly said making sure no one else heard him._

 _"What?" Harry asked back with a smile. "What are you saying?"_

 _"Empty your pocket, Harry." Lupin repeated nodding at him._

 _Harry only stared back at him._

 _"Professor, I don't understand-"_

 _"You very well know. I don't want to cause a scene. It's your birthday. So please empty out your pocket on me."_

 _Harry stared down as Lupin had opened his palm for him._

 _Harry stared at his hand then back at his face with a defiant look over his face._

 _"I'm not keeping anything from you-"_

 _"Harry, trust me. You would prefer I take it from you now than have one of the Weasleys take it from you."_

 _Harry scowled at him._

 _"You told me I can drink on my birthday."_

 _"I told you that you can have a glass or two. I didn't tell you to steal that object back from my office and use it again tonight."_

 _Harry didn't move from his position._

 _Lupin sighed and patiently offered his hand to him again._

 _"Harry."_

 _"I said that I can control my drinking."_

 _"If you can control it then give me that back now. Trust me Harry, we don't want another memo because of that again and you losing your head all over the place again. Not another Ministry incident, Harry."_

 _Harry had given him another scowl. But he shook his head at him with an annoyed expression and gently pulled something out of his pocket and secretly handed it to him._

 _"Thank you, Harry." Lupin said as he closed his hand over the object Harry had placed there._

 _"Yeah, whatever." Harry said waving is hand as he turned away from him. " I can drink as much of the red wine anyway."_

 _Lupin only nodded as without another word, he stood up and walked or rather swayed away from Lupin and headed for the table where the large bowl of red wine and punch for a drink had been mixed up._

 _Lupin closed his eyes and heavily breathed as he opened his palm and stared at the object in his hand._

 _It was a small steel flask that resembled the one Mad-Eye Moody used to have before only it looked modern._

 _He turned it over and emptied it over the carpeted floor only to find it quite drained already. Harry probably had drained all its strong vodka contents over the Merlin-knows-how-many glasses he had taken since the party had begun._

 _He looked up concernedly at the boy who lived who was standing at a corner with another glass of alcohol in his hand with wonder in his face._

 _Lupin shook his head and wasn't sure if he wanted to pity Harry, be angry at him or simply adjust and take good care of the boy that his bestfriend had died for and who has saved their world._

 _Lupin thought at how he can still be called that term when he knew somewhere deep down, something had died in the boy who lived many years ago._

"Harry?" Hermione asked knocking at the door of his small office in the house.

"Come in." Harry answered.

Hermione slowly pushed the door and found him closing a sketchbook by his table and looking up at her.

"Yeah?" he asked with a smile.

Hermione stared at him and at the room.

The room looked as if he hasn't cleaned it for about two weeks.

"Why are you still up? We have to wake up early for the trial."

"Kingsley has moved it by three in the afternoon again." Harry said going back to his desk and searching for something all over its messy state.

"Moved it?" Hermione asked entering the room. "Can he do that?"

"Yeap." Harry simply said as he grabbed a quill and had began drawing something up on a page of the sketchpad he had closed when Hermione entered. "I asked him to."

Hermione's eyes narrowed at the statement. Power-tripping on the side once more.

"You asked him to?" Hermione repeated. "You can ask him that?"

Harry looked up at her with a peculiar smile over her face as if she had asked a nonsense question.

He only nodded at her and turned away again.

Hermione felt slightly annoyed.

"Harry, I'm still talking to you."

"What?" Harry asked with a smile.

"I asked you if you asked him to move it? You can do that?"

"I can do anything, Hermione." Harry simply answered and there was that glimmer in his eyes again.

Hermione didn't say anything. She didn't really want to provoke anything at the moment.

"Well I guess if you're the Chosen One you can pretty much do anything." Hermione said spitting the word out.

Harry didn't say anything but she could tell that he was being smug about it.

"Well are you going to have dinner because I'm done cooking."

"I'll pass up." Harry simply answered. "I need to finish something for tomorrow."

"What do you have for tomorrow?" Hermione asked him.

"You'll see." Harry answered as he returned to his work and was seemingly very absorbed in it.

Hermione stared at him and knew something wasn't right.

He didn't go to work at the Ministry today and after breakfast, he had kept himself inside the room whole day long and only left when two large boxes had been delivered at their doorstep.

She had asked him what they were but he only said that it was for some project he was finishing.

She had asked if he needed help but he said that he didn't need her for it and he wasn't going to use them until the following day so there was no need to hurry opening the boxes.

Harry then grabbed a platter of sandwich and had taken only that for the rest of the day.

Hermione knew something was up but she didn't really want to provoke him. As long as he was quiet in his own space in their household, she could deal with it that way.

Besides, she was too preoccupied with the books he had ordered to be delivered for her.

She wasn't sure if it was mere coincidence or he had been planning to buy her all those books that was a copy of every book she has ever had at the cottage with Snape. And if he has planned to do so, what was he thinking and how did he find out about that exactly?

"Hermione." Harry's voice suddenly came.

"Yeah?" she said turning back from the door.

"I'll just maybe have a good sandwich later. I'm not that hungry. I need to finish this by tomorrow morning.

"I'll make you one and bring it here later." Hermione said and without another word, she had left him alone to his work.

 _"Narcissa, you must stop coming here anymore. You are not well."_

 _"You underestimate me still, Severus."_

 _Snape closed the door of the room they rented at the inn and stared at the woman sitting on the long couch before him._

 _Snape stared down at his dearest friend and could almost not believe his eyes._

 _He had only seen her two weeks ago and now she was thinner than ever._

 _The circles beneath her eyes told him that her sleeping pattern due to pain might have gone from bad to worse already._

 _The strands of her hair had seemingly thinned more than usual. Her cheekbones had become more prominent as her weight loss had become more alarming as the days had passed._

 _"I still have time, Severus." Narcissa said in a firm tone. "I believe we still have time to what is to be done."_

 _"No, Narcissa. We can't just do this just like that. It's more complicated than that."_

 _"Have you told her?" Narcissa asked him._

 _Snape quietly nodded but remorse was all over his face. "I've already told her before."_

 _"And what did she say?"_

 _"I haven't told her the part of our plan. She's already dealt with the fact that she cannot do anything about it but to wait for the curse to wane its effect."_

 _"It's time we do our part, Severus."_

 _"I can't give you up, Cissy."_

 _"You're not giving me up. I am not to be taken nor given up by anyone, Severus."_

 _Snape did not say anything._

 _He walked forward her and sat at the edge of the bed and stared instead at the large bag next to it._

 _"Your supplies." Narcissa nodded towards the bag. "I supposed it will last you for roughly two months."_

 _"Narcissa, you've already given more than enough."_

 _"My Draco has learned to strengthen his mind through things that Bella teaches him. I need you to ensure in the future that he does not lose sight of how to use these abilities in the better way, Severus."_

 _"Cissy, if you're giving me all these because you want me to take care of Draco in the future you don't have to. I'm his godfather, it's my job. I need you to rest and take good care of yourself."_

 _Narcissa nodded at him and slowly stood up and walked the few steps from the couch to the bed._

 _Snape was alert as she slightly swayed but had not lost her balance._

 _She slowly sat next to him on the bed and had reached for his hand._

 _"I am still alive and well, Severus."_

 _"You can't die." Snape whispered. "I will not allow it."_

 _Narcissa didn't say anything as they both continued to stare at the hearth in the fireplace that was glimmering with fire._

 _They both knew that her condition was nothing that could be helped and that she was only waiting for the day when fate would take away the life it had given her._

 _He wanted to take care of her but he knew that there was nothing that could be done._

 _Narcissa had played her part well at the war and had played her cards well especially when they found out she was dying._

 _For her, the most important thing of all was for Draco's safety no matter the consequence._

 _Snape was the man she entrusted with Draco's fate and the man was the only one perfect for the job._

 _"I will take care of Draco, Cissy." Snape whispered. He slowly reached out and took her hand in his._

 _Narcissa nodded as she quietly continued to stare at the fire reminiscing memories with the friend next to her._

 _"I have done well, did I not?" Narcissa asked him slowly turning to face him. "I have done well, Severus?"_

 _Snape stared back at her and knew her genuine fear in her voice._

 _He quietly nodded at her._

 _"You have done more than what is enough, what is good and what can be done to make life better for others."_

 _They both reminisced at that moment the things she had done for the people involved in the war._

 _A tear fell from her eyes._

 _"I will embrace death, Severus." Narcissa whispered with a forced smile. "I will embrace it with enough grace knowing I've done everything I could to save those that needed to be."_

 _"You have done well, Narcissa Malfoy." Snape whispered at her with a teary eye and a proud smile._

 _"Black." Narcissa corrected him as tears streamed down her cheeks but she was smiling. "Narcissa Black. We might not have done well, but I still stand by the idea that we are an inch better than the name I now bear. I am still more of my own family than anything and I hope that Draco becomes more of a Black than a Malfoy."_

"Ready for tomorrow's trial?" Draco asked as he entered the same room he visits to see his godfather.

He was eating an apple as he sat down before Snape where a good amount of dinner has been served before him.

"Don't you like it?" Draco asked staring at the meals before them. "Should I ask them to change them?"

"You know how I despite it when you use your name, Draco."

"Ah well, sorry. Can't help it. I'm a Malfoy." Draco said with a smug look over his face.

Snape sat back and folded his arms staring quietly at his godson.

"You haven't been sleeping well. You do remember how to make the Sleeping Draught I taught you before?"

"I can take good care of myself, thanks. You rest early tonight for tomorrow's trial. It will be in the afternoon but we have to be there a few hours ahead so we can settle properly."

Snape didn't say anything.

Another day and another trial. He was getting tired of all of it. But he wanted to end all suffering from both sides.

"Hermione will take the stand?"

"Yes." Draco answered as he took another large bite from the apple.

"Have you talked to her?" Snape slowly asked him.

Draco shook his head.

Snape sighed heavily.

"I'm working on it." Draco said with an assuring tone. "There might be a way but it's a long-shot."

"If it will only jeopardize things Draco, forget about it."

"No, it won't." Draco said although he did not sound sure nor confident. "I'm still working on it so let's not be against it this early."

Snape only could only nod on that.

What can he do?

Draco was the one outside playing the cards right and straight so all he could do is advise him and stir him in the correct direction. But still, he was the one stirring things through.

 _Hermione groaned, stirred and slowly stretched out across the soft sheets and slowly opened her eyes._

 _The room around her was dimly lit by the dying fire in the hearth of the fireplace._

 _Hermione moved her head around to see her surroundings as she slowly realized that she wasn't in her room._

 _She rubbed her eyes to clear her sight and stretched out again with a large yawn._

 _Hermione was halfway into turning herself onto the other side to further sleep when realization dawned on her._

 _She was lying on a bed made of sheets and pillows on the carpeted floor by the fireplace in their living room._

 _She was covered under thick sheets of atleast three blankets and she was wearing only her pair of undergarments._

 _The memories of the previous night suddenly came flashing into her mind._

 _"Shit." Hermione cursed quickly sitting on the bed and grabbing every sheet around her body._

 _She wildly looked around her, slightly breathless and with panic in her system._

 _The living room was empty except for her._

 _Her surroundings were dark and as she stayed still, she could tell that she was alone in the house._

 _"Damn. Stupid, stupid." Hermione whispered to herself as she sat on the bed and gathered all the sheets all over and kept it tight around her body._

 _She wondered where Snape was and her horrendous thoughts came crashing down on her and how stupid her decision had been a few hours ago._

 _He had surely – SURELY – seen her in THAT state and had probably wondered why she had removed all her clothes and had herself tightly wrapped around him like some tentacle being scared to lose contact of its prey._

 _Her face turned bright red at the thought and she buried her face beneath the thick sheets while cursing herself over and over again about what she has done._

 _Hermione wanted nothing more than for the earth to open up and swallow her alive right then and there._

 _But the question really was, where was Snape?_

 _Did he leave her alone because of what she has done?_

 _What was she going to say if he does come back and ask her about what she has done?_

 _Well, she was just going to have to tell him the truth and the real reason. But what if he does not believe her?_

 _Well, to hell if he does not. That was her intention anyway and it's not such a shame because her intention was good._

 _But right now, she needed to find her clothes before she dies of shame as she played in her head over and over again what Snape might have thought the moment he saw her or rather them or rather her body with a half-naked nature clung tightly around him._

 _Hermione found her clothes neatly folded next to her on the bed she created on the floor and she closed her eyes realizing that Snape might have folded those himself._

 _She grabbed them and she hurriedly wore them back all around herself still berating herself and her stupid decisions._

 _Once dressed, Hermione grabbed her fallen hair tie and quickly pulled it up in a messy bun._

 _Hermione hurriedly cleaned up the bed she created as she created conversations in her head on how she was going to explain herself to Snape the moment they see one another._

 _She was just halfway into making a decision on which words to subtly use once he asks about what she has done when she heard their entrance door open and closed and heard Snape chanting the wards._

 _"Bullocks." Hermione whispered to herself biting her lower lip and quickly gathering the last pillow from the floor and her own blanket and was prepared to take flight upstairs in her bedroom when Snape suddenly entered the living room._

 _"Holy shit." Hermione whispered dropping the materials on the floor._

 _"Language, Miss Granger." Snape said as he entered the room._

 _She silently watched him walked into the room and ignite the grate with new fire._

 _Hermione was slightly shaking and was thinking, formatting words and excuses in her head incase he suddenly ask her._

 _Hermione may well be preoccupied with her panic-stricken head but she was still quite observant._

 _She noticed that Snape had dressed himself in his usual black robes and was walking as if there was no pain all over his body unlike the previous night._

 _But Hermione could tell that he was only suppressing the pain in his body._

 _"Miss Granger?" Snape had called her. "Miss Granger? Miss Granger!" Snape's voice came and alerted her back to reality._

 _Hermione blinked and bent down to pick up the fallen blanket and pillow._

 _"Sorry." Hermione whispered avoiding his eyes as much as possible._

 _Snape only gave her a curious stare but he didn't say anything._

 _"I've bought breakfast from downtown. You may come back down to the kitchens after you finish clearing the living room."_

 _"Yes, I will.. uh…professor Snape." Hermione answered nervously._

 _She sighed heavily and decided there was no wait out of it anyway._

 _"Professor Snape, about lastnight-"_

 _"Be in the kitchens and clean up after breakfast. I have things to do after."_

 _And with that, Snape had walked and passed her as he headed for the kitchens without another word._

 _The following three days were the most awkward of all the days that they have stayed together at the cottage in Hermione's opinion._

 _They had not talked about what had happened. Or rather, Snape did not seem to want to talk about what had happened either._

 _He had kept himself at all times in his laboratory and would only come out at meal times or when he needed something from the small living room where some of his books were._

 _Hermione was half-relieved about the situation because it seemed that as much as she was avoiding the subject, Snape seemed to be doing the same thing. But half of her also wanted to explain herself to him and what her actions were for._

 _Hermione on the other hand was also worried about his health. She knew that he was not yet completely healed._

 _She could tell through her keen observations that he was only suppressing the pain he was feeling and forcing himself to move._

 _He walked in a slower pace and he made certain facial expressions under certain movements that gave Hermione proof that he has not yet fully recovered from the physical damage he suffered._

 _But despite Hermione's curiosity and her decreasing self-restraint on asking Snape about what has happened to him, she was able to manage herself and managed not to ask anything in fear that he would ask her questions she did not want to be asked about._

 _But fate wanted to intervene on that fact._

 _On the third night since he arrived dying by their doorstep and where Hermione's freedom had been there for her taking, things had moved very differently towards a certain direction._

 _Hermione had been reading several books from the selections they had at the cottage and had just finished drinking a glass of milk to help her sleep when she heard him in their living room groaning in pain._

 _Curious, she walked to the living room and found him by the couch and a couple of bandages, cloths and a large basin lay around him._

 _He was carefully and painfully tending to his wounds._

 _"Professor Snape?" Hermione slowly asked as she walked into the living room and stared at his very slow progress._

 _There was no answer in regards to his awareness of her presence but she did hear him curse._

 _He had been tending to a large wound around his ribcage._

 _Hermione gasped at the sight of him and had quickly grabbed a roll of bandages from the pack next to him._

 _"Miss Granger, you don't need to-"_

 _"Let me help you." Hermione said grabbing a cloth and damping it over the basin._

 _She handed it to him but Snape only stared away from her and had even faced away._

 _"Professor Snape, let me help you." Hermione insisted seeing the scowl of pain over his face._

 _"I don't need your help. Go to sleep." Snape snapped at her as he cringed in pain as he turned to resume cleaning his wound._

 _"I just want to help you. Let me help you so you can rest earlier."_

 _"I said, I don't need your help." Snape spat grabbing the damp cloth from her._

 _Hermione narrowed her eyes and frowned at him._

 _She watched as he forced to wipe the blood off his ribcage area despite the difficulty of it._

 _He moved around and looked for a small case that had some sort of ointment and paste in it._

 _Hermione folded her arms as she watched him whirl around the couch not seeing that what he was looking for was just in front of him._

 _When Hermione got tired watching him make a fool of himself, so she bent forward and grabbed the small case he had missed just next to him and handed it over._

 _Snape stopped moving and stared at her offered hand with the object he had been looking for._

 _He looked up and snatched it from her hand without another word._

 _He avoided her gaze but he had seen the secretly amused look over her face and the suppressed smile she was trying to deeply restrain._

 _"Nothing is funny with the situation."_

 _"I'm not laughing." Hermione said clearing her throat. "Who's laughing?"_

 _Snape looked up at her and eyed her spitefully. Hermione tried not to laugh again._

 _"Professor Snape, let me help you."_

 _Her words were gentle and kinder than earlier and it made Snape realize that he needed her help._

 _"Just hand me that bottle."_

 _"This one?" Hermione asked grabbing the one bottle on the small table and opening its stopper._

 _Hermione watched as he opened the stopper and quickly gulped all the contents of the small bottle._

 _Snape set aside the empty bottle and stared at her._

 _"What?"_

 _"Why won't you let me help you?" she asked irritably. "It's not like I don't know first aid or so. I know how to heal wounds. It's not like I'll do further damage."_

 _"Miss Granger!" Snape angrily spat at her. "I do not need your help! Not everything is goddamn about you-" he yelled and as he did so, he cringed and groaned loudly and he began to bled again around the waist area._

 _Hermione's eyes widened in alarm as blood slowly but began to drip nonstop around the area he just finished covering with bandaged._

 _"Fuck." Snape spat quickly moving for bandages and for his wand._

 _"Here." Hermione said picking up his wand and handing it to him._

 _Snape snatched his wand and pointed it around the area muttering some charms to stop the bleeding while Hermione hurriedly grabbed more bandages and a few of the ointment to help him to back around the area._

 _It took a few minutes, but with Hermione's aid and guidance, they managed to secure the wound properly this time and had managed to place sufficient amount to bandage and ensure that it was kept into place and would not be spilling blood any time soon._

 _Hermione was kneeling by his side as she picked up the fallen used bandages and started cleaning the floor from his mess._

 _Snape stared down at her and was biting the words back in his mouth. When he couldn't take it any longer, he had to say it in a vague manner._

 _"I'll clean everything it. You may go. Thanks for the help."_

 _The word had slipped out of his mouth faster than Hermione could really catch it. But she did catch it._

 _She understood that it was so goddamn hard for him to ask help, let alone thank someone when he was actually helped out._

 _"You're welcome." Hermione muttered turning away to hide the grin from her face. "Don't move. I'll help you up to your bedroom."_

 _"I'm staying here in the living room tonight." Snape had said. "I can't really move around. This area will help me get to the kitchens and to the other parts of the house should I need something."_

 _"That's what I'm here for." Hermione said as she returned to the room after clearing away all the cleaning and first-aid materials Snape had used._

 _Snape stared at her and found himself unable to really stand still or stand back on his feet from his position._

 _Hermione stared by the door arms crossed, itching to cross the room but she waited._

 _She wanted it to come from him._

 _She watched several more minutes at his futile attempt to get up to his feet before falling back several times, cursing over and over and finally, he was breathless and helpless enough to admit his situation and seek help once more._

 _"Miss Granger." Snape's voice sounded venom. "If you would please…"_

 _"Ofcourse I would." Hermione said smiling as she walked to the room. "I thought you'd never ask."_

 _Hermione bent forward and moved her arms around his and let him level himself up and then brought up half his weight._

 _He wasn't that heavy but he was tall and muscular enough for her to feel the weigh from him._

 _He stood up, slightly shaking with half his body was leaning against Hermione's and was dependent upon her help._

 _"One step at a time, professor. No need to hurry. We'll get to your room." Hermione said as she placed his arm around her shoulder and had his other hand around her for support._

 _She held him steady and had to focus to ensure that they do not fall off or that she does not get out of balance so that he wouldn't topple over as well._

 _The journey from the living room which were only a few strides really to his bedroom took about fifteen minutes or so because he felt nauseated to the point that Hermione almost left him by the wall at the foot of the stairs to grab a basin for him to vomit over._

 _It wasn't until he shrieked her name over did she calm herself down and resumed focus onto bringing him back to his room._

 _Upon arrival in his bedroom, Hermione took his wand to flick a light to the small fireplace in his small bedroom._

 _His bedroom was smaller than hers and only contained a bed, a small table and a chair, the fireplace, a carpet and two tall bookshelves and a door that led to a bathroom slightly smaller than hers._

 _She always wondered if this was supposedly to be her bedroom for which he only shifted at last minute decision._

 _She had never really been to his room. Once or twice perhaps but not on every occasion._

 _But seeing his condition at the moment, she might as well sleep there incase he needs something at the midst of the night._

 _Snape groaned painfully but also in relief as Hermione laid him down on his bed and rearranged the pillows behind his back so he was in a half-sitting position as he had requested._

 _Hermione warmed the room up and fixed up his blanket before handing him back his wand._

 _She was staring longingly at it so Snape took is and quickly kept it out of her sight._

 _"I'll make soup in the morning or is there anything you want for breakfast?"_

 _Solace. That's what he wanted._

 _"Nothing." Snape said closing his eyes in discomfort of the pain still around his rib area._

 _"Is there anything you need then?" Hermione asked seeing shift from another position to another, finding a comfortable place and spot for him to lay himself. Apparently with his injuries, nothing was comfortable._

 _"Nothing. Go to your room. Go to sleep."_

 _Hermione stared at him and wasn't sure if she wanted to jab her finger at the spot where it would hurt him the most._

 _She only wanted to help._

 _"I could stay and if you-"_

 _"Go away. I don't need your help."_

 _Hermione's eyes widened and Snape felt the change in her mood on that He wanted to hit himself._

 _"Well fine. Scream if you feel like you're dying. Maybe I'll come over."_

 _And with that, she stormed out of the room and banged the door behind her._

 _But everything wasn't fine. Not according to her instincts anyway._

 _It was somewhere two in the morning and she still couldn't sleep._

 _His room was just across the hall and the full four hours that she'd left him, still hasn't fallen asleep._

 _She has doodled over her small well-hidden notebook, has read three chapters of one of the latest selections he's bought her and has tossed and turned around the bed to try to grab some sleep but she still couldn't._

 _She couldn't help but wonder if he was alright at the other room or if he needed anything._

 _But he practically screamed at her that he did not need her. He did not want her anywhere near him._

 _Was he still mad of their previous tirade before he left and returned injured? Was he still mad about that?_

 _He almost died. And she had carried him back to health and safety over the past few days and he was still sulking about their fight?_

 _How miserable could he still be?_

 _But Hermione still felt guilty deep inside. He wouldn't have left after their fight if it was nothing for him._

 _He cared for her and she goes throwing it out the window._

 _He returns scarred by the Dark Lord most likely but still, he risks his life and returns to the cottage to ensure that she was safe and that the cottage was protected by him._

 _He was still thinking about her._

 _Hermione was fighting the battle whether she was going to the other room or not when she heard it._

 _A loud thump and groan coming from his room_

 _Within a flash, she was out of her bedroom and had ran in her night gown back to his bedroom door._

 _"Professor?" she asked knocking insistently upon the door. "Professor? Are you alright? Do you need anything?"_

 _There was no answer but she could hear small movements and the sound of him breathing hard._

 _"Professor Snape? Are you in there? Can you hear me?" she called out knocking several more times._

 _Panic was rising inside her. She heard a movement and the sound of him in pain and now he wasn't answering._

 _The door was locked._

 _Hermione knocked several more times now at the verge of crying in her panic-stricken state._

 _"Professor Snape – are you – please open the door! Answer me please! Professor, please open this-"_

 _Then the door suddenly opened and she was let in._

 _Hermione dashed inside the room and found him lowering his arm with the wand after pointing at the door._

 _He was on the floor, the blanket on the floor next to him and he was clutching his ribcage._

 _"What's wrong?" Hermione asked quickly getting down on her knees and looking all over him for possible damage or where the pain was coming from._

 _"Him.." Snape was able to mutter in his pale state. "Torture.. Others.."_

 _Hermione stared as he nodded his head towards the Dark Mark that was seemingly darker than is used to be._

 _"What?" Hermione asked in panic. "What do you mean-"_

 _"He is.." he breathed out painfully as the pain from the mark slowly ebbed away._

 _He closed his eyes and dropped his head onto the side._

 _"Professor?" Hermione called out, eyes wide. He shook him but he didn't really move. "Professor Snape?" she called out louder._

 _Hermione grabbed his arm and had check his pulse. It was pumping but he looked weak and pale._

 _"Professor Snape, what are you- what should I-"_

 _"Water.." he gasped.. "W-wat…er.."_

 _"Water?" Hermione said nodding vigorously. "Alright. Water, water."_

 _Hermione scrambled up to her barefoot and moved around the room where she had stashed a pitcher of cold water earlier on the small table by his bed._

 _She quickly filled up the glass and nearly skidded down the floor next to him._

 _She grabbed his hand and helped him hold the glass and assisted him fully into drinking the water._

 _Hermione watched as he weakly gulped down the glass of water but had finished it._

 _She stared silent by his side, eyes already gleaming with tears as she stared down at his state._

 _He was being tortured up to this moment?_

 _It took Snape another moment before he seemed to have recovered and had stared up at her with a weak smile._

 _"You may go." Snape said. "Kindly assist me back to my bed."_

 _Hermione stared at him with full pity but she only nodded._

 _She slowly stood up and held her hands out as she carried him slowly up to the bed and slowly helped him at the edge of it._

 _The bed was quite large and she needed to pull him all the way back up the bed to ensure he does not fall off again._

 _After a while of successfully pulling him back in his earlier half-seated position on the bed, Hermione stared at him and knew that he wasn't sleepy but he was in too much pain and exhaustion to have his body reel him into a good sleep._

 _"Professor, you might have an excess Sleeping Draught in your laboratory. I can assist and get you a bottle if you-"_

 _"I won't need it." Snape simply said. "I'm going to get some sleep now. I'm too tired."_

 _And he did look it._

 _Hermione thought how well he seemed to have slightly aged since they have arrived in this cottage._

 _The stress that the Dark Lord gives him, the ones that the Order has placed upon him and the stress she gives him on a daily basis._

 _Guilt was creeping like a Devil's Snare all over her body._

 _"Professor, what happened?" she asked in a small voice unable to control herself._

 _Snape sighed heavily._

 _"The Dark Lord is torturing one of our kind. He is ensuring we all feel the same wrath should we try to do what the mindless twat has done."_

 _"And what would that be?"_

 _"I wouldn't know now. In a few days, I would. But the punishment is so severe that it might have been a matter of life and death mistake for the Dark Lord."_

 _Hermione didn't say anything. That would have meant a plan against the Order has gone wrong._

 _She wanted to celebrate but she couldn't bring herself to do so. Not when she was seeing one of the results of it._

 _"Professor, can I stay the night?" Hermione asked giving him a worried expression._

 _Snape's brow creased but he did not say anything._

 _"Just to watch over you. Incase you need something. I promise I won't do.. anything.. unnecessary."_

 _Snape did not say anything. He could tell what he was referring to. She was still guilty about it._

 _He wanted to protest but he was too tired._

 _He gave her a curt nod._

 _Hermione's eyes widened at the blessing he had given._

 _Suddenly, her small hand had snatched his and Snape's eyes momentarily opened at the sight of her._

 _She was somewhat crying._

 _"I just wish to take good care of you."_

 _"Miss Granger-"_

 _"I've been stupid. Careless. Mindless. Selfish." Hermione said biting back her tears. "But I don't want to cause you further stress. I just want to.. I want to help you.."_

 _Snape did not say anything. Suddenly, all feeling of wanting to go to sleep had vanished._

 _She was caressing and holding his hand as if he was a dying man._

 _He looked to her and saw the worry, the stress and the genuine sincerity in those eyes._

 _He breathed heavily knowing that this was one of those times he did not want to happen._

 _He did not want any connection with her – nothing too deep or emotional per se._

 _"Miss Granger, please don't cry. I'm fine. I'm not exactly dying-"_

 _"You almost did." Hermione said pressing her fingers deeper around his. "You almost did and the last time I saw you before then – we argued, we fought, I was so restless and reckless and-"_

 _"Miss Granger, please don't put stress onto yourself. We are both in a situation we do not want."_

 _Hermione swallowed hard and nodded. There was truth in that._

 _As much as she wanted to go back, she knew he wanted to return her but couldn't._

 _She looked up at him and it her lower lip uncertain if she should continue with her rants._

 _"I'm sorry about what I did the other night. I did not have permission but you were having a really high fever and it was-"_

 _"I'm familiar with such methods." Snape simply said knowing she did not want to talk about it with the humiliation the memory brought her._

 _Hermione quietly nodded but she looked relieved to have that one out._

 _"You do not need to be ashamed of it. You did what you had to do as a human. It was your instinct."_

 _"Still, I'm sorry about it."_

 _"You're forgiven."_

 _"I'm also sorry for yelling at you the other day before you left.." Hermione said almost biting her tongue for each word. "I'm very inconsiderate."_

 _Snape stared at her and wondered where all these honestly and sudden guilt were coming from._

 _Then he realized the impact of how he might have looked like the other night by the doorway – helpless, bleeding and certainly in the most 'dying' state she had ever seen him._

 _"I wish I could be more considerate at times." Snape simply said after a while._

 _He drew in a deep breath and slowly, his other hand reached out for hers and covered the one holding his other hand._

 _Hermione looked up at him in her tearful state and saw him looking at her with a forced smile over his face._

 _He did look like he was in a very bad shape tonight but he also looked like he was slowly recovering from it._

 _Hermione nodded quietly. "I know this is hard for the both of us. I promise to be better."_

 _Snape did not say anything. He knew what she must be feeling but there was no choice to it._

 _He only hope he could make things better for her if not for the both of them._

 _Suddenly, his thoughts were shaken away as Hermione had gently placed herself next to him, resting her face over his chest and crying silently._

 _"I thought you were going to die." Hermione cried at his chest. "I thought you were dying. You were bleeding and you were..you barely moved and spoke.."_

 _Hermione's tears echoed across the silent room. He couldn't help but feel the emotion she was feeling._

 _He could barely remember the night but the facts were there – he was dying, helpless and she had the opportunity to leave him and yet she did not._

 _He had woken the following day with his own wand resting next to him._

 _She did not even take the slightest attempt to do anything against him or do anything to help her escape._

 _She had stayed there and had assisted him until he was able to recover in such a state that he could comprehend what was happening around him._

 _"Miss Granger, I'm better now. No need to cry about that past.. it has happened already. And I'm already healing and that is thanks to you."_

 _"You're the only one I've got." Hermione said slowly looking up at him and holding his hand for dear life. "You're the only one I've got."_

 _Hermione's brown eyes held his and in that moment, Snape suddenly felt something inside of him._

 _Something was different, something was terribly wrong._

 _There was something different in the way she spoke of the truth, the way she was telling him how she was feeling._

 _"Miss Granger-"_

 _"I couldn't lose you. You're all I've got." Hermione whispered tears falling upon her cheeks as she closed her eyes and rested her head against his chest._

 _Snape breathed heavily and closed his eyes knowing the weight of those words._

 _She was accepting their reality at the moment and at the same time entrusting her life to him._

 _Hermione trusted him completely with no bars left to hold her back._

 _"I'm here." Snape softly whispered back at her as he held her hand closer. "I'm here, I won't ever abandon you."_

 _Snape did not know what made him do it, but he gently moved closer and pressed his lips softly against her head and placed a soft kiss over her soft and vanilla-scented tresses._

 _There was a moment for which he could just inhale her scent and suddenly out of nowhere, her tresses was nowhere from his lips._

 _Hermione had suddenly looked up at him and had replaced her skin against his lips with her own._

 _The sudden movement and action kept Snape still and completely taken aback._

 _What was happening exactly?_

 _He was unable to clearly comprehend what was happening but he was sure that it was her small, sweet and soft lips that was now grazing against his own lips as an invitation to a kiss._

 _She kissed him once, she kissed him twice and a little longer this time._

 _The third time was different. He closed his eyes as he slowly welcomed that third momentary kiss from her lips with a bit more of a reaction from him this time._

 _She seemed to have shifted and had split-moment decision to draw her mouth back just in time when he captured it back fully and had returned the kiss._

 _Snape could hear Hermione moan in his mouth and she felt her fingertips fading from his hold and she had shifted to place them gently over his abdominal area and he found himself moving his hands from her arms down her shoulders and around her waist._

 _It took them rather a moment and a deep kiss, lost in their deep thoughts when Hermione seemed to have finally come to her senses and had broken the kiss._

 _Snape opened his eyes in complete shock and stared back at her tearful, confused and shocked facial features._

 _She was breathing hard and was looking at him as if she knew that she was the one who lost control._

 _As reflexes would have dictated her body, she quickly shifted and removed her hands from him._

 _"Professor, I'm – I'm sorry-" she quickly said moving away from him._

 _But before she could completely move, his hand had quickly attached itself around her wrist._

 _"Professor-" she tugged with fear completely obvious in her eyes._

 _Snape let her wrist go, unable to find the right words to bring about._

 _"Miss Granger-" he was breathless as he forced himself to speak and to think on what to say._

 _She looked like she was ready to retreat until he gently reached out for her again._

 _"Hermione.. " his voice was soft and it made her still on the bed. His hand closed around hers._

 _"I'm sorry.." Hermione quickly said. "I did not.. I'm.."_

 _"Hermione, look at me." Snape softly said as he continued to shake his head. He made sure she was staring at him._

 _"Hermione, it's me...It's me.. I wasn't.. I wasn't thinking.. it wasn't like.. please forgive me." Snape quickly said seeing that guilt was coming all over her. "It was me, please, please forgive me.."_

 _Hermione did not say anything. She seemed to have lost the ability to think._

 _"I must go.. to my room." Hermione said quickly standing up and pulling herself together. "I'm sorry.. I should not have.. I'll.. please get some rest, professor."_

 _And with that, she scrambled and went out of the room as fast as her thin legs could carry her._


	24. Chapter 24

**_Chapter XXIV_**

 _ **"Forbidden Rapture"**_

 _"Mione, I'm sorry!" Ron had said for the nth time as the three of them sat at the very edge of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom._

 _The three of them were asked to return after dinner that night for detention after that afternoon's event._

 _Harry, Ron and Hermione were at the side of the classroom and was waiting for Snape to begin the class like the rest of the students._

 _Harry was showing Hermione a surprise he had for her when Ron curiously took it out to take a closer look just in time as Snape entered the room._

 _He saw and heard the three's chaos at the corner and had quickly put the three of them into detention with a total of ten points each from them._

 _Harry would not have minded it if Snape did not confiscate the envelope the three of them have been talking about._

 _Ron had already apologized to Harry who had quickly accepted it but Hermione was a different story._

 _"That was Harry's surprise for me-" Hermione spat back at Ron as she folded her arms facing the wall next to her._

 _Ron looked helplessly at Harry who only smirked back at him._

 _"Mione?" Harry gently asked reaching for Hermione's hand. "Ron did not mean it."_

 _"Oh come on, Harry!" Hermione said irritably looking back at Ron and giving him dagger-like stares._

 _"Mione-" Ron began reaching out for her. "Come on Harry, help me out here-"_

 _"You only want me to help you tonight for tomorrow's Charm's quiz!" Hermione angrily said pointing at him._

 _Ron looked scandalized but he did not say anything against it because half of that was true._

 _"I'm sorry! I'm really sorry! I'll find a way to get those tickets back-"_

 _"Ron, those were special tickets for a book fair that Harry had given me!" Hermione angrily said._

 _She snatched up her soft copy of a Quibbler from her bag and had hit Ron's head with it several times._

 _Harry could only laugh at the both of them. He appreciated Ron's apology but even more so, he loved the idea that Hermione was actually really angry because she absolutely loved his surprise gift._

 _He gently reached out for Hermione's arm to stop her from murdering Ron completely with the magazine._

 _"Come, Mione," Harry gently said taking the magazine from her. "I'll get you new ones."_

 _"Well you don't have to, Harry!" Hermione spat still angry at Ron. "If this idiot here just did not-"_

 _"I'll get you a new one, I promise. Professor Lupin gave them to me for you. I'm sure there's another pair we can get-"_

 _"But those were your gift for me and –"_

 _"I'm sorry!" Ron cried out rubbing his head. "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry- I would not-"_

 _The three of them quickly fell silent as the door suddenly opened and banged closed again._

 _Snape looked at the three of them and the smile from Harry's face vanished and both emotions from Ron and Hermione's face diminished as well._

 _Harry quickly placed the Quibbler away while Hermione faced the front and Ron quickly sat straight on the bench the three of them shared._

 _"I seem to notice that none of you seem to regret the reason why you are even here in the first place?" he looked around the three of them hearing their voices before he entered the room._

 _None of them spoke._

 _Snape's black eyes studied the three of them with such fire in them._

 _It annoyed him to have to deal with them for the noise they were causing earlier that morning in his class just as he had been stressing over Draco's attitude lately._

 _The three of them looked blankly back at him or rather just Ron._

 _Hermione was staring back at him with no guilt in her eyes as she was still furious for her beloved bookfir tickets have been confiscated and Harry was staring back at him with nothing but hatred._

 _"We were just talking and the class hasn't even begun." Harry reasoned out. "You can put us in detention but can you just return those tickets you've confiscated."_

 _Snape stared at him with a half-amused look over his face._

 _How he desired the idea that he held something that the boy obviously wanted or was desperate to have back._

 _"And you think you can still go to that event, Mr. Potter?" he slowly asked._

 _"Professor, you don't have to let us go. Just return the tickets." Hermione's small voice came. "Please. Harry gave them to me."_

 _Snape turned to her. His eyes settled on her and curiosity was reaching him._

 _The tickets literary mattered to her more than what they were really for._

 _Snape opened a notebook from the table and had scanned something before speaking again._

 _"Mr. Weasley. Three hours detention from now at professor Hagrid's place. He shall be waiting for you by the entrance door by now and will return you to the castle doors after three hours." Snape said softly nodding for Ron to leave already._

 _Ron gave Harry and Hermione a sparing look but had quietly took his bag and gave them a sign that he'll meet them back at their common room after his detention hours with a pleading look at Hermione._

 _"Mr. Potter, three hours as well. Mr. Filch is waiting for you by the staircase that leads to the library." Snape slowly looked up and stared at Harry with such spiteful eyes._

 _Harry stared at Hermione then back at Snape and then at Hermione again. He nodded for her to leave with him but Hermione was asked to stay behind._

 _"What?" Harry asked with such defiance. "What do you mean she's staying behind?"_

 _"Yes?" Snape asked Harry who was holding her hand and obviously unwilling to leave her._

 _"She's spending her detention with me. Three hours as well." Snape said the last three words with such venomous enjoyment in them._

 _Harry's hand curled into fists. He looked at Snape like he wanted to protest but he did not say anything._

 _"Go." Hermione whispered tugging at the back of his school robes. "Just go, Harry. I'll be fine."_

 _But Harry did not move. He wasn't just going to leave his girlfriend with the slimy git._

 _"Why can't I have the detention with you?" Harry suddenly asked which made Snape look up from the notebook he had been reading._

 _"Excuse me?" Snape slowly asked him almost amused by the defiance in Harry's tone._

 _"I asked, why won't you let me have detention with you since you have always taken pleasure into giving me detention? Why Hermione? Why should she stay here with you?"_

 _Snape stared at Harry and the hatred burning in his eyes._

 _"Why Mr. Potter, I'm quite astounded and touched at the idea that you prefer to spend your detention with me."_

 _"Than her with you." Harry said unable to bite his word back._

 _Hermione painfully tugged at his arm to stop him from speaking further._

 _Snape's black eyes glinted at his direction and he was observing them closely._

 _"That's not what he meant, professor." Hermione's small voice spoke from behind Harry._

 _Snape stared. He had been hearing that Potter and Granger had indeed been going out and had been rumored to be an official couple since the school year began. But he did not really see the seriousness of those rumors until tonight._

 _Harry seemed extremely protective of the girlfriend he has at the moment._

 _Snape straightened from behind his desk and folded his arms. He looked back at Harry with an equally spiteful glare._

 _"As touching as your words may be, Mr. Potter you need to understand that this is a different sort of detention." Snape's voice was icy and laced with every bit of hatred he had for the boy._

 _Hermione was holding Harry's wrist now as he had moved it closer to the inside of his robe willing to draw his wand out._

 _"It's alright professor, I'll take what-" Hermione began but Harry gave her a glare before turning back to Snape._

 _"You see, Mr. Potter, the work I'm about to ask for this detention requires a high-level of capacity and intellect and as much as I hate to admit it, Miss Granger's insufferable know-it-all mentality is what I require at the moment."_

 _Harry was shaking in anger. But he did not say anything – yet._

 _"Harry, it's alright." Hermione said gently reaching for him. "I'll be alright."_

 _"Yes, she will be." Snape had smirked at Harry. "It's not like I'm going to hurt your girlfriend. I only need enough brains and wit for this work Mr. Potter. A pair of things that I apparently cannot really expect from Mr. Weasley and most especially not from you. As we all know you're all brawns and-"_

 _"It's fine, professor." Hermione said loudly standing up and reaching for Harry's arm who was just about to draw his wand out._

 _Harry looked back at her with hatred in his eyes. Hermione stared pleadingly back at him._

 _Harry gave Snape another glare before snatching his bag from the chair and giving Hermione a peck on the cheek._

 _He turned back to Snape. "I'll come back for her after three hours, professor." Harry said and without another word, he rudely stormed out of the classroom and banged the door behind him._

 _Hermione stared back at Snape with a relief over her chest._

 _Harry had always had short temper over things and she was glad she was able to stop him from doing something that might put him in a worse situation._

 _She began rolling her sleeves up and stared back at Snape who was only staring quietly at her._

 _"Professor?" she asked him uncertainly. "What am I supposed to do for you?"_

 _"I'll get the keys to the dungeons." Snape said turning to the door. "I'll get it from professor Slughorn so we can have access to the storage he has rearranged. I need to restore a couple of my personal storage. You would be rearranging, labelling and enlisting the things we need, what we'll take and what to be bought for the weekend for my needs and use."_

 _Hermione only nodded as she hurriedly grabbed her bag and followed him out of the classroom wondering why he had said that she needed him for this task when it was very obvious that even Harry and Ron could cope and survive the detention he was about to give her._

"Mr. Malfoy?" asked a voice and the door opened.

Draco looked up from his office desk where he was writing a very short answer to a letter that has arrived about an hour ago.

"Come in. I'm just finishing this. Is the carriage ready?" he had asked his old assistant.

The wizard nodded at him and had brought in the tea he had requested.

"The carriage is waiting for your signal. You would be leaving in an hour?" he asked him.

"Yes." Draco shortly said as he folded the parchment and sealed the envelope with the Malfoy crest over it.

"You need this to be sent by owl?"

"No." Draco said as he handed the letter to him. "I need you to bring this to someone personally."

The assistant nodded and kept it in the inside of his robe.

"An old professor of mine." Draco had said. "I know he stays at Hogwarts as he has resumed his post this school year."

"I will take note of that, Mr. Malfoy. To whom is this addressed?"

"Lupin." Draco had said. "Remus J. Lupin. And please make sure that it is only him who finds and reads this letter."

 _"Hermione please open the door." Snape's voice came._

 _There was no answer at all._

 _It was half past eight already and she had not eaten the whole day. He was beginning to get worried about her condition._

 _"Hermione, I will just leave your food by the dining. I must leave tonight. I will be back in the morning."_

 _Usually, she would answer and ask him where he would go and why he had to leave late in the evening._

 _But there was no answer at the moment._

 _"Bullocks." Snape angrily thought to himself as he walked away from the door and back to his bedroom._

 _He stared around at the room and over his large four-poster bad that was still not made since morning._

 _Well, he really did not want to organize his bed sheets knowing that it might remove her scent from it._

 _He hated himself. He despised himself even more for the idea that he wanted what had happened._

 _Three nights ago, something unexpected but not unwanted had happened between the two of them._

 _He had kissed her again. And she had equally responded again._

 _And soon they have found themselves together, tangled and kissing one another to the point of nakedness against those same bedsheets._

 _It had started about a week ago. And he should have put a stop before then._

 _He should never have kissed her forehead in the first place. It would have avoided her kissing him and him returning the kiss._

 _After that, the transition had moved into a few days of not speaking into one another, the most awkward of all the days they lived together in the cottage together._

 _And suddenly out of nowhere, feelings and the raging calls of their needs all came crashing together into a sudden chapter in their lives that threw off the balance and had pulled them together into a very sensuous, sensual and irrational night of forbidden actions that will never be taken back nor reversed by anything._

 _He had taken her. She had given herself up to him when she had never done so with anyone else._

 _He, the professor and the Order member, the man sworn to protect her had taken her innocence away._

 _He was supposed to be in control and he was supposed to do anything and everything in his power to avoid circumstances as that._

 _He was supposed to protect her at all costs._

 _And now, he felt that he had just defiled her with everything that she had._

 _He had taken her._

 _He wasn't sure if Cruciatus would even give justice to what he has done._

 _After that eventful and unforgettable night, they found themselves in awkward silence and in a tension in the house like never before._

 _Three days of holding back feelings, and the cold and rainy and stormy evening three nights ago had pulled them back into the position they were avoiding and now this._

 _Hermione wasn't getting out of her room._

 _They had talked that the first encounter should never happen again and that he would have to take precaution from then on and he had worried too much that she did not even want to take the contraceptive potion he made for her._

 _He was running mad. Both of them were._

 _But after the three nights of holding back feelings and such, they were back on his four-poster bed.  
He was had taken her again. And she had welcomed him with open arms._

 _They touched one another like they had never done so for any other. Exchanging not only kisses and feeling, but emotions and memoir that can never be taken back nor forgotten._

 _It was a forbidden rapture._

 _Snape knew he was no longer in control as much as he had the many weeks and months ago they had first come into the cottage._

 _And because of that loss of self-control, he was also losing Hermione Granger._

 _Their feelings were both mixed but he was sure by now that his was beyond that of a teacher's care for a student._

 _And that was highly dangerous for their situation._

 _He was losing her in such a sense that like tonight, she did not want to come out of her room._

 _Was it fear of it happening again? Was if fear of him altogether?_

 _Was she afraid that he was suddenly going to defile her out of the blue whenever he felt like doing so? After all, they were alone in the cottage, he was the older one and the stronger one and he could do anything he would like to do with her without anyone else knowing._

 _She felt more alone than ever. But she feared more was that, she wanted to be in his arms._

 _She had liked and had wanted to be in those arms especially the second time around._

 _It felt so real – his touches, his caresses, his kisses – it was like that of a lover she had never known before._

 _Was she running mad for wanting him? For wanting him? For longing for him this much?  
It was already a fact that she had initiated that first forbidden action but right now, why was she feeling very guilty?_

 _She felt guilty for making him feel guilty of everything? Or was she guilty because she knew she was giving more weight of a stress to their situation and causing him more trouble?_

 _She did not want any of it anymore and yet she found herself wanting nothing but his presence._

 _Hermione looked up by the door and knew that Snape had left already._

 _He wasn't coming back for a few hours that was for sure._

 _But she wasn't hungry. She did not feel like eating._

 _Not when all types of guilt were coming down upon her._

 _The guilt of her kissing him, the guilt of giving herself up to him after all these years that she has not even yet given it up to the boy he loved?_

 _Did she still love Harry?_

 _Ofcourse. And she loves Harry._

 _She wanted to go back to him more than anything else in the world._

 _But was that enough to be called love?_

 _She had given herself up to a man she barely knew, to a man whom she could barely have an emotional attachment with and to a man she has only come to know the surface at a closer look these past few weeks and months._

 _Was she running mad?_

 _She wanted to cry, she wanted to run and hide, she wanted an escape but there was no escaping these four walls that has seized her for months now that was even turning to into a stormy winter like years._

 _"Well?" Narcissa asked as she folded her arms before him. "Are you just going to stare?"_

 _Apparently yes was the answer._

 _Snape held in his hand a small wooden chest with silver-snake and emerald designs and the emblem of the Black family crest._

 _"I cannot do it. I'm sorry. I can't." Snape said closing the box._

 _Narcissa's eyes flashed in anger and she strongly banged her fist against the wooden table._

 _"You will do it as you are told Severus."_

 _"I am not doing it." Snape lashed back at her._

 _His black eyes were glinting and he has never felt this much anguish towards her._

 _"I said, you will do as you are told!" Narcissa angrily screamed at him._

 _He banged his own fist against the table – harder and louder this time._

 _"YOU CANNOT MAKE ME! NO, I REFUSE TO DO THIS NARCISSA!"_

 _"YOU ARE TO DO WHAT YOU ARE TOLD YOU COWARD!" Narcissa angrily said and she had suddenly slapped him across the cheek._

 _Narcissa's hand made a mark across his cheek._

 _Snape was quiet._

 _He stood still against the table. He was bearing so much anger. He was livid but he did not do anything to defend himself or avenge the pain she had just caused him._

 _Narcissa was breathing hard before him, shaking and seething in anger beyond she has been in a long time._

 _Snape slowly shook his head and he pressed his hand firmly upon his pained cheek._

 _"I'm not doing it." Snape simply said. "You can't make me, Cissy."_

 _"There is no way." Narcissa had said in an almost desperate tone._

 _"I've made up my mind. I'm not doing it."_

 _"You know in your heart there is no other way!" Narcissa had screamed at him._

 _Snape looked up and saw that she was now actually crying._

 _He also wanted to cry._

 _There was no other way._

 _"I'm not killing you."_

 _"You're not killing me." Narcissa said trying to hold back her tears. "You are being ridiculous."_

 _Snape stared at the small box before them. He felt extremely helpless that moment._

 _"This is your blood, Cissy." Snape whispered as he stared back at her. "The last of your blood that is untainted of this incurable disease you have come across. It has the chance of gaining more life for you."_

 _Snape's tone was almost as desperate as the tone she was bearing._

 _"Cissy, with this – this vial – and with the proper enchantment, ingredients – everything we need – we can revive what is left of you."_

 _"Nothing is left of me but Draco!" Narcissa cried at him with her eyes widening in anger._

 _She looked like she was a woman who had aged after so long of never aging at all._

 _"Cissy, you must understand your life matters-"_

 _"Draco's life matters more. And you will save him with your life as you have been told and as you have promised me. You promised me!" Narcissa screamed again at him._

 _Snape shook his head. His mind was battling._

 _The blood of Narcissa Malfoy was as significant as her life and the life of another woman that meant a lot to him as well._

 _Narcissa moved forward him and had painfully gripped his arm._

 _Snape flinched and looked up at her desperate look._

 _"Cissy-"_

 _"We have only one vial of my untainted blood. Only one, Severus. And it will save only one life. And we will save the life that matters more than the other."_

 _"I won't do it." Snape stubbornly said as he shoved her hand away from him but Narcissa didn't let go._

 _"How dare you defy what I want you to do with it-"_

 _"I'm not doing it. You can take the vial with you if you want."_

 _"It's my blood. I'll do as I please with it!" Narcissa spat back at him._

 _"Find someone else to do it for you!" Snape suddenly said strongly shoving her hand away from him._

 _Narcissa's eyes flashed in anger and for the first time, the Malfoy in her was burning before his eyes._

 _"You cannot-"_

 _"I'm not doing it." Snape meant every word of it and Narcissa knew it._

 _"You cannot just defy-"_

 _"I'm not choosing between you and Hermione."_

 _Narcissa stared at him, lips pursed angrily. Her eyes were widening and her lips moving as if she was searching for words that will convince him._

 _He had never been this stubborn and she knew when he was nowhere near giving up._

 _"I'm dying!" she reached for him again and grasped his hand. Why won't you do it for me?"_

 _"You're not about to die if we use this blood on the enchantment for you. This untainted blood of yours will extend your life span, Narcissa Malfoy." Snape directed the last two words violently._

 _Narcissa was extremely furious now._

 _She raised her hand as if to hit him again but Snape was not to be intimidated._

 _"This vial – this –" her voice was shaking. "This will save her life. It would extend her life and would salvage what is left of her after my dear sister's damage over her!"_

 _"Bellatrix will severely pay for what she has done and I apologize that I would have to promise you that."_

 _"I'm not to be intimidated by this!" she cried at him. "Listen to me, Severus! Listen to what I tell you!"_

 _"I do not want to choose and if I have to choose I'm going to beg you to choose your life Narcissa. Draco needs you. He will not survive without you. You know how the boy loves you and you know how Lucius will never-"_

 _"Draco matters more than anything and I want him to live through this war!"_

 _He was not about to choose between the two women that meant a lot to him._

 _Snape angrily turned away from her._

 _"Severus-" Narcissa's voice had turned soft this time as she stared at his back._

 _"There must be a way." Snape whispered knowing otherwise._

 _Snape moved away from the table and to the door._

 _Narcissa quickly followed and faced him. She blocked the door from him._

 _"Narcissa."_

 _"Severus."_

 _They stared at one another, neither was willing to give up._

 _"I am old, I am tired and I am dying, Severus. I am very tired." Narcissa begged him. "Please…"_

 _Tears began drifting from her cheeks once more. She reached out and touched his hand._

 _"Please.. my dearest friend.."_

 _"Cissy-"_

 _"I'm very tired, Severus. Please. For Draco. Draco must survive - that is my only wish of you. If I truly matter to you, if you truly care for me.. please.. Severus. Save her life and you save mine and Draco's."_

 _Snape was contemplating. He couldn't do it._

 _He just couldn't do it and yet he knew he had to choose._

 _It was Narcissa's life or Hermione's life._

 _"My sister has embedded the curse in her blood. There is nothing we can do about it. The best we can do is to seal it once and for all. And despite the possible outcomes, the decisions to be taken, the lives that will be affected - it will save her life. Please, Severus.. please.."_

 _She grasped his hands as her dear life depended on him._

 _He had no choice._

 _One has to survive and the other must suffer the consequence._

 _"Narcissa, saving her will not ensure Draco's survival in this war."_

 _"But I will die with a clear conscience. With a conscience that I know that I have done what is right, that I have undone what Bella has done – that I have saved a life even for just once. That example – that mere small example will drive Draco into the light – Severus, I am sure of it."_

 _"I cannot save Draco's life if his beliefs are different now. But your life I can-"_

 _"Do not belittle my son. I know he can change. I know he can. He has only to find the way, the light Severus and this is it – when he finds out when he learns that I have done someday he will come to terms – he will-"_

 _"Narcissa-"_

 _"My death is nothing short of a surprise. The vial, my blood that is still untainted of my disease will help you. Bellatrix Black is Bellatrix Black Lestrange. A Lestrange and a Death Eater but still blood of the Pureblood Black. She has casted the spell on Hermione Granger. Only another pure and true Black can save her. I'm the only one who can save the girl's life, Severus."_

 _Snape angrily growled and he punched the wall next to them out of anger and frustration._

 _"Severus you know I am right."_

 _Snape did not say anything. He kept his eyes away from her._

 _But he was listening. And he could tell the truth in those words._

 _There really weren't any Blacks around available and willing to help Hermione's cause._

 _"The further you delay, the stronger the latch of the curse goes through her."_

 _"I cannot forsake you."_

 _"You are not forsaking me." Narcissa emphasized each word. "You are not forsaking me. I am asking you this as a favor. Save her life and you save all of us."_

 _Snape's mind was swirling._

 _"Bellatrix may be a Death Eater but she is a Black. She has casted the curse and only another Black may control the very curse she has casted upon. Given my blood is already tainted as it is, we can only do with this vial. Do not think of it as a waste. I know you think this vial, this clean blood will save my life – yes, you may be right. But I do not wish to use it on that. I want to die, I want to die the way I should, Severus. Please take it, take it with you and cast the charm that will seal the curse my sister has embedded against her. Save her life, Severus."_

 _Snape was contemplating again._

 _Narcissa's blood was going to save Hermione's life from whatever curse Bellatrix has hit her with. Yes, it will save her life but there would be consequences on the decisions after that. But Narcissa was insisting._

 _Narcissa wanted to die sooner. Narcissa was no longer as happy as she used to be and beyond all these, all she wants is for Draco to be safe._

 _Narcissa was asking nothing in return but for him to keep a close eye on Draco and watch over his son since then until the day she dies._

 _"Narcissa-" Snape softly began but Narcissa had suddenly shifted and had moved towards him._

 _Without warning, she had flung her arms around him. It was so sudden he almost lost his balance._

 _She was suddenly crying hard, nonstop against him with arms tight around him._

 _"Sev, please.. please.. my dearest friend, my only friend.. my brother.. please… Severus.. save my son, save my Draco, that is my only wish. I will give you anything, everything you would need to survive the life back at that – that place – that -."_

 _"Narcissa, please you're not making this any easier for me-"_

 _"I'll give you everything you need to survive, whatever will suffice your lifestyle I will provide you but please promise me the safety of Draco, please let him be spared, protect him… Please. Severus.. if you save this girl.. if you save Hermione Granger, if you spare her, then there is one thing you can look back to – one thing we can both look back to. Please,. I know you care for the girl, use it on her.. take good care of her.."_

 _Snape did not say anything. He did not move from his position but he wanted to touch her, to embrace her and to comfort her with the best he could possibly do so._

 _Narcissa clutched tightly at his arm while looking him in the eye._

 _"Please, Cissy, do not make me do- the consequences of what you ask of-"_

 _"Please, Severus." Narcissa cried softly against him. "Save the girl. Save my Draco. Severus, let me embrace death in peace.."_

 _Another match had been won over by the Gryffindors against the Slytherins._

 _For some reason, the Slytherin Seeker seems out of his head lately and was unable to fully focus and concentrate that he did not see the Snitch flying right above him and soon enough, the Gryffindor seeker was able to get the Snitch and gain them the afternoon's win._

 _Harry Potter also wins a kiss from said-girlfriend, Hermione Jean Granger._

 _They were at the back of the library while the rest of the Gryffindors were still celebrating._

 _It was an hour before dinner and had decided to sneak at the library at Harry's request._

 _Hermione was breathless as Harry pushed her against the wall of the farthest part of the library that was the boundary to the Restricted Section._

 _"Harry, someone might see –"_

 _"Nope. This is a good empty place at the moment." Harry panted as Hermione reached out to him down there._

 _She eased him by reaching through his Gryffindor Quidditch uniform pants and had began to rub her hand down there and inside._

 _Harry kissed each part of her neckline and face that he could reach._

 _"Harry if we are seen-" Hermione moaned and Harry grinned and clamped his mouth over her mouth before replacing it with his._

 _Harry groaned into her mouth as they continued to kiss while Hermione continued to ease him of his trouble for the past few days._

 _There had been so many assignments, quizzes, Quidditch practices that they were both unable to spend time together at all._

 _Harry moaned and sighed heavily as he released himself right then and there._

 _"Shit." Harry whispered against her lips knowing that he had practically spilled everything he had been holding back for the past few days._

 _"Relax." Hermione whispered at his ear as she pulled out her wand and had quickly drawn out a simple spell and had cleaned her hands and Harry completely off their mess._

 _They were both breathless and Hermione lay against his chest, breathing heavily._

 _"We need to go back." Hermione said biting her lower lip and looking up at Harry._

 _"I don't wanna go back."_

 _They both chuckled._

 _"They'll be looking for us at the Gryffindor Tower."_

 _"Let them look for us."_

 _"We have to study for tomorrow's exam for professor McGonagall."_

 _"Oh, bullocks." Harry said and Hermione giggled shoving her hand over his mouth._

 _He looked down at her beautiful caramel eyes._

 _"Just give me a moment."_

 _"I've already given you." Hermione whispered back placing a soft kiss over his lips before quickly drawing back from him._

 _Harry tightened his grip around her waist to keep her from walking away from him._

 _"Just one more moment." Harry said pulling her closer and moving her to a darker corner of the library. "Just let them wait a few more moments. I want some more moment alone with my girlfriend."_

 _Hermione giggled again as Harry moved and kissed her forehead before pulling her into a tighter embrace._

 _"Harry."_

 _"Let me enjoy my Quidditch match prize just a few more moments."_

 _"I'm with you at the common room."_

 _"Yeah, with the rest of the world." Harry said. "I do not want you shared with anyone else."_

 _"I'm yours." Hermione whispered at him with a charming smile. "I'm yours Harry. Just yours."_

 _And then Harry smiled and resumed into kissing her and driving her breathless into his deep and passionate kiss._

 _Snape opened his eyes and had decided that maybe he was in great need of a Sleeping Draught._

 _He had been tossing and turning for an hour now on his bed._

 _He couldn't sleep. He was thinking of her._

 _He had arrived two hours later after leaving her at half past eight only to find that the dinner he had left her had run cold._

 _She had not eaten the whole day._

 _She was going to get sick if she continued with it and yet he did not want to go to her room and attempt anything._

 _He was scared that he was already scaring her off. But she couldn't continue with whatever she was doing._

 _They needed to deal with things. If they had to talk about it, they should._

 _He was getting worried of her health._

 _She had kept herself in her room and had no idea if she was still breathing or what._

 _It worries him and it was driving him mad knowing he couldn't just do anything about it._

 _He angrily pulled his wand from underneath his pillow and had pointed it directly to the fireplace._

 _It blazed with more fire._

 _The room felt colder than it had ever been._

 _He turned and moved around his bed – his very large and empty bed._

 _Since when did the bed seem to be bigger than it actually was?_

 _Snape turned to his other side again and forced his eyes closed._

 _He should not have kissed her on that goddamn forehead in the first place. He should not have done anything physical near her._

 _No, the kiss was meant to be for assurance, a form of kind caress that he was there, promising her to protect her and nothing else._

 _It should not have meant anything beyond that. And then she kissed her._

 _And the worse part was that he kissed her back._

 _He should not have kissed her back._

 _He should have pulled away the moment that she moved her head up and reached into his and had kissed her._

 _He should have pulled away the moment her soft lips grazed against his._

 _But no, he had to let her move her lips against his lips once and twice and then the third time, he really had to entertain and welcome the kiss thoroughly._

 _He opened his mouth and willingly welcome the sweet taste of her lips and had kissed her back – longingly and deeply._

 _She had kissed him back and had even placed her hand around him._

 _And then she had broken the kiss._

 _"Fuck. Fuck. Stupid, stupid, stupid." Snape whispered to himself as he turned the other side again._

 _If he couldn't sleep what more of her?_

 _And then he heard it, something was scraping against his door._

 _He quickly sat on the bed and saw shadow at the gap between the carpeted floor and the door._

 _She was outside._

 _Snape quickly grabbed his robe and had placed it over himself and his pajamas and had literary jumped out of bed and opened the door._

 _Hermione was sitting on the carpeted floor with her back against the wall and her eyes very red with tears._

 _"Miss Granger?" he slowly asked as she was obviously surprised that he had sensed her presence even before she could knock on the door if she intended to do so._

 _She was in her pajamas, slightly pale and her eyes told him that she had been crying the entire time._

 _"Hermione?" he slowly asked, without thinking, he opened the door wider as if to admit her entry._

 _She breathed heavily but no words came out, only tears._

 _"Hermione?" he asked again, alarmed this time by the look of her face. "Hermione, what's wrong?" he asked her._

 _Hermione stared at him for a long moment as if reluctant to say a word, to move a muscle before him._

 _"Hermione," Snape repeated a little firmer this time, "Hermione, what's wrong? Why are you-"_

 _"Severus!" she had cried suddenly into his arms and his chest and had placed her arms around him very tightly._

 _Snape stood still as she clutched him tightly within her grasp as she shamelessly cried and cried against him._

 _He breathed heavily and slowly lifted his hands and reluctantly placed them over her – one behind her back and one gently stroking the back of her tresses._

 _He inhaled sharply as he could smell the same sweet vanilla from her hair._

 _He could feel her pain, confusion and everything else in between there was to be felt._

 _It was his responsibility and he was responsible for how she was feeling._

 _He hated himself for that._

 _He was supposed to be in control of the first place and losing himself and his control now placed them in this type of predicament._

 _He knew she was feeling guilty about what had happened between them not only once but twice already._

 _She was feeling guilty of it and he was unsure how he was going to fix it._

 _"Hermione, calm down, please.. let's talk."_

 _"No, I don't want to talk." Hermione said lifting her head up to look up at him._

 _Their eyes met and Snape wanted to look away as he saw the pain he had caused her._

 _"I want to just go to sleep but I couldn't."_

 _"Alright."_

 _Snape nodded in understanding. He was to offer her a draught but he knew that was a stupid offer._

 _He nodded at her and moved away from the door and had edged her to the room and nodded to his bed._

 _Hermione bit her lower lip and but she slowly walked inside the room and had slowly crawled over the bed._

 _Snape closed the door and clamped his fists together creating a mantra inside his head that he was not to do anything at all tonight but to comfort her out of her guilt and misery._

 _He turned and faced the bed and found her curled into a fetal position and was facing the other direction._

 _Snape moved to the bed and had slowly grabbed his other pillow._

 _"I can sleep on the floor and just stay.." Snape offered as he prepared to settle on the floor when Hermione slowly turned to him._

 _She shook her head._

 _"I'm cold." Hermione said and her eyes slightly averted on the empty space next to her._

 _Snape sighed heavily. He was not supposed to lie next to her. That will only begin things that were not to be started anyway._

 _"Alright." Snape whispered sighing heavily as he moved the blankets away and had climbed into the bed next to her._

 _He ensured that his black pajamas were tied tightly at the middle and that his robes were also now tied very tightly around him._

 _He sighed heavily, nervous and slightly shaking on the side by the idea that he was going to lie next to her._

 _This was what he was just trying to avoid these past few days._

 _He found that their distance or close proximity was doing something not good for his body – or so he thinks so to be evil._

 _He breathed heavily and laid himself unmoving next to her._

 _And then she moved._

 _Hermione scooted closer to him, her back to him and in the same fetal position only she had scooted very closer to him._

 _"Please don't leave." Hermione whispered under the sheets half covering her body._

 _Snape nodded again in silent understanding._

 _She only wanted his presence and nothing more._

 _Perhaps there was some sort of comfort of him being next to her._

 _He lay there for what felt like a quiet and uneventful first hour as he listened to the quietness of the room and her labored breathing._

 _She might have fallen asleep already._

 _And he was just halfway into sleep when he heard it._

 _Her groan in her sleep and her slow growls that had slowly turned into louder cries._

 _She was crying again._

 _She wasn't asleep. She had been horribly keeping her mouth and her feelings shut and had been keeping her tears at bay._

 _But she couldn't hold it any longer._

 _Snape sighed heavily and turned to his side to face her back._

 _"Hermione.."_

 _Hermione did not respond with an answer._

 _She slowly turned to him and had placed her arms around him and had begun to dreadfully cry her heart out against his chest for hours and hours the whole night until exhaustion from crying had driven her into an uneasy sleep._

Hermione opened her eyes out at the sound of object being pulled and dragged around and voices talking down the stairs.

"Harry?" she called out seeing the spot next to her on the bed was empty.

He did not even look like he had come up the stairs to sleep the previous night.

Grabbing her extra robe, she tied it around herself and had dragged herself out of bed to go to where the sounds were coming from.

"Harry?" she called out as she walked down the hallway and down the staircase.

He was by the door, handing two envelopes over and was bidding and thanking someone goodbye.

She hurriedly walked down the stairs only to find him looking at the back of four men.

"Who were those?" Hermione had asked him.

Harry looked at her side and was slightly surprised to see her.

"Just some people I asked to bring in stuff."

"Movers?" Hermione asked him with a quick look back at the house.

"More or less." Harry said as he moved and closed and locked their gate with his wand.

He nodded her to move back to the house as he closed the door before them.

Hermione watched as he casted a spell after another on the door.

Apparently, she was right in thinking that he was indeed warding their place more than before.

"Did you have anything carried out?" Hermione asked as he closed the door behind them.

"Stuff. For my project." Harry simply said walking to the kitchen.

"When can I see the project?" Hermione asked him. "You will show me, right?" she asked him.

Harry nodded at her with a proud grin. "Come, I'll show you now."

"Now?" Hermione asked slightly surprised.

Unable to completely recover from his decision, Harry excitedly nodded at her and had pulled her arm to him and had dragged her back to their living room.

Harry dragged her all the way to their living room with his hands pinned over her eyes.

It slightly irritated Hermione but she did not say anything about it.

"I just had some things renovated and moved and bought some stuff you might like."

Hermione nodded as he stirred her around at the middle of their living room.

"Ready?" he asked her slowly

"Yes." Hermione said with a small smile.

Hermione breathed heavily as he removed his hand over her eyes and had revealed the room to her.

He had differed the living room in a manner that completely shook Hermione.

He had bought new things indeed and had carried in several things to Hermione's surprise.

"Harry.." Hermione whispered as her eyes wandered and looked at every corner of their living room he had put into his so-called 'renovation.'  
"Do you like it?" he asked her as he placed both his hands around her waist and had rested his head over her shoulders.

Hermione was still as she could possibly be.

Only her eyes wandered across the room and she wasn't sure if she was going to hyperventilate or scream at him.

Every corner of their living room had been changed and turned into exactly how their living room at the cottage had been.

He had managed to mimic the details from the carpets, the couch, the large black grate over the fireplace, the small detailed decors and the paneled bookshelves where all her newly bought selections that resembled the ones Snape had bought her.

"What's going on?" she asked him unable to stop herself.

She stirred and quickly moved herself away from his grasp.

"What's this?" she asked almost screaming at him.

She was breathless as she looked around him.

Harry stared back at her with a quiet and unmoving stance.

"I renovated." Harry simply answered her. "Did you not like it?"

"Not like it?" Hermione repeated unable to stop the annoyance in her voice. "What are you playing at?"

Hermione wanted to slap him but did not want further argument.

She moved across the room and quickly walked past him.

"Hermione!" Harry called out after her as she ran out of their living room and had gone to the kitchens.

She skidded into a halt as reached the hallway that led to their kitchens.

She almost screamed again.

She walked right to it and stared at the changes Harry had made.

Their long wooden table was gone and had been replaced by a black one and the marbled tiles were changed into greyish and sand-designed tiles.

The windows had also been changed, the locks and even the curtains.

Even the platters, the china had been replaced by everything she had seen and had back at the cottage.

The furniture he had before had all been changed into simple ones – the ones complementing and resonating and resembling every inch of the cottage.

Hermione turned to Harry who had reached the hallway that led to their kitchens.

He had obviously changed the kitchen, their dining and the living room.

Her eyes averted up the stairs and had recalled her books.

The books Harry had bought and had given her that resembled each selection she had at the cottage were no accident.

Harry was improving their household by changing everything in it that was in the cottage Hermione had lived in the past ten years.

"What're you doing?" Hermione had asked angrily. "What are you doing?"

Harry did not look angry not assaulted at her screaming at him.

He looked completely unaffected by her emotional reaction at what he was doing.

"I don't think I understand what you are saying Hermione-"

"Don't act numb and stupid, Harry." Hermione said unable to control the rising anger in her.

"I'm not acting on anything Hermione-" Harry said as he walked forward her to reach for her.

Hermione shoved his hand away from her.

Harry stilled and stared at blankly at her.

Hermione stared at him, contemplating on what to do next. She wasn't sure anymore of Harry's attitude and now it definitely scared her in such a manner that has never been.

"Hermione, calm yourself down. It's just renovation-"

"I am calm." Hermione pointed out even though she did not look it.

Harry stared and rested himself against the doorway and folded his arms.

"I was thinking you would like what you would see." Harry softly said in an almost bored tone. "I had expected you would want these, Hermione. Do you not feel like you're home?"

Hermione stared back at him with anger rising inside her againa.

What was she playing at?

But before she could answer, their doorbell rang again.

They both turned and looked.

Lupin was calling out from outside and they could also hear Mrs. Weasley's voice.

"I'm going to have to let them in." Harry said as he stood straight and smiled at her. "I suggest you act all warm and fuzzy, Hermione. Just like the old days."

Harry turned and placed a peck of a kiss on her cheek as he tapped her by the shoulder and walked past her.

"I'm coming professor!" Hermione heard him call out to the door. "I'm coming Mrs. Weasley! I have some tea prepared for us!" he excitedly called out.

Hermione was left by the hallway staring at him with such angry and tearful eyes.

She knew that she no longer knew the Harry she was living with and she must swiftly do something about it.

 _The silence around them were quite unnerving as the heat from the cauldron intensified the tension in the room._

 _Hermione wasn't sure what to expect exactly but she quietly stayed and watched as Snape re-entered the small laboratory and placed certain materials over the large wooden desk._

 _They were at the basement of the cottage where he had established and placed a small laboratory for their use or rather his own use._

 _The small laboratory's walls were paneled with bookshelves and shelves that contained jars, bottles and vials of potions and potion ingredients._

 _It reminded Hermione of his small storage room at Hogwarts and his small laboratory that he used to have at the end of their old potions classroom._

 _How she missed Hogwarts just by being there._

 _But Hogwarts seemed like a lifetime ago already despite that it had only been a few weeks or rather a month or so from her normal life with the rest of the world._

 _Hermione sat by the small couch at the end of the room and silently watched at his progress with the potion he was brewing._

 _There were two cauldrons with boiling water. One he was stirring continuously and one from which he has added certain ingredients._

 _He had chopped and placed in some laurel leaves, some solution of dittany and oil, a cup of what looked to her like pressed tea leaves, a couple of small vanilla sticks and other ingredients that she did not really recognized from their classes._

 _He was certainly brewing something that could only be read from the Restricted Section of their library._

 _"How are you feeling?" he had asked her._

 _He had finally spoken to her._

 _Hermione had thought that he had completely forgotten of her presence there in the laboratory._

 _How was she feeling?_

 _Should she described every eccentric detail she was feeling and all the pain that the marks were causing her or should she say that she had a good morning and that the breakfast he made for the both of them had somewhat eased the pain and stress that the marks were causing her?_

 _"A little better." Hermione replied vaguely. "The tea you make every night helps me to sleep and forget the pain for the rest of the night."_

 _Snape only nodded as he continued to work on the potion._

 _He was completely focused that much Hermione could tell._

 _She silently watched as his refined and long fingers moved flawlessly back and across the table reaching out for ingredients, lifting and changes pages of the three books that lay open upon the table, walking around and pinching in ingredients after another and tossing a vial after another of ingredient to the concoctions he was brewing before them._

 _"The nightmares?" he slowly asked her._

 _"They have become less since the tea as well."_

 _Snape only nodded again and he stared down at the potions he was brewing._

 _He only hoped that the brewing process wouldn't take long. There were many other things to be done in order to incept and completely the succession of the counter-curse they were about to do._

 _"Professor, you went out the other day. I was wondering.." Hermione slowly began. "If there was any news at all about them? The Order? Harry?"_

 _Snape sighed heavily and he lowered the stirring rod he was using. He covered both the cauldrons and shook his head._

 _"Nothing of significance." Snape shortly answered as he moved across the table._

 _"Nothing?" Hermione repeated to him. "But.." she was careful with her words as she did not want to irritate him._

 _Hermione breathed heavily and continued to stare at Snape's development with the potion._

 _"You told me the same thing the other day."_

 _"I told you the same thing because there has been no change since last week."_

 _"No change since last week?" she asked in disbelief. "When I was at Grimmauld Place with the rest of them every hour there was a new, there was a change.. there were.."_

 _"Well apparently you're not at Grimmauld Place and the times has changed, Hermione. Not every time there is a change and not every single movement of the Order or the other side I could rely to you. You know there is still boundaries, yes?"_

 _She did not say anything to that._

 _It was true. There were still boundaries between the things she could and could not learn about and Snape was there to make sure of it._

 _"I just expected that you'd be able to rely a bit more of a new seeing that you can go in and out from both sides."_

 _Snape did not say anything this time._

 _He hasn't really told her that he has not been and has seen any of the other Order members since the ambush._

 _He has been at Hogwarts twice and has had several of his own secret connections to check upon the Order's plans and actions but he has not seen any of them or has talked any of them since the ambush on the night of transfer._

 _Hermione has completely no idea yet that he has decided to completely isolate them from the rest._

 _The guilt was eating him every day but it was the best decision he could come up with._

 _"Can you grind this for me?" he asked handing over a small package of what looked like dried seeds._

 _Hermione slowly opened the package and began the process of chopping and grinding the ingredient._

 _Snape stared and noticed the way she flawlessly did the process._

 _"You do well with Potions." Snape had commented expecting that it would cheer her a little and would take her mind away from their previous topic._

 _"Harry taught me to do this." Hermione replied in a bored tone without looking up at him. "He's taught me a couple of techniques to quicken the process of preparing potion ingredients."_

 _Snape's eyebrow raised at the commentary._

 _"Potter?" he repeated. "He is nearly as bad as Longbottom."_

 _"He's actually good." Hermione defended. "With correct guidance and diminished demeanor making unnecessary snide comments, he can actually be functional and prove he can be good at brewing." Hermione replied in a snotty tone._

 _Snape only snorted at her._

 _"He's good, I tell you." Hermione said as she placed aside the ingredient she has prepared for him and had cleared away the small mess she made. "Especially after reading this copy of Advance Potion-"_

 _Snape looked up at her as she stopped and had quickly looked away._

 _He was expecting her to continue her rant on Harry's abilities on Potions._

 _"Yes?" he asked her, edging her to continue._

 _Hermione shook her head. She was not supposed to tell that secret of Harry._

 _Harry has shared with her the book he has found in their 6_ _th_ _year at Hogwarts but despite their hard worked on research, they had never found out anything about the book's owner or the one who called himself 'The Half-Blood Prince'._

 _Hermione was half-hearted about the book especially that it had seemingly darker contents that Harry realized what with all the scrawled notes and spells all over the pages that came together with the other side notes._

 _"Miss Granger?"_

 _"Nothing. Can I go to the bathroom before we begin?" she asked him although she did not wait for his answer and had quickly went out of the laboratory and had walked up the stairs and left him slightly confused._

 _Snape watched her retreating back and was slightly glad she has left._

 _He could not give her answers anymore. He knew that sooner or later he would have ran out of answers to her nagging questions._

 _He sighed heavily and reached across the table for the sealed box with the vials that Narcissa had given him just the other day._

 _He tapped it with his wand and it magically opened. Another swish and the box has completely vanished before Hermione could notice the Black emblem over it._

 _The vial in his hand contained that of Narcissa's untainted and clean blood that he was going to use on Hermione to heal her or somewhat halt the damage that Bellatrix's curse was embedding deep inside her._

 _It was a hard decision to make but nevertheless, a decision had to be made._

 _It was Narcissa's life or hers._

 _Narcissa has made the choice easier for him._

 _Despite her inquisition on what enchantment has to be made, Snape has left certain details out._

 _For one, Narcissa insisted not to let her know about the blood – her blood – that was to be used in the potion for the enchantment._

 _She did not think that Hermione would want anything to do with a Malfoy. And Narcissa sought to make Snape understand that there was no significance for that to her anyway in her opinion._

 _Breathing heavily, Snape opened the vial that contained her blood and had slowly added it to the boiling solution he had been continuously stirring for half an hour now._

 _The solution has turned into a bluish colour, an emerald tone until it cleared and the solution has turned into its previous clear water colour._

 _Her blood was perfect for the potion he has created._

 _It will now save Hermione's life._

 _Or rather, it would cage the curse inside of her, bind it together until it dies within._

 _Until it dies within._

 _Snape couldn't be bothered not to stress out on that idea and thought. That was the strangest and most difficult part of the enchantment._

 _It would take years._

 _It would take her life away from her and it was the best he could do in order to save her and save the rest of them from her._


	25. Chapter 25

**_Twenty Five_**

 _ **The Urduja's Dark Curse**_

 _"Hermione?" called his voice. "Hermione? What's taking you so long in there? I need to get in."_

 _"Just a moment!" her small voice answered. "I'll be out in five minutes!"_

 _"Hurry up. I need to leave soon."_

 _"Yes, sorry!"_

 _Hermione flicked her hand several more times as the sparks from her hand were slowly dying away._

 _She was able to do it from time to time but apparently at the moment, she was losing it._

 _She was losing her magic._

 _It has been about a year and a half since she last held her wand with her._

 _The last time she has ever held a wand was the time when Snape came home in his dying predicament back then._

 _Hermione had the chance to use the wand to ward themselves in the house, lit the grate and that was it._

 _The moment Snape had woken up the following day with the ability to move and about again, he had kept his wand away from her._

 _Hermione had asked him time again for her wand. But he had said that she did not need the wand in the house. There was no need to use magic nor use of it for protection as he had all the magical protection covered for the both of them._

 _He had warned her that the use of her wand might enable certain magic that could dangerously have them – or rather her – traced by the Death Eaters and the Dark Lord._

 _Hermione was disbelieving but she also did not want to get them into trouble – after all the time and the things they've been through._

 _But Hermione was Hermione Granger._

 _She had argued with him more times than she could count and remember about her magical powers at the verge of dying if he kept suppressing her magic._

 _Snape would always have the same savage answer and tell her that keeping her wand away was different from completely suppressing her powers._

 _There was no need for her to use magic since there was nothing for her to be afraid of because he was there and there were no tasks at home that needed a wand._

 _Snape had told her that she was well and free to use advance wandless magic._

 _Hermione couldn't argue with that._

 _Despite her previous lessons with Harry since their D.A meetings and the summer they spent at Grimmauld Place, her wandless magic wasn't that strong._

 _At the time for which they have been ambushed, her wandless magic was only truly developing by then and a long time with no true, attentive and consistent practice of it would surely escalate the skills back to zero._

 _When she began suspecting that Snape seemed to have no intention of giving her back her wand, she had secretly decided to practice wandless magic again._

 _She had been practicing but she had noticed that the development wasn't up to what she had expected nor at the same effects and standards as before._

 _She also had a hunch that Bellatrix's curse upon her had dearly affected her magic._

 _But she was determined to use her every last bit of magic she still has and not let it just die._

 _However, lately, she was beginning to be very worried._

 _Without Snape's knowledge and whenever he wasn't around, she tried to use magic on her own even just for lifting her books or making the bed to ensure that he does not trace her use of wandless magic._

 _But for the past weeks that she uses the bathroom to secretly practice her wandless magic, it seemed very wayward and off._

 _It troubled her and she knew that she couldn't turn to Snape about it in fear that he would get mad the moment he finds out about what she has been doing._

 _She turned to her books instead. Until she had noticed that none of the books she had at home has the contents she needed._

 _She checked twice and thrice already until she realized that her hunch was correct._

 _No single book in the selections and collections Snape had and Snape had given her had absolutely any content at all that would hold any information about and or even on development of wandless magic._

 _Every book were about potions, histories and other books on magic but all that required her to use a wand._

 _She began to fear the realization that Snape was seriously trying to suppress her powers._

 _But why?_

 _Why, when he has helped her to seal the curse of Bellatrix?_

 _Why, when he even took good care of her?_

 _Why, when despite all they've overcome, their relationship seemed to be a serious one?_

 _Should she ask him about it?_

 _"Hermione!"_

 _"I'm coming out!" Hermione called out quickly closing the faucet and opening the door._

 _Snape was standing close to the door way and was staring curiously at her sweating forehead._

 _"What's going on?" he asked her, his black eyes observing her._

 _"Nothing." Hermione breathlessly said. "Sorry. I was removing the tangled part in my hair."_

 _Hermione touched her hair but had quickly walked away from the doorway._

 _"I'm making breakfast. Are you going to eat?" she quickly asked him._

 _Snape's lips curled as he stared at her._

 _"Yes?" Hermione asked him again._

 _"I'm in a hurry." Snape replied. "I need to bring the batch of potions today."_

 _"What time are you coming back?" she curiously asked, fishing about if she could possibly practice longer the moment he leaves._

 _"Around noon or after." Snape simply said as he entered the bathroom._

 _Hermione stared as his eyes carefully moved around the room as if searching for something._

 _"Have you taken your potion?" he suddenly asked her._

 _"Potion?" Hermione asked slightly lost._

 _"Yes, your potion, Hermione." Snape said with a firm tone._

 _Hermione only stared until she realized what he was talking about._

 _"Yes." she quickly answered. "Yes, I've already had. This morning."_

 _"Are you sure?" he asked her._

 _"Yes. I'm sure." Hermione irritably said. "Would you like me to down in another cauldron full of it?"_

 _Snape's black eyes glinted at her hinted sarcasm. He raised a brow at her._

 _"I'm asking you properly."_

 _"I'm answering you honestly."_

 _Hermione crossed her arms as she irritably stared at him._

 _"It's for your own good." Snape said and this time his voice was softer, kinder.  
"I know." Hermione answered turning away before she could not stop herself from saying something uncalled for. _

_But Snape suddenly reached out for her hand._

 _Hermione looked back at him in deep thought._

 _Snape's fingers slowly began to gently caress her hand._

 _"Sev-"_

 _"I have a half hour to spare, actually." Snape whispered as he slowly began running his other hand down her neckline._

 _Hermione tugged herself away from him but he wouldn't let go._

 _"Join me for a shower?" he asked her running his nose gently around her neckline._

 _Hermione inhaled sharply and again, moved herself away from him just as he leaned forward to kiss her._

 _Hermione pushed him away and Snape gripped her hand tighter._

 _"I'm hungry." Hermione firmly said. "I want to eat some breakfast."_

 _"Maybe I can help with that?" Snape asked in a laced tone._

 _Hermione's eyes flashed in anger._

 _Snape stared at her with the same glinting eyes at her obvious defiance._

 _"Go take your shower." Hermione spat at him. "You've disturbed me out of that because you said you were in a hurry."_

 _And with that, she quickly turned away from him before he could pull her back inside with him._

 _She wasn't in the mood._

 _No, not when she was angry with him and seething at the idea and realization that he might have been purposely suppressing her magic all these time._

"You're renovating?" Lupin asked as his eyes roamed around the kitchens.

"Yeahp." Harry happily said as he laid down the large platter of spaghetti that Mrs. Weasley had brought with her.

"How long would it take?" Lupin curiously asked as he helped Hermione unpack a large package of bread and cheese that she had taken out of their foyer.

"A few days or weeks." Harry simply said grabbing plates and handing each to everyone in the room.

Hermione was silent as she sliced bread for each of them and had taken the cheese and had began slicing them as well and grating the rest over the pasta.

Harry kissed her over the cheek as he took the platter of pasta that Hermione finished with some cheese.

Lupin was quiet but he was closely observing the pair and was taking mental notes around the decorations of the kitchen.

"Why did you change into black marble table?" he asked Harry as Mrs. Weasley finished the tea she was boiling and had begun serving everyone.

Harry stared up at him halfway to another mouthful of pasta.

"Is there anything wrong with black marble?" he asked him placing down his forkful of pasta. "Or anything wrong with the choice of colour?"

Lupin's eyes momentarily moved to Hermione.

She had suddenly looked away from him and had resumed into her cheese-slicing method.

"Nothing." Lupin simply answered. "I just never imagine you'd buy a black marble table."

"Yeah, well there are needs and demands of change in décor."

"Needs and demands?" Mrs. Weasley suddenly asked him.

Harry turned to her and Hermione saw the hidden scornful look over his eyes.

"Yes." Harry quietly answered. "I just want a new sight around the house especially Hermione is now here with me. Right?" he asked turning to her. "Right, 'Mione?"

"Right." Hermione answered out of the corner of her mouth as if she was ashamed of agreeing with him.

Lupin took a few sips from the tea and was quietly eating his pasta while observing how Harry seemed to be over joyous about something while Hermione was the opposite.

"Harry, we were planning another dinner within the week at the Burrow." Lupin said smiling at him. "Would you and Hermione be able to come and join us?"

"Depends on the date. When is it?" he asked him as he started slicing a couple of apples from across the table.

"We'll set it on the date you and Hermione are free. So when are you?"

"We don't have a schedule the coming week yet."

"Alright. Give me your schedule two days from now perhaps?"

"Perhaps."

Lupin looked at him as he continued to sharply slice down the apples over the counter with his eyes completely focused on the work.

"Harry."

"What?" Harry suddenly spat at him looking up with the knife in his hand.

Hermione stared up at him as well as the other people around the room.

They were looking at him with an alarmed look on their faces.

Harry swallowed and coughed a little then he gently put the large knife down and shook his head.

"What is it, professor?" his voice was suddenly gentle as he asked Lupin.

He didn't blink but he was forcing a smile over his face and was avoiding all the eyes averted at him.

Lupin only stared back but out of the corner of his eyes he could see Hermione eyeing him then Harry in such a certain way as if she was sending him some message.

"We can talk about your schedule two days from now. I'd really like to prepare a dinner at the Burrow."

Harry only nodded at him and then he quickly finished slicing the apples up.

The moment he was done, he tossed the large knife over the sink.

"Where are you going?" Hermione asked him as she and Mrs. Weasley finished setting up the table.

Harry ignored her completely as he removed his kitchen apron and headed for the door.

"Harry, where are you going? We're about to eat-"

"I'll be back in a while. I forgot something important upstairs." Harry said as he ran and swept out of the kitchen.

Hermione and Lupin listened intently as his heavy footsteps carried him out of the hallway and up the stairs and they heard him enter their room and bang the door loudly behind him.

Lupin stared around the room but the people who did not seem to notice what Harry has just done as he left the kitchen.

He slowly stood from his chair and walked towards Hermione with a sober look over his face.

"Hermione." Lupin gently said. "Hermione enlighten me with some things."

Hermione looked up at him once but she wasn't sure if she wanted to entertain those questions.

"Yes, professor?" she asked obviously avoiding his gaze.

Lupin stared at him and knew immediately that Hermione was troubled about something.

"How are things at home?" he casually asked her but Hermione wasn't stupid to not know that there was something in that.

"Fine."

Lupin watched as she continuously placed napkins next to each plate over the table.

"How are you and Harry?" he asked her.

"We're alright." Hermione quietly said.

It was obvious through the way she moved around the kitchen that she didn't want to talk about it.

And Lupin had known these two since they were young to know that something wasn't right.

"Your relationship?" he asked slowly.

"We're doing alright, professor." Hermione said as she turned from him and picked up a basket of loaves from the other side of the kitchen.

Lupin continued to stare, watching her carefully still.

"Hermione I must speak with you in private." Lupin quick said as he saw people began pouring inside for dinner.

Hermione nodded at him.

But Lupin wasn't content.

Seeing that Harry was still nowhere in the room, he quickly crossed the other side to where she was and had secretly grabbed her wrist.

Hermione looked up at him in surprise.

"I must speak with you, privately." Lupin said out of the corner of his mouth, carefully eyeing people around them incase they can see them.

Everyone was occupied with Mrs. Weasley's delicious cooking.

Hermione looked up at him with such reluctance and fear in her eyes.

"Professor Lupin, we can probably talk when-"

"I spoke to Draco." Lupin whispered as quietly as he could. "He sent me a note, Hermione."

The bowl of fresh greens in her hand almost toppled over at his words if he wasn't able to grab it with his quick reflexes.

A look of fear and relief both appeared in her face.

"Professor Lupin – we can't – Harry-"

"I'll find a way." Lupin whispered as they heard Harry coming down the stairs and calling out for her.

"But professor-"

"Make Harry go to Diagon Alley this week Hermione. I'll make a way for it to happen. Bring him to Diagon Alley."

Before Hermione could further say anything, Harry had arrived in the room but did not notice the two of them at the corner as Lupin quickly turned away and was looking excited over a large meat pie that Mrs. Weasley had made.

Fleur and Bill had entered the kitchen from the living room and had first reached Hermione when they asked for extra pair of plates for the two of them.

Harry noticed nothing unusual as he took his usual seat and had ushered Hermione to sit next to him.

Hermione nodded as she handed Bill and Fleur a pair of platters and utensils.

She slowly said next to Harry with her eyes constantly glaring up at Lupin who has not stared back at her way as dinner progressed.

He acted and dined with all of them as if there was no words spoken between the two of them.

Hermione decided that she should be doing the same and so she focused into serving Harry every meal she could reach and ensure that he would be happy the whole time in order to avoid whatever unusual and peculiar there might be around the room for him to suspect on anything.

 _Snape groaned loudly as his muscles over his shoulder blades were stretched and flattened out to the point that he felt as if Hermione was trying to kill him with the massage she was giving him._

 _"You should not overwork."_

 _"I only needed to deliver those potions at the Apothecary."_

 _"They're not even paying you well there and you've told me that the owners are quite rude."_

 _"They're clients and they're still paying."_

 _"I don't think you deserve to be treated that way."_

 _Snape stretched out and slowly turned to her but Hermione pushed him back to lay on his stomach._

 _"I'm not yet done." he heard her snap at him as she lay over across his back with legs folded at either side of his waist._

 _"I have a feeling you're venting out your anger on them on me."_

 _"I'm not." Hermione irritably said._

 _Snape scuffled a smile and a laugh._

 _"Nothing's funny." Hermione said and she purposely and painfully deepened her fingers against his skin._

 _Snape groaned again but he actually enjoyed that pain he had just endured._

 _"I like and appreciate the idea you worry for me."_

 _"Well would you rather that I don't?" she asked in return._

 _Snape moved again to face her but she forced his face flat over their bed again so she could continue to massage him thoroughly with the home-made oil he created for occasions like that._

 _"Hermione-"_

 _"I'm just saying they should pay you well over your hard work."_

 _"We're not getting hungry here, Hermione." Snape reasoned out._

 _"I did not say we are going to poverty." Hermione said. "I'm just worried they're abusing your talents and skills and underpaying you."_

 _"Life is not fair, Hermione."_

 _"Yeah." Hermione said. "I know."_

 _Snape turned and this time, Hermione was unable to do anything about it._

 _He knew that tone too well._

 _He faced her and saw that her expression was somewhere between a cross of sadness and anger._

 _"Sweetheart, come here-"_

 _"Turn back, I'm not yet done-"_

 _"No, come here. Please." Snape gently whispered reaching out for her oil-stained hands._

 _He slowly turned back to her and letting the large towel that covered half his body fall back from the bed._

 _Hermione stared at him as he reached for her hand._

 _He gently began to kiss her hand, her forearm and then the inner of her arm again._

 _Hermione breathed heavily as he ignited the same fire in her that he did so every single time they did this._

 _"Severus-"_

 _"I don't want you to worry about me."_

 _Hermione stared as he moved and advanced towards her._

 _He looked down at the beauty that fate has gifted him._

 _"Hermione, I want you to worry about nothing. I am here and I will take good care of you and everything you need in life."_

 _She looked up at him and nodded but she looked very unconvinced and Snape knew of it._

 _He moved closer her and held her face in his long hands._

 _"Look at me."_

 _"I just don't want them giving you a hard time and making you suffer when we both know you're better-"_

 _"Hermione, look at me, please."_

 _Hermione looked up at him and Snape saw the worry in her eyes._

 _He smiled at her._

 _"You are the only thing I need, nothing else. I do not care what the world is around us. Do you?" he asked her._

 _Hermione bit her lower lip._

 _Snape knew she was considering the question and considering if she was going to tell truth or not._

 _"Hermione-"_

 _"I know." she answered and a tear fell._

 _"Hermione?"_

 _"If you don't care about the world then let's go back." Hermione said._

 _Snape moved his hands but she quickly took and held them._

 _She held his gaze with a pleading expression._

 _"Please, let's go back. Let's go back. If you don't care about them – about the world around us then we should go back- Severus, we should just-"_

 _"I can't bring you back. Not now – not yet –"_

 _"You told me that – Severus, please, please.. I'll do anything. I'll tell them about us – you need not to worry, I will explain everything to them and they would understand-"_

 _"No." Snape said firmly. "No, they wouldn't understand, Hermione."_

 _He withdrew his hands from her and moved away from the bed gabbing the towel._

 _Hermione quickly grabbed his arm. He looked back at her crestfallen face._

 _"I want to go back." Hermione cried at him. "Please, let us go back."_

 _He sighed heavily and stared at her with the same grave expression over his face._

 _He gently grabbed her hand and placed it away from his._

 _"I can't bring you back." Snape whispered with finality in his tone. "I can't. Not yet."_

 _And then he slowly moved away from the bed and entered their bathroom._

 _Hermione was left crying silently on the bed as she listened to the door that closed and the water that began flowing from their shower._

"You're home early." Hermione said as she opened the door for Harry.

He did not look like he was in the mood.

"Lunch is ready but I'll grab another plate for you. I'll add a bit more pasta-"

"I'm not hungry." Harry replied as he removed his cloak and hanged it up.

Hermione stared as he walked down their hallway and straight to their living room.

He pointed his wand at the hearth and warmed the room.

"A drink?" Hermione offered reluctantly.

Harry shook his head and was quiet.

"Harry, is something wrong?" Hermione slowly asked unsure if she should even be talking to him.

Harry shook his head as he removed his shoes. He sighed heavily.

"The court has moved the trial again." Harry said. "We don't have to go downtown today."

"Oh." Hermione said wondering the reason for it and if she should ask Harry.

"They only moved it for two days." Harry said looking up at her.

"Well then we have a free afternoon." Hermione said with a small smile at him. "Do you want to go to Diagon Alley?" she asked him.

Harry looked as if he did not hear her as he sank himself on his favourite armchair.

"I'm not sure. I'm very tired."

"I was wondering if you would like to go to the café we passed by the other day. I'd like to read a book there or something. Or maybe tomorrow?"

He sighed heavily and loudly.

It was obvious that Harry did not like her offer.

"How about wedding plans?" Hermione said walking next him and sitting herself by the armchair.

Harry removed his glasses and stared down at her form that was kneeling next to the armchair.

She looked up at him with hopeful eyes.

"Wedding plans?" he asked.

"Yes." Hermione said with enthusiasm that was almost as believable as her excitement at the prospect of it.

Harry looked at her as if disbelieving.

"We haven't picked up certain decision on certain things. I have the wedding notebook with me and you can check-"

"How about I'll grab a shower and you get me some wine and then we go out tomorrow?"

Hermione stared at him and knew that she wasn't supposed to give him any alcoholic drink.

But Lupin needed her to bring him to Diagon Alley within the week and this seemed to be the only chance.

"Alright." Hermione said with a forced smile. "I'll get you what you need and you take a shower. I'll prepare your clothes?" she asked him.

Harry only nodded at him as he began rubbing his temples through his headache.

Hermione stood up to leave but Harry grabbed her hand.

"Yes?" she asked.

"I'm sorry I'm not feeling that well today to go out."

He looked genuinely sorry and Hermione only nodded at him.

"I'll put out the best wine from your storage, Harry. I'll prepare your clothes upstairs too."

Harry stared at her and kissed her hand.

Hermione couldn't help but see the Harry she loved long before.

"Hermione, I love you." Harry whispered. "You do know that, right?"

"I know." Hermione whispered back withdrawing her hand.

She quickly turned away before Harry sees that tears had begun running down her face, swallowing hard as she made her decision to use the secret way Lupin taught him on how she could send him a message that the plan was on tomorrow.

 _"You're still awake." whispered a deep voice and an enchantment being uttered._

 _"I told you that tomorrow would come and I would still be up because of my worries."_

 _Hermione had been half asleep when she heard it._

 _Snape was removing the wards off from around the spacious room and the enchanted cage he had placed her in._

 _She weakly looked up from her fetal lying down position and looked behind her._

 _He was standing by the cage with a very frustrated look over his face and a bandaged right hand._

 _"What happened to you?" she curiously and sleepily asked as she moved herself nearer the side of the cage where he was._

 _Snape looked up at her and was obviously surprised that she was still awake._

 _"It's two in the morning, Miss Granger."_

 _"I couldn't sleep."_

 _"I see." Snape said staring at her with an exhausted expression over his face._

 _He moved about to hide his hand when he realized that she must have seen it already the moment he entered the room._

 _He sighed heavily and sat on the floor with his back against the nearest wall and buried his face in his hand._

 _Hermione noted that he was wearing a pair of black pants, shoes and a long-sleeved black sweater._

 _"You've been at the outside world?" Hermione asked him. "At the Muggle world?"_

 _Snape could only nod at her._

 _He met up with Narcissa at one of her chosen luxurious inns to talk or rather to talk him through what he was supposed to do._

 _"Have you eaten?" she asked him quietly._

 _"I'm not hungry." Snape sighed slowly looking up at her. "Have you finished your meal? Are you still hungry?"_

 _"I'm not very hungry but I tried eating." Hermione nodded at the tray at the end of the cage._

 _Snape knew that she would obviously lose her appetite._

 _"Any fevers today?" he asked her._

 _"Just this afternoon. It lasted an hour or so."_

 _"And the marks?" he slowly asked staring at the glistening deep-cut like marks across her._

 _Hermione shook her head as she stared down at the form of it along her skin._

 _"Burns from time to time. The potion you've given me helps to ease the pain and puts me to sleep."_

 _"I'll make you enough potion tomorrow to relieve you with the pain and help you endure. I'll bring you a Sleeping Draught now if you want-"_

 _"Don't go-" Hermione suddenly pleaded walking to the cage's barrier that separated her from Snape._

 _Snape's heart was breaking._

 _How was he supposed to tell her in that state?_

 _It was two in the morning, he was exhausted and she was not only sleepless but also restless._

 _His black eyes met hers and knew that she was still waiting for an answer – to everything._

 _Narcissa had advised him already and he knew what to do but wasn't so sure how he was going to do it._

 _He wasn't even sure how he was going to tell her._

 _He was supposed to tell her earlier today but the Dark Lord had summoned him and that took away the time, the hours he should have spent earlier that evening to tell her everything._

 _How the hell was he to bomb-drop the news at that hour?_

 _But did the hour really mattered to him or was he being a coward?_

 _No, he wasn't a coward._

 _And no matter what time he tells her everything, the result would surely be the same._

 _"Is something of the matter?" her soft voice broke his trail of thoughts._

 _Snape looked at her and stared at her poor physique._

 _It had been weeks and weeks now – maybe a month or two or so?_

 _She had thinned than he had ever seen her, her eyes sunken deep in her restless nights and he knew that she was constantly worried about her loved ones._

 _She kept her questions minimal these days but he knew that she was still deeply troubled and knew that she cries every single night about them._

 _He kept her alive and well and away from everyone as it should have been but he did not expect to be burdened this deeply._

 _"I think you should go to sleep now." Snape whispered staring at her tired face._

 _"I think there's something you want to tell me." Hermione said staring curiously at him. "Or something you should tell me."_

 _Snape did not say anything. He only quirked a brow at her._

 _"It's late, Miss Granger. If I have something to say maybe it can wait until the morning-"_

 _"It can't." Hermione said and she moved closed to the edge of the cage. "You need to tell me what happened about today."_

 _Snape stared at her in slight confusion._

 _Did she just use wandless magic on him to see his thoughts?_

 _"I'm not a mind reader, professor." Hermione suddenly said. "I also don't go through other's minds without their permission."_

 _Snape looked at her and she both sounded and looked hurt._

 _He was also slightly offended on her commentary as he knew she was mentioning how he would sometimes go through her thoughts and memories without her permission._

 _"Miss Granger-"_

 _"It's just on your face. Your expression. You looked very tired and yet you look as if you want to tell me something. The last time we talk you told me you would find answers and I think you have found."_

 _How intelligent this girl was._

 _And how deeply he was about to break her heart._

 _Hermione moved closer to the glass of the cage and stared at him through it._

 _She placed her hand over the glass and stared at Snape with longing and hope._

 _Snape sighed heavily and placed his hand over hers at the other side of the glass._

 _"Please tell me." Hermione pleaded with a tear falling at the side of her face._

 _Snape stared at her and slowly nodded._

 _Her eyes slightly widened but she waited patiently for the answers she had been waiting._

 _Snape nodded at her and he took out his wand and pointed it over the enchanted cage._

 _The glass and magic encasing Hermione slowly dissolved and Snape stepped through it._

 _He nodded for her to sit back on the floor and Hermione was just as surprised when he did the same._

 _They sat opposite one another in silence for quite some time._

 _"Miss Granger.." Snape slowly began as Hermione kept herself quiet, patiently waiting._

 _She had promised herself that she would listen to everything first before any questions as she felt it would be easier that way._

 _"Hermione.." Snape then said, his voice a bit more gentle and warm this time._

 _And this was what also slightly worried Hermione._

 _She knew that his tone was always either impatient, aggravated or cold._

 _Hearing it to be as warm and as gentle might be signs that he was really about to bring her bad news._

 _"I'm listening." Hermione whispered back preparing herself. "Just tell me everything."_

 _He sighed heavily again as if he was bearing the world in his hands._

 _It was really now or never._

 _"The marks over you as we've already talked before might be caused of the Urduja Curse."_

 _She only nodded silently aware that he was closely watching her._

 _"I've already verified that the fact that it is indeed the Urduja Curse."_

 _"Go on, professor."_

 _Snape observed her – how brave she really was._

 _He knew that she had her doubts and suspicions about what was to come and what the curse could do but she was as patient as ever._

 _"The Urduja Curse has been created a long time ago – originally designed as some sort of protection. But its use and imperative compositions have been changed and manipulated through time."_

 _"By Dark Magic."_

 _"Yes." Snape answered knowing whose Dark Magic it has originally come from._

 _"I've never read about it."_

 _"You would never have found anything at the castle to give you information about it."_

 _Snape shifted slightly from his position on the floor as he continued._

 _"The Urduja Curse was manipulated by Dark Magic through time, thus, also varying the effects and the results it caused on the people it has been casted upon."_

 _"And Voldemort saw it fit to use that on me."_

 _"Hermione, not particularly on you-"_

 _"Please continue." Hermione said unwilling to give in to the warm voice he used as he said her name._

 _Snape stared at her and knew that she was listening despite that her tone has slightly changed._

 _"The Dark Lord felt that he was losing the war." Snape slowly revealed and a ray of hope shined in Hermione's eyes for a very short moment._

 _"And?"_

 _"And the Dark Lord thought that if worse comes to worse that it does happen – he must take certain measures. Should he perish, his enemy, his rival – Harry – should also suffer and not meet that happy ending he deserves. He did not want Harry to be happy. Not ever."_

 _"And what does that have to do with the curse and with me?"_

 _"The Urduja Curse has been enhanced by Dark Magic. The Dark Lord has saw it fit that should he – in the most unwanted circumstance – perish in the hands of Harry Potter, he should still reign and continue the pain he would cause her. The curse was now meant to harm anyone that Harry Potter has been close with."_

 _"I don't understand."_

 _"The Dark Lord created the curse for Harry. The original plan was that should he not succeed in killing the boy and die at the process of it, the curse was meant to be administered to Harry."_

 _Hermione did not say anything but tears were not forming again in her eyes – tears of sorrow and hatred._

 _Snape continued despite her facial expression and her clenching fists._

 _"He wanted his Death Eaters – one of us atleast – to use the curse on Harry. But there were two things that were not yet accomplished by the Dark Lord when the ambush happened."_

 _"What were these things?"_

 _"First was that he has not given the right order to have the curse used and secondly, he has not chosen who amongst his most faithful Death Eaters should use the special enchantment he has created."_

 _Hermione looked up at him with curiosity._

 _"The curse was specially made. Therefore, in his favor of dramatics, he wanted to bestow the special task to one of his in his chosen time and to his chosen Death Eater alone."_

 _Hermione's eyes narrowed as she tried to understand what he had just said._

 _"One of you rebelled." Hermione whispered. "One of you has rebelled against his wishes and has used the curse on the night of the ambush-"_

 _"Bellatrix Lestrange had taken matters in her own hands. He wanted to kill Harry – all of you – but she was most desperate to get her hands on the boy. He wanted to make sure that Harry suffers whether he dies that night in the Dark Lord's hands or not."_

 _"But then if the Dark Lord did not give-"_

 _"Bellatrix is not just faithful to the Dark Lord. She is a crazy and obsessed woman. She thinks that being a step ahead of the Dark Lord – by deciding to put Potter's head on a golden platter to offer him, he would be pleased. But Harry escaped and was remained unharmed that night of the ambush."_

 _"I was with Harry that night."_

 _"The enchantment was meant for Harry. I'm not sure if it was an accident or if she had meant it. But in her desperation to cast it, she has then sent the curse to you instead of casting it upon Harry."_

 _"But why did I not die?" Hermione quickly asked. "Should I have-"_

 _"The curse was not meant to kill the bearer. The curse was meant to kill the ones the bearer loves."_

 _Hermione stared at him for a moment, comprehending the curse's effects and the results it would have had if Bellatrix successfully executed the curse on Harry._

 _Snape quietly stared at her knowing how fast her brains must be working at that moment._

 _And then Hermione gasped._

 _He looked at her change of emotion._

 _She placed her hand over her mouth, her breathing slightly changed and her eyes wide as fear crept all over her._

 _"Bellatrix.. that woman.. she has.. professor – if the –"_

 _"The curse's main effect was to hurt the ones you deeply love and not the other way around. Death in the most painful way possible would be casted upon anyone who literary dwells anywhere near the bearer – anyone whom the bearer loves and cares for deeply."_

 _"You're lying." Hermione whispered unable to really take in everything as reality was now crashing on her._

 _Snape grabbed her hand to still her next to him. H saw it fit to tell her everything now that the moment has arrived._

 _"If the Dark Lord has lost the war, he wanted one of his most loyal allies to cast the curse on Harry so that even if he wins the war he can never be happy. He will never be happy for if he was cursed anyone who comes across him, anyone who literary comes near him – anyone he has ever cared for and has loved so deeply would die in his very hands."_

 _Hermione stared at him as tears flowed from her eyes._

 _"It was the most cruel of all the possible curses the Dark Lord could ever think of. He wanted Harry to regret his victory. He wanted him to be as alone as he ever was."_

 _"So if the curse.. if it has.. " her eyes were transfixed over her hands and down at her clothed body where the marks were hidden beneath._

 _Snape saw the alarm and fear creeping all over her at the realization._

 _"That's why I needed to be isolated?" Hermione said almost shouting at him._

 _"Yes." Snape said remorsefully. His black eyes continued to hold hers._

 _Hermione opened her mouth but no words came out and only tears._

 _"But no, it can't – how – how would it – how close should they not be around – "_

 _"A breathe away, an inch, a touch, a glimpse – your mere presence in a perimeter – in the same room, the same location- the slightest bit of your essence – a Patronus or any form that has come from you that would-"_

 _"No! That's insane – no curse – no, it can't be- you're lying! It cannot – I can't- that's insane-"_

 _"Miss Granger-"_

 _"Is this why – why I cannot see them – professor Snape but there must be a way – I cannot and you-"_

 _Hermione was at loss for words as she could almost not express her words clearly in the fear and panic rising inside of her._

 _Her eyes were wide as she pointed at him._

 _"But you – you, professor – you've been with me all this time – you've been – you're alright! You're not – if you tell me I should be isolated away from all of the people I love and care for because they're going to die then you – why are you not – I've cared about you too- I do care about you-"_

 _Snape almost missed all the others words she had spoken as he only heard the last ones she had._

 _"The Dark Lord's wit and magic is beyond what you can understand Hermione. He saw it fit to ensure that all parts of the enchantment was perfect."_

 _Hermione shook her head at him as she slightly shifted and moved from him._

 _"The Dark Lord used the enchantment's original purpose – as protection. He made sure that all of his precious allies – Death Eaters – would remain immune to the curse for whatsoever reason he may had in his mind."_

 _Hermione shook her head disbelievingly._

 _"So that's just it? You won't be harmed? No matter how close I am to you – how close you get to me – you will remain unharmed because – because you're one of them?"_

 _"I'm not one of them." Snape sharply corrected her with his black eyes glinting._

 _"I don't under-"_

 _"I am a Death Eater but I am not one of them. Being a Death Eater has given me the magical privileged to be immune to the curse's effects. That does not mean my loyalty is with them. There is a difference."_

 _Hermione seemed not to hear nor care about what he had just said._

 _"But how long?" Hermione asked him urgently. "How long do I have to endure this? It was created, it was even manipulated – then there certainly - there must be a way out of it."_

 _Snape stared at her and it was time for the fear in his eyes to show._

 _Hermione caught that glimmer and she quickly moved back towards him._

 _She grabbed his hand to her shaking ones._

 _"There is a way – there is – there is a counter-curse, a way to break it or put away the curse, yes?"_

 _Snape stared at her and knew that his answer would only further break her heart._

 _"Hermione, listen. It's not that easy-"_

 _"It's not – but there is a way – there should be – tell me, tell me please that there is a way-"_

 _She looked as desperate and as helpless as he had ever seen her._

 _"There is a way." Snape slowly revealed to her. "But it is not easy and I'm not even sure it would work."_

 _"You're a powerful wizard, professor." Hermione cried pressing her hands over his. "Dumbledore thought so. That's why he tasked you to protect me, to protect Harry – all of us-"_

 _"Hermione, listen-"_

 _"No, no!" Hermione cried at him. "No, you listen to me!" she grasped his arm painfully._

 _Snape closed his eyes and let her cry before him._

 _He could be physically there but he knew that he would never be enough to comfort her._

 _And this was just all at the tip of the iceberg._

 _"Professor Snape.. professor, please.. please – there is a way and you know there is – tell me what it is-"_

 _"Hermione, I cannot just – there is but – there might be– but it not sure of – I'm not even-"_

 _"Please, please try.. whatever it is.. whatever you have to do – whatever I have to do – let's do it, please. Please tell me there is a way out of here – I cannot – I can't stay – I can't leave them – not Harry, not ever-"_

 _Snape stared as she moved her head closed to him as she pressed his hands desperately._

 _Her unstoppable wailing echoed all throughout their basement._

 _She cried next to him at the floor, begging him with all her remaining strength._

 _"Please." Hermione slowly looked up at him. "Please, professor Snape.. please don't let this happen. Don't let this happen to me. Please don't let it harm me.. please.. There is a way and you can.."_

 _"I cannot guarantee. But I am already trying to seal the curse.. but you need to understand it would take time. It's not easy – it's not just Dark Magic, Hermione. This is very – it is embedded in you, it was created to cause deep pain – it would take more than –"_

 _"Whatever it takes-" Hermione cried at him and she flung her arms around him. "Please, please help me.. please, help us.. I cannot stay here. I don't want to stay here. I cannot remain isolated from Harry or from any of them.."_

 _It felt like an eternity as Hermione cried in his arms._

 _He was reluctant to touch her or embrace her but he did place his hand gently over her back and moved it gently in his attempt to comfort her._

 _"Please help me." Hermione cried looking up at him with all the pain, trust and hope in her eyes._

 _"Hermione-"_

 _"I'll do anything – everything - that is necessary for the curse to break."_

 _Snape closed his eyes and sighed at her. He firmly held her hand in his._

 _"Years, Hermione." Snape's soft voice whispered as he held her gaze. "Do you have seven years of patience?"_

Hermione was nervous as she stood outside the café of Diagon Alley.

The day had come and gone and she was able to send Lupin a message for their plan today.

Harry was nowhere suspecting as he joyfully went to Diagon Alley that morning.

He had sent a note to Kingsley that he would not be reporting that day because he needed to tend to his wedding plans with Hermione.

She waited outside the café as Harry entered the place looking for a table for them as it was very full that morning.

Her eyes looked around, back and forth across the street and down the alley looking for any sign of whatever Lupin's plans were.

She had made sure he got her message but standing there right now, she wasn't sure if it was even a plan that was on-going.

"Hermione?" Harry called out as he walked out of the café.

"No seats?" she asked him.

"There isn't any-" Harry began but he had stopped as he looked over her shoulders.

Hermione quickly turned and saw Bill and Fleur crossing the street and heading towards the café.

They were animatedly talking to one another that they barely managed to see the two of them until Harry walked up to them.

"Harry!" Bill greeted patting him over the shoulder and nodding at Hermione whom Fleur excitedly embraced.

Hermione looked behind them and back across the street but Lupin was nowhere in sight incase this was what he has planned.

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked them.

"We made reservations." Bill said kissing Fleur's cheek and nodding towards a bouquet of roses she was holding.

"What's up?" Harry asked them curiously.

"We had a little fight-"

"Little fight?" Fleur repeated with an angry look. "He made me wait three hours at ze-"

Bill placed his hand over her mouth and embraced her playfully.

"Small argument. Had to make it up to her and she was begging me to make a reservation in this café weeks ago – a duty I have neglected."

"You have seats?" Harry quickly asked looking back at Hermione. "Do you mind if we-"

"Yes, ofcourse." Fleur said with a smile towards Hermione. "Come, come. I'm hungry. I heard ze pastries here as perfecte!"

Bill and Harry looked at one another as Fleur pulled Hermione inside of her with excitement all over her face.

"You'd think they're the ones dating?" Harry happily suggested as Fleur reached their reserved seat at the corner of the room.

Bill only laughed and followed Harry through the crowded café.

The two women were excited as they browed through the menu and Bill ordered to strong cups of coffee for himself and for Harry while Fleur ordered a couple of cakes, two glasses of special milk shakes and then a couple more of appetizers.

"Hungry?" Harry asked holding Hermione's hand across the table.

Hermione smiled back at him and merely nodded.

Her eyes roamed the café back and forth, looking for Lupin or for any sign of his presence.

Their talking had passed for almost an hour already.

Hermione had let Harry forget their task of listing down some things for their wedding as Bill seemed to catch Harry's attention with his dragon adventure stories that he has not yet told him and Fleur was very occupied in telling Hermione stories of her life back in Paris, France and how the food there was still what she missed the most.

She was halfway to finishing another croissant when Fleur had suddenly grabbed her drink and had toppled it over the table and all over Hermione's dress.

Hermione squealed and Bill and Harry quickly turned the two women's way.

Some people stared back at their direction.

Bill quickly grabbed a napkin and threw over at Fleur's direction to wipe the slight amount of drink that stained her beautiful blue outdoor dress.

Harry moved across the table to hand Hermione his spare napkin when Fleur quickly grabbed Hermione's arm.

Hermione looked up at her apologetic face as she gripped her hand painfully.

"Fleur-"

"Go to the washroom. This drink is made of fruit and milk – it would certainly stain your dress and might damage-"

"No, it's alright-" Hermione said reaching for the napkin Harry was handing her.

Fleur pierced her arm painfully and she cringed.

Harry was too occupied in telling the waiter to give them another glass of Fleur's drink and to help clean the area of the table that has been drained with the drink to notice Bill and Fleur staring at Hermione in a different way.

Hermione stared back at Fleur who was piercing her arm.

"Go to the washroom." Fleur repeatedly said. "I'm sure the ladies room would be able to help your needs – "

"But it's alright – I can just-"

"Hermione, I said, go to the washroom."

Hermione looked up at her and there was something in her expression that made her heart skip a beat.

Her hand quickly let her go and when Hermione looked up at Bill, for the briefest of moment he quickly eyed her and signaled her to go to the washroom.

"I'll go to the washroom-" Hermione stuttered looking around at the two as Fleur stood up to let Hermione pass.

Harry stared at the mess around them and Bill was making sure that he was too occupied with the waiter to notice that Fleur was already openly urging and pushing Hermione out of their table to go towards the ladies' room.

Hermione walked as fast as she could out of their table without really understanding what was happening.

She was startled and was in too much haste that she almost did not notice a waiter carrying a tray filled with order for another table swiftly walking her way.

"I'm sorry!" she gasped as the waiter almost tripped upon seeing that he was about to hit her.

Hermione swayed aside and had nearly knocked herself over another table until a hand came out of nowhere had grasped her.

The pair of hands had painfully clutched her around the waist and around the mouth and she was literary dragged back at the very end of the café towards the ladies' room.

She was pulled and pushed inside the ladies' room.

A whisper of a charm and locks clicked closed.

Another whisper of a spell and the lights dimmed around them.

Hermione opened her eyes and was about to scream again when her visions cleared and adjusted to the dimmed light.

"Draco!" she whispered in a faint whisper.

Draco raised his wand to his lips and stared at her.

Hermione stared at him with such a disbelieving expression all over her.

Her heart pulsed fast and her hands were shaking at the sight of him.

"Are you alright?" he quietly asked, slightly alarmed at seeing her facial expression.

But Draco was no longer able to hear her answer.

A pair of arms had painfully tugged at him, flinging it over and around him.

And then tears of relief were heard inside the small room and Hermione's soft sobs painfully echoed upon his ears.


	26. Chapter 26

**_Chapter Twenty-Six_**

 _ **"Freedom"**_

 _The minutes had turned into hours and hours into days; the days had gone off into weeks and the weeks had departed to turn into months._

 _Months._

 _How long has it been since the ambush?_

 _Hermione could barely catch up with the dates and days that had come and gone._

 _All she knew was that she had been inside these four well protected and guarded walls for as long as she could remember._

 _Snape's days had counted the days but it seemed to be never-ending as it could possibly be._

 _The days had turned to weeks and into months without him realizing how long it has really been._

 _It had begun at the night of the ambush._

 _And then he had taken Hermione Granger – the brightest of the golden trio – and had taken her into his custody in the hopes that after restoring her health, he could bring her back to the Order of the Phoenix in stealth._

 _But fate had plans._

 _His student had slowly weakened, bothered by nightmares when she was asleep and when she was awake, by the memories of her loved ones she couldn't be with as soon._

 _She had weakened emotionally and physically._

 _At first it all seemed normal, until her marks appeared and soon he realized that she had been embedded by the curse that Bellatrix Lestrange casted upon her at the night of the ambush._

 _He was desperate to protect her and she was as desperate to do anything to return to her loved ones._

 _But fate intervened._

 _Within the span of weeks, the Urduja Curse slowly consumed her through pain when she was asleep and awake that Snape had to make a decision of keeping her inside an enchanted cage to isolate her and her powers that could run out of control._

 _The enchanted cage that housed her from time to time to ensure of her safety._

 _And then the agonizing days transpired into further emotionally challenging days._

 _The boy who lived had foolishly ended in the trap of the Death Eaters with his bestfriend._

 _In the hopes of finding Hermione – the love of his life – the encounter ended into two disastrous ways: Harry Potter had gone into a gone into a coma and the Weasley boy had departed the world._

 _All hope was almost lost._

 _The war was on-rage and the boy who lived was as useless as the world could ever hope for._

 _Hermione could not even run to his side to hold his hand._

 _But an opportunity and a ray of hope came._

 _Snape had a way to save Hermione and a way to save the boy's life._

 _He could as save the lives of the two lovers but he had to let one go._

 _Narcissa Black Malfoy._

 _She was the way and the light to save Hermione Granger's life – or atleast, her untainted blood could._

 _She was the dying lady of the Malfoy Manor now and she could only hope to do one last good thing._

 _In exchange for the life she would save, she only needed Snape to promise her one thing – to protect Draco at all costs._

 _Despite his rallies and his judgement, Snape knew Narcissa's decision to save Hermione Granger and keep the secret was the only way to save the child's life._

 _He could only save one life and Narcissa made sure that he made the right choice._

 _Sealing the curse deeply embedded within Hermione was one thing, but containing it for several years was another reality they had to face._

 _Narcissa promised him that she would never forsake them and tend do the things they would need for the years to come._

 _It was her ways of redemption in the blind hope that fate would be kind to her and protect her son until the war ended._

 _But the war would not end until the boy who lived was comatose at the hospital._

 _Snape made a decision that affected not only the outcome of the war, but the realization inside of him that he could love again – whether he was aware at the moment he made the decision or not._

 _Lily Potter's last remaining memory was the key to saving the boy's life._

 _To save the boy's life was to let go of it – was to let go of Lily forever._

 _Creating the decision to let her go was the unconscious decision inside of him that he was grasping a new love that was growing unknowingly deep within him._

 _Hermione Granger's plea to save Harry's life awakened something inside of him._

 _As he saved her life, he had saved the spawn of his mortal enemy's life._

 _Narcissa opted for an option for the love for her son._

 _Hermione had accepted a fate to save the ones she loved._

 _Snape had decided on a future that was unknowing and inevitable in the name of a love he knew and a love he was yet to understand._

 _And despite all these, their decisions had only come to one conclusion at the end and one reason alone._

 _Love._

 _Love was crude. It was cruel, blinding, inevitable and everything else that could possibly not make sense for one._

 _Love has led them to choices and circumstances that none of them had asked for nor had wanted in the first place and yet, they let it weave them through a blinded fate._

 _"I'm ready." Hermione had whispered as she stood outside his laboratory at their basement._

 _Snape looked up from the potion he was brewing and had sealed the vial on the table_

 _Hermione was dressed in a traveling cloak, a scarf around her neck and a weary smile over her face._

 _He did not want to do it – no, he did not want to but she had begged him._

 _He could not say no to her._

 _The Dark Lord has been gone and has been vanquished._

 _He had to tell her. And he almost regretted it._

 _Now, here she was, dressed before him for the promise he had made – to glimpse Harry._

 _Snape nodded at her._

 _He could almost feel her intense emotions of excitement and fear._

 _"Drink this." Snape said handing her the vial._

 _Hermione stared at it and nodded._

 _She uncorked the bottle and stared at him._

 _Snape waited._

 _In one go, Hermione dawned in her throat the potion without blinking her eyes away from him._

 _"One wrong move, Hermione. One wrong intention and you will be transported back here in the cottage without me. It would signify how much you rebelled against our agreement."_

 _Hermione nodded without a word as she gave the empty vial back at her._

 _"Potter will be at the train station at exactly one in the afternoon today." Snape slowly instructed her._

 _Hermione silently nodded again._

 _Snape brought out a black wrist watch from his pocket and handed it to her._

 _"Wear it." Snape simply said as he held his wand in his hand and he began muttering the wards to the laboratory._

 _Hermione did as she was told._

 _"Fifteen minutes, Hermione." Snape said in a serious tone. "You only have fifteen minutes."_

 _"I thought you said I had an hour."_

 _"An hour is the maximum time from which the enchantment takes its full course." Snape explained to her again._

 _He looked her in the eye making sure she understood how serious he was with their deal and the consequences that may occur should Hermione disregard the rules._

 _Hermione challenged his gaze._

 _"Anything past fifteen minutes Hermione and something bad may happen to Potter. Will you wait for an hour to watch how he dies, exactly?"_

 _"I won't go very near-"_

 _"It's not just about the location Hermione. It's your presence – your mere presence and existence that will come close to him – the enchantment that - ."_

 _"But professor, it wouldn't really-"_

 _"What we are about to do is in a public place. This stupid attempt of yours is very dangerous. I am only doing this because-"_

 _"Because I promised to stay with you. For a last glimpse to Harry."_

 _Snape looked impatient but he did not want to agitate the situation further._

 _"Seven years, Hermione. If he loves you so much he would wait that long."_

 _"Waiting is not the problem."_

 _Snape did not say anything. He couldn't argue with that._

 _"Are we going to do this or not?" he asked her in a firm tone that made Hermione realize that it was a take it or leave it situation._

 _"Fifteen minutes." Hermione whispered looking away as a tear fell from her eye._

 _"Fifteen minutes." Snape repeated at her still looking slightly reluctant and doubtful that Hermione understood the weight of the situation._

 _"Look at me." Snape commanded at her._

 _Hermione shook her head and Snape grabbed her gently by the chin._

 _"Hermione look at me-"_

 _"I understand already alright-" Hermione spat shoving his hand away from her as she struggled with her tears._

 _"Anything that happens to him, I will not be accountable." Snape coldly threatened her._

 _Hermione nodded as they both walked out of the laboratory and up the staircase from the basement._

 _They passed the kitchen and the living room in silence._

 _They reached the hallway that led to the exit doors._

 _Hermione stared at the door she had always stared at longingly._

 _"I will be a few feet from you – not very far but near enough to protect you should anything unwanted happens."_

 _"Yes." Hermione whispered her eyes longing for the door to open._

 _Snape stared at her and at the wrist watch._

 _"Once the fifteen minutes is over, the watch will slowly glow. You must hold it and it would-"_

 _"Turn into a Portkey and bring me back here. I already know that."_

 _Snape watched as she wiped more tears over her face with the back of her hands._

 _He did not want to do it but it would give him peace of mind if Hermione would get what she wants for the last time._

 _He knew how much this mattered to her but he also wouldn't let things go down the drain for her stupid decisions._

 _Snape held his wand and let them both towards the door._

 _Before holding down the wards he slowly turned to her again._

 _He waved the wand before her face to make a Disillusionment Charm over her._

 _"Hermione, fifteen minutes."_

 _"I know." Hermione whispered back staring at the black eyes she feared._

 _Snape glared at her._

 _"I'm trying to protect you."_

 _"Fifteen minutes."_

 _"I'm telling you. The potion inside your body is very powerful. It may cause you harm and it will effectively bring you back here without your consent."_

 _"After fifteen minutes I'll hold the watch." Hermione said as she offered her hand to him._

 _Snape stared at the small hand and did not want to touch it._

 _"Hermione, if you betray this agreement and has stayed closer to Potter more than the necessary perimeter and proximity of time, he would die. Harry will die if you do any reckless action due to your emotions. You must learn to control your emotions the moment you see him."_

 _He stared as she nodded at him without having to say anything anymore._

 _She only cry silently._

 _She could escape him. She really could._

 _But he trusted her._

 _He trusted her beyond anything and anyone else._

 _"Hermione-" Snape said but Hermione interrupted him by placing her hands around his neck._

 _She raised herself on a tiptoe and embraced him fully._

 _"Thank you." Hermione whispered. "I will always be grateful of you."_

 _Snape gently kissed her forehead in an almost-goodbye manner._

 _He closed his eyes and prayed, hope against hope that she would not betray this agreement they made._

 _Hermione closed her eyes and waited for Snape to whisper the very spell that would Apparate them out of the cottage that has housed her for as long as she could remember._

"Hermione-"

"I thought I'd never see you again."

Hermione's hand was shaking.

Draco held her cold shaking hands.

He had whispered a spell at the door and it locked itself.

"We don't have much time." Draco said in a hushed tone.

They stood only a few inches from one another in the small café restroom.

He could almost feel her heartbeat in their proximity from one another.

"Harry – he's – he's doing all these crazy things, he's deranged or so I think – and the house-"

"Lupin's told me." Draco quickly said. "He was the one who made this plan. He sounded very desperate when he talked to me. But I'm glad that they helped him-"

"Bill and Fleur?" Hermione asked him.

Draco nodded coherently.

"Look, we don't have much time." Draco said. "I'm doing my best to win the case. It won't be easy. I would have to ask your questions at the next trial that are not very friendly-"

"Anything to have Severus out of this case, please Draco-" Hermione pressed his hands harder. "Please save him. He's innocent. You know that he is innocent-"

"Hermione, I'm doing my best. I can't promise you anything but I'm doing my best."

"How is he?" Hermione suddenly asked. "How's he doing?"

Draco stared at her.

He has never heard her this emotional and hopeful.

"He's.." Draco began not really knowing what to answer. "He's surviving."

"Can't I see him?" Hermione asked hopefully.

"You know the answer to that Hermione-"

"I just wish I could-"

"He wishes to. But we both know you cannot. Not until all of these is over. Snape cannot be anywhere near you at the moment."

"Draco you can find a way – you've got your way into this trial, maybe there's something-"

"Hermione, I'm not here to talk about him." Draco interrupted. "I need to know. Is Harry still hurting you?"

"What?" Hermione asked as if thinking she could fool him.

"Hermione, I need to know if Harry's hurting you."

Hermione struggled to answer.

She did not really want to put Harry anywhere near harm's way despite of his actions.

An interruption of some sort of noise came back from the café restaurant.

They both stopped and listened but there was nothing that could be heard again.

Draco pulled her and shook her attention back to him.

"Hermione, listen, if Harry hurts you again you can do something about it – a court order of some sort-"

"He's my guardian and fiancé, Draco. I can't have him-"

Another noise came upon the hallway outside the restroom.

Draco's eyes were attentive to the door and ears very much alert.

"At the next trial Hermione – " Draco began. "Just answer honestly – every bit of it – of all the questions I'm going to throw at you. No matter the consequence after – you must answer honestly."

Hermione nodded at him despite her obvious reluctance at that.

"Draco, you need to hurry. I mean – Harry – these wedding plans-"

"I know. But you need to do your best to delay it – "

"Delay the wedding?" Hermione repeated in alarm knowing that that was close to impossible.

"Yes." Draco urgently said. "Do things – change decisions on the plans, meetings – dates – I don't know – anything Hermione, you must delay the wedding as much as you could-"

"I will but Draco that is-"

"Time is what we need for Severus, Hermione." Draco seriously whispered at her. "Time."

Hermione knew the truth in those words.

"I will try – I will do my best to delay the wedding, Draco-" Hermione promised him nodding as she held his hand. "I will do what I can -"

"I must go-" Draco said. "I will send another message soon but not directly through you. Trust only Lupin. Don't wait for messages through the Weasleys – it's too dangerous – we can't have everyone knowing-"

"Tell Severus I think of him –" Hermione whispered with tears now around her eyelids. "- always, always I think of him-"

"I will. I will tell him but Hermione, this is imperative - trust only-"

But before Hermione could hear the rest of his message there was a loud bang.

A spell had been executed loudly and the door before them that kept them hidden had suddenly been destroyed.

Draco protectively placed himself around Hermione and had drawn his wand out.

"Expelliarmus!" a voice had yelled.

Draco's wand had almost slipped from his hand but he was able to counter act the spell with a whisper of wandless magic.

Hermione had fallen over the floor beneath Draco until a hand painfully grasped her.

"Draco-" Hermione cried confused by the fallen debris around them.

"How dare you-" a voice said and she had been dragged painfully from the floor.

Both Draco and Hermione looked up and saw Harry standing before them.

The rest of the Weasleys were behind him looking alarmed and confused as with the other people at the café.

Draco was left on the ground with Harry pointing a wand directly over his face as he painfully hold Hermione around her arm with his other hand.

"I knew it." Harry had whispered. "I knew it – you wouldn't – you just couldn't get yourself off –"

"Potter, you're hurting her – let Hermione go-"

A jet of red light slipped from Harry's wand and the side of Draco's face was slightly cut.

It bled a little.

"DO NOT- I TELL YOU – DO NOT EVEN-"

"Harry!" Hermione cried pulling herself from him but Harry wouldn't let go.

People were openly staring and the whole café had been disturbed.

Harry sent another spell at Draco that he had barely managed to deflect.

Draco flinched but he did not look anywhere fearful.

Another spell and he was hit squarely over the chest.

"Draco!" Hermione cried as she struggled against Harry's grip.

He lay flat on his back with Harry's wand over his forehead.

"If you make just one move-"

"Harry, please – Harry stop it-"

"Keep quiet Hermione-" Harry painfully grasped her harder without taking his eyes and wand off from Draco.

"Harry please-" Hermione cried trying to claw his fingers away from her.

"You don't scare me, Potter." Draco whispered with a smirk "Let her go."

"You have no right to tell me what I'd do and what I'd do with her."

"Harry please-" Hermione said she stared up behind Harry, pleading at Fleur who was looking as alarmed as Bill did.

They did not look like they had guessed this would happen.

People were not even helping them.

Not when they were scared of the boy who defeated the Dark Lord.

"Harry, please – let me go – let me explain this – please put your wand-"

"I SAID GODDAMN KEEP QUIET!" Harry angrily yelled back at her.

The flicker of the moment he had taken his attention away from Draco, the blonde boy had quickly whipped his wand up.

In a flash, he was back on his feet and was pointing his wand directly at the side of Harry's cheek.

"Don't make me do this, Potter." Draco whispered with a strong threat.

"You don't scare me either." Harry said with an almost cruel laughter.

Draco stared as he painfully held Hermione and his face spreading a sinister smile.

He looked up at him with his emerald eyes that seemed darker than he had ever seen the pair.

"Let her go-"

"You do not tell me what to do –"

"Let her go Potter or there will be no wedding for you. Ever."

Harry was quiet as he contemplated.

He smiled at Draco and shook his head, wary and aware of all the attention they had drawn.

"You let her go or you let the whole world see the monster you have become."

Harry's facial expression slowly changed.

Draco almost smirked.

Without a word, he quickly let Hermione drop back on the floor in her tears.

Bill and Fleur quickly pushed their way through the crowd.

Bill held Harry from the back and Fleur had quickly grabbed Hermione from the ground.

Hermione looked back at her in her shaking form.

Fleur embraced her and whispered words of comfort as she cried in her arms.

Harry stared back at Draco as he slowly lifted his wand back up at him.

Draco smiled at him.

"We can take this outside if you prefer?" Draco offered.

Harry stared at him and shook his head.

He knew better than to let himself fall for that – not with all the witness around them.

"I'll give you a fucking headstart, Malfoy."

Draco nodded and smirked at him.

"If you hurt Hermione again-" he nodded at him.

"We're not yet through." Harry said through gritted teeth as he backed away from him and with an almost crazy and scary look over his face.

"Potter, I'm telling you-"

"Hermione!" Harry called out back at the crowd as he searched for her.

He found her by Fleur and Bill's side.

"Come on, we're going home-" Harry said pushing his way through to them.

Bill held him but he shoved him away from her.

Fleur quickly placed herself over Hermione.

"I think it best if she comes home with us-"

"Fleur, step aside-" Harry coldly said.

Fleur shook her head and Hermione sank behind her.

Harry stared at Hermione with a threatening glare.

"She's coming home with me. Right, Hermione?"

Hermione shook her head.

"See?" Fleur said. "Harry, she's going to-"

"Move aside." Harry said and he actually shoved Fleur's hand away and rigidly pulled Hermione away from him.

Bill moved forward but Harry raised his wand up.

"Bill, we're going home. If you please."

Bill stared at him and grabbed his wife safely behind him.

They glared at one another but Bill let Harry take Hermione.

"We're visiting tonight." Bill said enough for the crowd to hear.

"Hermione will make dinner for you." Harry simply said with a fake smile over his face.

The crowd continued to watch the scene before them.

"Harry, my hand-" Hermione softly cried.

"Come on darling. We need to go home now. You'll make dinner for tonight's guests."

Draco stared as Fleur and Bill let them pass quietly.

Hermione looked back at Draco with a pleading look.

"Potter." Draco called out after them. "Don't hurt her-"

"Shut up, Malfoy-"

"Harry – Draco – please-"

Hermione grudgingly took Harry's hand as he pulled her away from the crowd.

He held her hand securely with his other hand pointing a wand at Draco.

"I'll see you at the trial." Harry whispered out of the corner of his mouth with a smirk.

Without another word or a backward glance at Draco or to anyone else at the restaurant, Harry dragged Hermione with him with his wand in the other hand.

Draco could only stare at them and hope against hope that Harry would not hurt Hermione the moment they return to their place.

 _Hermione sat by the café within the train station with a cup of untouched café latte before her on the table._

 _A book and a notebook lay open before her but she did not want to read nor write._

 _They were mere props for her as she waited._

 _She came twenty minutes earlier than the time Harry was expected to arrive._

 _She was extremely nervous._

 _Despite that it was the first time in a very long time that she had seen the outside world, it seemed unimportant to her._

 _Her full focus and attention was on Harry._

 _Harry._

 _Harry and seeing Harry for the first time in a very long time._

 _"Harry.." she whispered again and again as she sat by her table at the café looking back and forth the door of the café, the outside, by the walkway and around the restaurant._

 _Despite her clothing that kept her hidden physically and her face with a Disillusionment Charm, she still felt nervous incase she catches anyone's attention._

 _That was the most unwanted part of the plan._

 _For if that happens, she would have to walk away and leave without seeing Harry._

 _She turned to face the window and from where she saw she saw Snape sitting at another café across the café she was in._

 _He sat with a cup of coffee by his table and a book at hand that she knew he was not really reading._

 _Ten minutes says her enchanted wrist watch._

 _She breathed heavily and stared at her cup of café latte._

 _She wondered how much physical change had tuned on Harry._

 _She wondered if he would even look at her direction or notice him._

 _She had hoped against home that he would take the nearest table to her own table._

 _She had fifteen minutes anyone to be closest to him than she'd ever been without harming him._

 _Fifteen minutes was long enough for the many months that she had not seen him._

 _She couldn't concentrate and she felt her insides shaking and contracting._

 _Her heart was beating fast and insides shaking in a way that felt like she was about to take a very special and extremely hard exam._

 _This was the very last time she was going to see Harry._

 _The next was after a very long time – and it was also a long-shot kind of deal._

 _A promise was a promise._

 _Snape had been more than lenient and she should be grateful of that._

 _He had done so much for her and for Harry already._

 _He had done beyond what was expected of him and what he was supposed to do._

 _She had no one but him. And she should do well as to return the favor._

 _Three minutes._

 _The bell rang and the door of the café opened._

 _Hermione quickly looked back towards the doorway._

 _Harry entered and nodded at the waiter that greeted him._

 _Hermione's heart skipped a beat._

 _The waiter smiled at him in recognition and quickly offered the table that was two tables away from Hermione's._

 _He was as charming as she could remember._

 _He had not aged a day._

 _He was wearing what looked like an Auror training uniform beneath a traveling cloak._

 _He was already in-training as an Auror at that point and he greatly looked the part._

 _Hermione's openly stared as Harry sat by his seat and stared over the menu that the waiter had handed him._

 _Hermione's eyes stared at him for as long as it took Harry to choose from the menu._

 _The moment he had taken his order and the waiter took back the menu, Hermione quickly looked away for a moment._

 _She had given a sideway glance back at the window._

 _Snape was still where he sat but he was no longer reading the book. He was staring right across towards the café window where Hermione sat by._

 _He gave her a nod._

 _Hermione consciously looked away from him and stared back at Harry._

 _Her time began to tick suddenly._

 _Fifteen minutes._

 _Hermione's eyes struggled to keep from crying._

 _She wanted to memorize his facial features – the messy strands of his jet-black hair, his beautiful and expressive emerald eyes, the fine line of his nose and the shape of his face and his jawline that was usually drenched in soil from the Quidditch practice back at their Hogwarts days and his rough hands that was always warm around hers._

 _She wanted to memorize every bit and every part of him._

 _If only she could walk up to him and talk to him._

 _If only she could walk up to him and kiss him._

 _If only she could walk up to him and touch him._

 _If only she could leave him a message right then and there._

 _If only._

 _For the last time in what would be a very long time._

 _Tears started to well up in her eyes._

 _Ten minutes was left._

 _The time was ticking so fast and she wanted it to stop._

 _Harry waited by his table and has checked his pocket-watch several times already._

 _His cup of coffee had already been delivered by his table and he was waiting for the pasta he ordered._

 _According to Snape's source – whoever that may be – Harry was supposedly waiting for an ex-Hogwarts student who was selling a rare piece of Charms book._

 _She had wondered how times had quickly changed that Harry was suddenly into-reading._

 _Maybe he was taking his Auror-training duties seriously._

 _She couldn't be any more proud of the man she had loved and how much he has grown and matured through time._

 _Time._

 _She had about seven minutes left._

 _Harry had taken a sip from his cup and had placed it back over the table._

 _His gentle hands held the cup and Hermione couldn't help but long to touch those hands again._

 _They weren't as soft nor as gentle as they looked because of the roughness from his Quidditch activities._

 _But it were always warm and comforting around hers._

 _"I'm here." Hermione had whispered longingly. "I'm here, Harry. I'm alive."_

 _Five minutes._

 _Harry had taken another sip from the coffee and then he glanced at the door._

 _A couple had entered and had blocked Hermione's view of Harry for a few seconds._

 _She extended her neck a little to not miss a second of seeing him._

 _As the couple passed, Harry had slightly shifted from his chair and was suddenly staring right at her direction._

 _Hermione's eyes widened as she had come eye-to-eye with her._

 _He looked back at her and he had given a sly and shy smile and a curt nod._

 _Hermione smiled back. She painfully smiled back and nodded at him._

 _It wasn't any form of recognition – it was a mere friendly gesture towards someone in a public place._

 _Hermione felt hurt that he did not recognize her but quickly shoved the idea away knowing that he was intended not to recognize her._

 _Three minutes left._

 _The door opened again and this time, the man he was waiting for had finally arrived._

 _He quickly found Harry's table and Harry stood up to greet him._

 _Hermione was glad that the man had taken the chair at Harry's side so that he did no block her view of Harry._

 _The man looked excited and the waiter had given him the menu._

 _He only ordered a cup of expression and quickly opened his package for Harry._

 _Harry smiled and excitedly opened the package._

 _From where she sat, Hermione did not see what books he was buying but it were several books._

 _From her view, they were big, thick and expensive looking ones._

 _One of them had a dark blue bound and a seal she has recognized as a seal that was stamped over books that were amongst a list of special editions kind of books._

 _She couldn't help but be curious at the items he had bought._

 _He looked very happy and pleased with his purchased._

 _He kept the package next to him and had taken out a pouch of galleons._

 _The man looked very pleased and happy as well._

 _Two minutes._

 _Hermione glanced up at the window and saw that Snape had already finished his cup and was already standing and waiting for her._

 _He knew the clock was ticking and will not extend it even for a minute._

 _Hermione stared pleadingly back at him then back at Harry._

 _He seemed to be having a good conversation with the man who sold him the books._

 _The waiter blocked her view for a moment as he brought in the expression for the man and another platter of pasta._

 _Harry began to eat the pasta he had ordered for himself earlier._

 _One minute._

 _Hermione felt the wrist watch warm around her skin momentarily as a warning that her time would be over soon._

 _She felt like crying right then and there as how could fifteen minutes be consumed so quickly._

 _Fifteen minutes was quite a long time to jot down notes in their classes at Hogwarts._

 _Fifteen minutes was enough of a time to brew a complex potion or prepare a long list of ingredients for a brew._

 _Fifteen minutes was a long time to wait for dinner at the Great Hall._

 _Fifteen minutes._

 _How could it be gone and over in just a very short span of time?_

 _Her fingers itched over the wrist watched around her skin and she felt like tearing it off as if it would stop the time._

 _Forty seconds._

 _"I love you." Hermione whispered as she quickly shoved her things back inside her sling bag without even taking her eyes off Harry._

 _She had left her cup of coffee untouched._

 _Snape was already waiting across the street._

 _The rain had started pouring outside._

 _Her eyes started to well up with tears as the time ticked and the wrist-watch began to glow beneath her long-sleeved traveling cloak._

 _Harry was devouring his pasta and was having a good conversation with the man to take a glance around the room or have an accidental glance back at her again._

 _She wanted to do something, anything just to gain his attention for one last time._

 _Just to see those emerald eyes for the last time._

 _Seven years was a very long time to wait._

 _Thirty seconds._

 _The wrist watch seemed to be in a hurry._

 _Snape had already worn his traveling cloak again and had managed to conjure an umbrella for them._

 _Hermione stared back at Snape who gave her a final nod and had pointed over his wrist to remind her of the time._

 _She looked away from him and back at Harry._

 _He was laughing at something._

 _She could hear his laughter from where she sat._

 _She wanted to memorize his voice and that laughter._

 _She wasn't going to hear that in a very long time._

 _"I love you, Harry." Hermione whispered hoping it would reach his ears._

 _Fifteen seconds._

 _Hermione moved the cup away from her and had taken her traveling cloak around herself without tearing her gaze away from Harry._

 _He was smiling again. That charming smile she was going to miss dearly._

 _Ten seconds._

 _Out of the blue, Harry had suddenly gazed up from the table, away from the man across him and back at her direction._

 _He was half-laughing and simply smiling at her._

 _Hermione was caught off-guard by the glance and the smile._

 _His emerald eyes seemed to smile at her direction._

 _The pair of eyes seemed to be giving her a sweet and endearing assurance that it were all going to be alright._

 _It was a momentary, split-second glance but Hermione caught it just in time and it pierced her heart dearly._

 _But it also gave her a joyous split moment of happiness that she was never going to forget._

 _Three seconds._

 _Harry had returned his attention back to his company and had pointed over the books by his side in a sort of agreement._

 _The wrist watch had glowed again and this time, it was shaking slightly around her wrist._

 _It was not a Portkey._

 _Hermione glanced back up across the street and Snape was already staring coldly at her in a warning state._

 _She reluctantly stood up with her eyes back on Harry._

 _He was smiling, eating, laughing._

 _He was as beautiful as she would always remember._

 _Her time was up._

 _Her heart skipped a beat._

 _Harry had suddenly stopped laughing._

 _He had suddenly placed his hand over his chest and had lowered the fork over his other hand._

 _His company stared at him and offered a glass of water._

 _He shook his head to tell him off that he wasn't choking._

 _But something inside of him was suddenly painful._

 _His emerald eyes narrowed as he grasped his chest painfully and his other hand gripped the end of the table._

 _He suddenly looked pale._

 _"Harry.." Hermione whispered in great alarm and she quickly stood up._

 _Harry's nose suddenly began to bleed._

 _His company quickly handed him a napkin to aid him and had quickly asked a waiter for attention._

 _Hermione watched in horror as he began to turn pale and his nose wouldn't stop bleeding and he was clutching his chest painfully._

 _He was beginning to gain attention from the crowd around the café._

 _Three waiters had now come to their aid and the manager of the café was already making his way towards Harry's table._

 _Hermione glanced back up across the street and Snape was already making his way towards them._

 _She was already twelve seconds overtime from their agreement._

 _Hermione was shaking as she stood up from the table._

 _The people around her were staring back at Harry's direction and were already in slight shock and panic at the scene he was causing._

 _Harry was drawing more attention as both his nostrils were now spilling blood._

 _He had taken his wand out and Hermione knew that he had produced his Patronus and has probably sent it to someone from the Order for aid._

 _She silently cried and hid her face beneath her cloak and scarf as she quickly made her way from her table and through the gathering crowd._

 _"Excuse me, excuse me." Hermione's small voice piped in as she pushed her way through._

 _She heard someone yelling to call for aid from St. Mungo's and someone was yelling Harry's name in panic._

 _Hermione wanted to close her ears at the panic-stricken crowd and at Harry's painful groans as she made her way towards the door._

 _She quickly pulled it open and had barely managed to pull herself out of the café when a hand grasped her arm painfully._

 _"Take me away, please." Hermione begged knowing it was Snape. "Please, please take me away before I hurt Harry."_

 _Snape closed his eyes, trying to control his anger at her._

 _He felt pity seeing Hermione struggle and knowing how she felt at the moment._

 _"Come, let's go home." Snape whispered quickly moving her away from the café._

 _He had taken her several of steps away from the café before placing his arms around her._

 _She was crying in his arms, uncontrollably sobbing her emotions away._

 _"Take me away, professor. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Harry. I love you." Hermione cried placing her arms around Snape._

 _Snape held her tightly and protectively within his arms._

 _He covered her with his traveling cloak as he raised his wand up._

 _"I love you, Harry." Hermione sobbed harder over his chest. "Take me home, Severus."_

 _Snape closed his eyes at the way she had softly uttered his name and at the way she called their cottage._

 _He was about to take away her freedom and she was willing to walk towards that reality._

 _A reality she was about to live through for a very long time._

 _Seven years._

 _"Come. Let's go." Snape placed his free hand over her and kept her close._

 _Snape sighed heavily wanting to close his ears against her painful cries_

 _"It's time to go home, Hermione." Snape whispered and he gently kissed her forehead and embraced her in comfort._

 _Hermione nodded and heard him whisper a couple of spells and before she knew it, they were Apparating back towards the cottage at the ends of Beltane._

 _The home that she was to have for the coming years._

 _The home that would give Harry his life in peace and everyone she has loved._

 _The home that will also take away the freedom she had known all her life._

Hermione suddenly opened her eyes.

She momentarily thought she heard something loud and hard had fallen.

She rubbed her eyes and tried to adjust her vision within the darkness in the room.

She had fallen asleep crying the moment they got home.

She turned over to her side and saw that Harry's side of the bed was empty and untouched.

The moment they arrived from the café, Harry was in full rage.

She cried and had tried to beg him to calm himself down.

He had thrown things around the house and had broken every piece of china he could reach in the kitchens when she attempted to offer him a meal or tea to calm himself.

He had yelled at her and had raised his hand over her.

She had cowered but he did not lay a hand on her.

He looked as deranged as she had ever seen him but he did not hurt her.

Whether it was because he remembered that Bill and Fleur had said that they would arrive later that evening or because he simply could not carry himself to hurt her once more – she did not know and she neither cared.

He had vented his anger over the china around the kitchen, the lamp in their living room, several books that were in his small study and at the newly renovated small room that was supposedly about to be a sort of potions brewing space in their place.

Harry had single-handedly half destroyed their newly renovated space.

She could only cry and try to stop him but his anger was beyond.

Hermione was angry too but he was crying as he yelled at her, as he threw things around, as he blew up one of the bookshelves with his wand.

He was beyond in control and she couldn't do anything about it because she also knew that she was to be blamed for all of it.

He had left an hour before dinner time.

He had taken his wand and his cloak with him and had showed no signs that he wanted to come back home.

Hermione heard him ward the whole house and knew that she was locked inside.

She cried and waited and cried.

She cried and waited for Harry.

She cried and waited for Bill or Fleur.

Neither came.

She could only cry.

Hermione carried herself back into their room and had cried herself into sleep.

She could only hope that everything would end soon.

She knew she was no longer happy and also knew that the lack of happiness with the two people she loved the most was because of her as well.

Hermione tossed over the bed.

By their small cloak, it told her that it was midnight.

She closed her eyes again, frustrated and pained as she was, she forced herself back to sleep.

And then she heard it.

She heard another loud movement from downstairs and then up the staircase.

Hermione's eyes opened again and her ears all-out listening.

She heard heavy movements being carried right outside their hallway.

Hermione bolt upright from the bed.

She heard heavy metal being dragged and screwed.

"Harry?" she called out softly seeing light from the space between the door and the carpet outside the door.

She heard what seemed like gates being dragged and grilled through outside the doors.

"Harry?" she called out in panic and alarm.

She heard it again.

Metals had been seemingly sealed together, screwed and hammered loudly just outside the door.

Hermione jumped up from the bed and stared by the door.

She heard footsteps and then she heard some spells being muttered.

"Harry?" Hermione called out loudly.

Her heart was racing.

She quickly ran towards the door and pulled the knob open.

Her eyes widened at the sight before her.

Harry was by the floor, staring at the bars he had literary and magically screwed and placed right outside the bedroom door.

"Harry?" Hermione cried in panic seeing what he has done.

"Harry – what are you doing-"

"What do you think I'm doing?" Harry asked back without looking up at her.

He had finished muttering a few spells and had pulled the bars back and forth to check its tolerance and its strength.

"NO!" Hermione cried in fear as she fully opened the door and held the bars Harry had placed outside the door.

He stood up from the floor and had checked the sides of the bars and had pulled each of it with a satisfied and serious look over his face.

He ignored her calls of his name and the way she had pulled the bars back and forth.

"Let me out!" Hermione cried. "Harry – what are you doing – let me out – please – "

"You're staying in there, sweetheart." Harry said slowly looking up at her.

"What – no, you can't – Harry – please, please don't do this to me-"

"No, sweetheart. You're safe in there. They won't take you once you're in there. I've made sure-"

"Harry, no please – what's going on-" Hermione begged him.

She moved and shook each of the bars but to no avail.

The bars were enchanted by Harry's strong magic.

He looked around the grills ignoring her plea and her continuous cries .

"Harry, please – let's talk – don't do this – don't – please, I won't do it again – I won't see Draco or anyone else, please, please-"

"Yes, you won't see anyone else. I'll make sure of that. They're very bad influence for you, Hermione. I'm just trying to protect you."

Harry looked up at her and scared the hell out of Hermione.

All the warmth and kindness had vanished from his face and his eyes.

His eyes were no longer the Harry she knew.

They were as cold as they had ever been.

He held his wand in his hand and nodded over the work he was able to accomplish.

"This will hold, I'm sure of it. Don't worry, Hermione. Until the case is over nobody will be able to hurt you or attempt to tamper with your head – I'll protect you, I swear – I promise love – it's just going to be us from now on-"

"NO!" Hermione yelled at him as she screamed against the bars.

Her chest heaved with pain and panic.

The Harry she knew was finally gone.

"Please, Harry. Don't do this. Please, please.."

"No, Hermione. This will keep you safe. I promise you that."

Harry moved closer the bars and had gently placed his hand over hers that was holding it.

"Harry, please don't do this." Hermione begged, her tear-filled face making no effect over his emotions.

Harry nodded at her and had gently cover her hands with his.

"I love you." Harry whispered gently placing a kiss over her hand. "I love you and I will do anything and everything to have you back. I'll protect you, Hermione. Nothing can ever separate us."

"No, Harry – please – this isn't – please, please let me out – this isn't necessary – I won't do it again-"

"No, you won't." Harry said with a serious tone over his face. "I'll make sure nobody can ever separate us again, Hermione. I won't let anyone near you-"

"No, Harry. This – this isn't you – please let me out- please-"

"I love you Hermione." Harry whispered with a tear falling at the side of his face. "I won't let anyone hurt you ever again. I won't let anyone have you make wrong decisions – decisions that are against your will – decisions that will separate you from me. I promise, I'll protect you. You're with me, you're safe. I won't let any harm come to you ever again-"

"Harry, please, please don't do this."

"I'll protect you, Hermione. I'm here. I won't let anyone near you. Not now, not ever."

"Please, Harry, please… please don't do this.. Let me out. Please."

Harry looked back at her and Hermione could tell that he wasn't listening to anything she was saying.

"We will never part again, Hermione. Nothing can ever separate us-"

"Listen to me!" Hermione screamed at him. "This isn't you – please – don't do this-"

"Sweetheart, please, I'll protect you. Let me take things from here. I can protect you – I can also protect you from all harm like he did for you – I can protect you, I can take good care of you more than he has ever done-"

"Harry-"

"I will protect you. I will undo anything he has done that has harmed you. I promise you everything will be back to normal. Everything will be alright-"

"Please let me out, please-"

"You're safe here, Hermione." Harry whispered. "This is for you. This is for us."

"You can't do this – Harry, please- don't do this – you don't know what you're doing-"

"I know what I'm doing!" Harry suddenly yelled at her.

Hermione felt threatened for a moment but she didn't move away from the bars.

She extended her hand towards his.

"Harry, please.." she begged him, trying to see through the man she has loved a long time ago.

"I love you." Harry whispered back and another tear fell from his eye. "I love you and that is all that matters."

"Please don't do this to me. If you love me, you will not-"

"I will have you back." Harry said moving away from the bars. "I promise that I will have you back and we would be happy again once all of this is over. I promise you, Hermione, I will restore everything we have lost. We would be happy again."

And with that, Harry turned away from her and had completely sealed the bars with a final spell.

"Harry!" Hermione cried helpless shaking the bars. "Harry! Harry, don't leave me here – Harry, please! Harry!"

It had taken Harry all the strength he still had in himself to take each step away from Hermione and her cries and plea of a freedom he couldn't see and understand that he had also taken away from her just as Snape had done so many years ago.


	27. Chapter 27

_**Chapter Twenty Seven**_

 _ **Between The Bars**_

 _"_ _He's with Lavender." Harry said as he sat at their spot at the library. "He said he'll follow."_

 _"_ _He's told me that an hour ago after your Quidditch practice." Hermione irritably said as she set the books over the table between them._

 _"_ _Well, you know, he's in love and—"_

 _"_ _Harry." Hermione said grabbing his bag from across the table and taking out his books, parchments and other study materials._

 _"_ _What?"_

 _"_ _We're inlove but I don't see us all over the place. I don't even see you forgetting your education just cause you're with someone."_

 _Harry only smiled at her._

 _Truth was that, he was struggling to keep himself focused when the two of them were studying._

 _One of Hermione's conditions if they were really going to date seriously was that studies and other academic and Hogwarts responsibilities would come first._

 _That mean that before they agree to go on a Hogsmeade weekend or spend the lunch break or weekends by the lake – they've already finished the tons of assignments, review for quizzes and exams, Harry's Quidditch practices and Hermione's extracurricular academic subjects._

 _The whole school's male population was in envy at the idea that Harry Potter scored and secured a girlfriend like Hermione Granger._

 _She wasn't only the brightest witch of her age or the smartest ass within the school, but she also got the body and the face that has definitely bloomed and matured since the Yule Ball._

 _She wasn't only a face or a mere arm candy._

 _Harry had seemingly secured a walking, talking and highly effective academic planner to ensure that none of his subjects would go down the train or get any Bs any longer._

 _Hermione Granger was a genius hotshot that any boy would definitely want to have._

 _Harry amusedly watched as Hermione carefully organized his books, his notes, parchments and quills across the large table she always occupied for the two of them despite that it would accommodate atleast eight students._

 _"_ _What's funny?" Hermione asked looking up and seeing his expression._

 _He shook his head and smiled at her._

 _"_ _I love you. Do you know that?" Harry asked reaching out for her hands._

 _Hermione blushed and pressed his hand firmly before drawing it away._

 _"_ _We have a quiz and an essay for professor McGonagall tomorrow, Harry. I know you love me and you would love me more if we study now and not fail that quiz."_

 _Harry chuckled at her as he reached out for his Transfiguration book and a roll of parchment._

 _Hermione checked her own notes, parchments and pile of books and an array of quills._

 _"_ _Right. So we do Transfiguration first. And then we do the Charms essay cause that's due the day after tomorrow."_

 _Harry watched as she carefully read to him a list of things they had to do and study._

 _"_ _Are you listening?" Hermione said snapping her fingers when she noticed that he was only smiling and staring at her._

 _How she loved the smile and his expressive eyes._

 _"_ _I am." Harry said clearing his throat and trying to look serious._

 _Hermione shook her head and returned to her list._

 _"_ _I have Muggle Studies research paper to pass so while I'm doing that I suggest you finish the research homework for professor Slughorn for Potions. I know that he said you don't have to pass yours since you did very well on that potion brew yesterday – which by the way I still do not agree that you did on your own – but you should pass one just so-"_

 _"_ _I've already finished it."_

 _"_ _I checked your notes, Harry." Hermione said nodding over one of the notebooks._

 _"_ _Nothing's wrong with it."_

 _"_ _Oh nothing." Hermione said. "Except you've copied atleast two main paragraphs from Apehlba's Potion Tricks and Guides."_

 _Harry opened his mouth to explain but Hermione had pulled out a book from one of the piles and shoved it to him._

 _"_ _Trust me when I tell you that I have read almost all the books in this library."_

 _"_ _Academic nazi."_

 _"_ _Lazy bum."_

 _"_ _Know-It-All."_

 _"_ _Chosen One."_

 _"_ _But I am the Chosen One." Harry said with an innocent smirk over his face._

 _Hermione stared momentarily and threw a book over his head which he skillfully caught in his hand._

 _"_ _We need to study now, Harry." Hermione said in a hushed tone as Harry stood from the opposite side of the table and walked behind her._

 _He gave her a tight and full embrace and kissed the nape of her neck._

 _"_ _Let's go to the other spot of the library we like."_

 _"_ _Harry, it's ten in the morning." Hermione reminded him, closing her eyes anyway at the sensation his lips were making behind her neck._

 _"_ _Harry-"_

 _"_ _Come on. Fifteen minutes."_

 _"_ _Seven."_

 _"_ _Twelve."_

 _"_ _Ten. Take it or leave it." Hermione said looking up at him as his hands began to crawl at her sides._

 _Harry quickly took her mouth to his uncaring if people would suddenly pass by._

 _Hermione slightly groaned, restraining herself._

 _She stared up at him with a challenging glare waiting for him to give in._

 _And he did give in._

 _"_ _Fine." Harry whispered through her mouth as he fidgeted across the table for their bags._

 _"_ _Harry –"_

 _"_ _Come on, come on. Ten minutes." Harry said and he quickly grabbed her hand and literary dragged her chuckling form from their table._

 _"_ _Wait – my hand-"_

 _"_ _Come on, Hermione. Ten minutes. I haven't got all day. I have to study, you know."_

 _Hermione chuckled relentlessly and Harry had to cover her mouth as he dragged her to the other end of the library from which he had discovered many weeks ago to be a very delightful, secretive and useful spot for lovers like them._

"What's going on?" Draco urgently asked the Ministry official who was his contact within since he returned to London and attended Hermione and Snape's trial.

The old man shook his head.

"I'm sorry Young Master." the man shook his head with a mournful look. "I do not know why the delay is this long."

Draco checked his Malfoy-crested pocket watch.

The trial was supposed to begin two hours ago.

It has never been delayed this long before.

And only him, his client and their small team seemed bothered at the idea of the delay.

Twice already his assistant went outside from the holding room only to find the jury and even the judge taking a highly convenient lunch in the large and elegant conference hall of theirs.

"Are they not the least bit concerned?" Draco hissed at his assistant as he tried to conceal the predicament from Snape who was at the other end of the room.

The old man only shook his head.

"Full meals and a couple of expensive firewhiskeys have been delivered in their conference hall earlier today, Young Master."

"What?" Draco asked irritably turning at him. "What do you mean? They're drinking on a day of trial?! I could have them sued for that!"

The old man shook his head, looking as devastated as he was.

"Not entirely drinking. More like they've been sent some complimentary drinks."

"Complimentary drinks?" Draco repeated flaring up. "What the hell do you mean?"

The old man sighed heavily and carefully pulled a small card from his pocket.

It was a red-embellished card with a golden plate over it – very Gryffindor in design and colour.

"I found it on the floor from the many boxes with cards at their conference hall."

Draco grabbed the card and read it with narrowed eyes.

It was a sort of greeting card from an upcoming Wizarding Holiday – which was about three months ahead from the present day – and simply signed with warm greetings and cheers – Department of Aurors, Ministry of Magic.

"Fuck." Draco said crumpling the card and throwing it away. " _Fuck."_

"What's wrong Draco?" Snape asked noticing it.

"Nothing." Draco snapped clenching his fists.

He turned and was about to pick up the card again but Snape was quite fast.

He bent over and picked it up before Draco could take it.

Snape gave Draco a glance before flattening it out to read it thoroughly.

Draco looked up at him in an uneasy way.

Snape only smirked and shook his head as instead, he handed Draco the card back.

"Three guesses who, Draco - the present head of the Auror department at the Minsitry."

"Severus, perhaps it's their annual –"

"And I've heard they call him the most valuable and youngest Head Auror that the Ministry has ever had."

Draco knew he couldn't lie to him.

He might have been in hiatus for ten years, but he surely knew what was happening at the outside world.

"Look, it's just gift, Severus."

"You know what gifts can do, Draco."

Draco sighed and turned away from him in his own frustration understanding exactly how much those gifts could possibly damage their chance at the trial.

"I don't know what to do." Draco said. "What should I do?"

"Send them some expensive brandy from the Malfoy distillery from Italy?" Snape suggested with a raised brow.

"It's not funny." Draco angrily spat at him. "This isn't a joke."

"Well I'm not kidding. I remember the distillery was quite big as Lucius had always mentioned to me. He mentioned the vineyard was quite divine."

"It's not divine. It's just fucking business."

"Lucius used to send a lot of the best wines around the Ministry, to the governors at Hogwarts and even certain professors at Hogwarts."

"Yeah. I know. I passed my Astronomy class because father sent one to our professor."

Snape only nodded at him remembering that he was even the one who delivered it to the said professor.

"Do not look disheartened."

"And I already sold that crappy business several years ago."

Snape looked slightly amused at his godson.

"You've grown up, Draco."

"Yeah." Draco snapped back sitting on the couch and burying his face in his hands. "I wish that could help."

Snape sighed and slowly walked to him.

"We have enough time."

"I'm afraid not." Draco said. "Do you know how little time we have? And nobody seemed to give a shit about it."

"Nobody will give a shit about it, Draco."

"You're not helping."

"I told you to no longer help me."

Draco turned away from him knowing that he did not want this kind of conversation with his godfather.

Draco turned to ask him something when a knock came again.

The assistant opened the door and outside stood a Ministry official.

"The trial will commence in fifteen minutes." the young Ministry official said.

Draco only nodded and thanked the young man who quickly left them after delivering the message.

 _"_ _Federal Case 715247 - the Wizengamot, the full jury and the whole Wizarding Community within and outside the country of London, England versus Lucius Malfoy – an accused Death Eater and a loyalist of You-Know-Who from the first to the second Wizarding War - on accounted murders of both witches, wizards and Muggle, illegal intrusion and attempted theft at the Ministry of Magic Department of Mysteries, illegal use and possession of an alarming amount of banned Dark Arts artifacts at his residence the Malfoy Manor, the illegal possession of banned Dark Arts books at his residence the Malfoy Manor, the illegal possession of a large storage room full of illegal potions and potion ingredients used for banned enchantments and rituals, the illegal use of The Imperius Curse, The Cruciatus Curse and The Killing Curse on a list of about seven-hundred male and female named and unnamed casualties from the Wizarding and the Muggle community from the first and second Wizarding Wars, his use of wealth to manipulate and corrupt certain entities and individuals while at service as governor of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and as a high-order council for the Ministry of Magic and lastly –" the old man who read the long parchment in his hand paused for a moment and settled his eyes across the room as he sighed heavily and continued, "- his physical and emotional abuse to Narcissa Black Malfoy."_

 _An emotional pause echoed all across the large trial court room of the Wizengamot especially at the last case mentioned against Lucius._

 _The old man cleared his throat and continued on reading the parchment._

 _"_ _Lucius Malfoy is found guilty beyond reasonable doubt on all of the accounted cases and is hereby sentenced to life imprisonment without bail inside Azkaban prison and will be stripped off his wand and all of his government entitlement and rights or any rights as an individual in the Wizarding Community."_

 _The loud sound of the wooden table hammer rung all over the room as the verdict has been given._

 _Beyond the Daily Prophet's insistent staff to get forward and get a photograph and answer from the questions they threw towards Lucius Malfoy and the head of the Wizengamot who read his verdict and all other chaos that broke all across the room, someone had silently watched everything from the very end of the room._

 _One last glance at the cold-eyed wizard, the pointed face and striking blonde hair– the features he has inherited with uncanny resemblance – before he stealthily left the court room without a cringe of any emotion over his face._

 _He has managed to leave the trial room without engaging himself with anyone or having anyone recognize him beneath his cloak and the Disillusionment Charm he has placed over himself._

 _"_ _You've never visited him."_

 _A voice rang behind him as he managed to walk two hallways away from the courtroom._

 _"_ _Draco."_

 _He stopped walking but he didn't turn back to the familiar voice that called his name._

 _"_ _Draco."_

 _The voice was insistent, serious and firm._

 _Draco sighed heavily and slowly turned around._

 _They looked at one another eye-to-eye._

 _"_ _You've never visited him but you are here today." Lupin said as he walked closer towards Draco who slowly unveiled his face from the Disillusionment Charm with wandless magic._

 _"_ _What do you want from me?" Draco asked as he took several steps towards Lupin._

 _"_ _How are you Draco?" Lupin kindly asked him._

 _Truth be told, Draco looked as healthy and as wealthy as he could possibly be._

 _"_ _How did you know it was me?"_

 _"_ _You should have taken the charm before entering the building, Draco." Lupin pointed out._

 _Draco looked skeptical._

 _"_ _I was at the lobby entrance of the building the same time you were taking the charm at the other side of the second entrance of the building."_

 _"_ _Stalking now aren't we, professor?" Draco mocked at him._

 _Lupin could only smile at him._

 _"_ _You haven't answered me. How are you?"_

 _Draco stared at him and was waiting the idea that he actually sounded like he cared for him._

 _He shouldn't care for him._

 _None from the Order of the Phoenix or any of Potter's friends or family should care for him._

 _He was a Malfoy after all._

 _"_ _I'm only here for two days." Draco answered him with a curt nod. "I'm leaving London tonight."_

 _"_ _You only came for the verdict?"_

 _"_ _I only came to make sure he gets what he truly deserved."_

 _"_ _He's your father."_

 _"_ _He's hurt my mother."_

 _Lupin only stared and couldn't help but notice the hatred and satisfaction in his laced tone._

 _"_ _You were the one who filed the last read case?"_

 _Draco looked away for a moment before nodding in admittance._

 _"_ _I filed it anonymously. Or atleast, anonymous to anyone else but the direct heads of the Wizengamot."_

 _Lupin nodded at him in understanding._

 _"_ _My mother's memory will be at peace."_

 _Another long silence between them._

 _"_ _Where will you be off tonight?"_

 _"_ _It does not matter."_

 _"_ _I'm only wondering if-"_

 _"_ _I'm finishing some application for further studies in a country outside London." Draco said._

 _He did not look please for the small talk that Lupin was trying._

 _"_ _I have to go." Draco said checking his pocket watch from his elegant looking suit beneath the cloak._

 _"_ _I'm pleased to see you, Draco. If there's anything you would need-"_

 _"_ _I'd be studying abroad and would be out and about for several years. I'll appreciate it if this privacy is given to me, professor - after everything that has happened."_

 _Lupin nodded at him in understanding._

 _He knew what he meant exactly and all the stories that entails those 'everything' he has mentioned._

 _The boy did not deserve to stay in London when there was no family to stay with and when there were too much and too many unpleasant memories there._

 _"_ _I wish you luck, Mr. Malfoy." Lupin said with a smile as he extended his hand to him._

 _Draco stared at him then at the hand he was offering._

 _He looked surprised and reluctant at the same time._

 _"_ _Draco-" Lupin began but Draco nodded and shook it back._

 _Lupin nodded as Draco let his hand go._

 _"_ _How's everything?" Draco asked him although he looked like he wanted to take the words back._

 _Lupin only stared at him for a moment._

 _"_ _Have you found her?" he curiously asked him._

 _Lupin gave him a painful smile and shook his head._

 _"_ _No." Lupin answered swallowing hard. "But we are hoping for the best."_

 _Draco did not say anything although he looked like he wanted to say something._

 _"_ _Harry is having a very hard time." Lupin quietly said. "But he is coping. He will do better I'm sure. Harry would soon come into terms of the reality that she has.." Lupin paused unable to bring the words out of his mouth._

 _He was as pained as everyone else at what has possibly happened to Hermione._

 _"_ _Everything will be better, I'm sure.. After all, Voldemort is gone and.. life will hopefully be renewed for all of us."_

 _Draco was still quiet as if deciding on something in his head._

 _"_ _I better go." Draco finally said._

 _Lupin nodded and Draco gave him a curt nod._

 _"_ _You be well, Mr. Malfoy."_

 _"_ _Maybe I'll send you a note or something when there is something in my studies that I do not understand. You are, after all, the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, were you not?"_

 _Lupin only smiled at him and he could swear that Draco almost gave a genuine full smile back at him._

 _Lupin only nodded at him and raised his hand in a small good-bye gesture._

 _"_ _Be well, Draco."_

 _And with that, Draco turned from him without another word._

 _He walked away from Lupin with his hands in his pocket with the other holding out the small, golden pocket watch and thoughts ticking all the same inside his head._

"What do you mean they're cancelling?" Draco angrily spat as he walked as fast as his legs would take him down the hall and towards the large trial hall.

His assistant tried his best to keep up his pace behind Draco.

He has never seen Draco as angry or as confused for any court trial.

"What's going on?" Draco growled as he passed by people who were obviously leaving the trial room.

He looked livid as he strode forward with hands shaking at his sides and mind spinning with thoughts.

"They just told me the trial will commence in fifteen minutes and now they're dropping the news that the trial will be cancelled for the day?" he said almost yelling down the hall as they reached the last turn towards the court room.

"Draco, calm yourself down. They wouldn't like it-"

"I do not care what they will not like!" Draco yelled as he pushed the double doors forward and had burst inside.

People were already leaving the room, the seats of the jury were already almost empty and there were only two wizards from the Wizengamot left out of the twelve.

Draco was extremely furious.

They were just waiting to be called out as Snape was supposedly to take the stand today when out of the blue, another wizard came to their waiting room had announced that the trial for the day was cancelled and that they will merely be notified when the case's trial would commence once more.

And before he could even react, Aurors from the department had strode towards the room and had taken Snape without a word to bring him back to his cell.

"What's going on?" Draco asked loudly towards the first member of the Wizengamot his eyes had fallen on.

But he could almost already tell what was going on at the scene that was revealed to him.

Harry was in the room, talking to one of the jury.

"Motherfucker." Draco muttered under his breath as he strode forward, forcing to calm himself down and remain composed.

"Mr. Malfoy?" the the jury slowly nodded to him as he turned from Harry who had bid his goodbye already.

Draco's eyes were on Harry who looked very calm and quiet in comparison on how he had last scene him at the café.

"I would like to ask why the trial has been cancelled." Draco said in a forcedly calm voice. "My client and I have been ready and had come with an allowance of a time before the given call time. I would like to know the reason behind this and why we were notified last minute."

"Apologies to the hassle that has been brought to your part, Mr. Malfoy." the man had calmly said.

Draco only stared.

"What happened?" he urgently asked as Harry eyed him wearily before turning away from them to give them privacy.

"We needed to cancel because Ms. Hermione Granger cannot arrive today."

"Cannot arrive today?" Draco repeated. "But I've been told in our waiting room that the trial was just about to begin in a few minutes and now-"

"Mr. Potter had to make an emergency request as Ms. Granger isn't feeling well today."

"She's sick?" Draco asked turning to Harry's leaving form.

"Potter!" Draco called but the old man gently grabbed his wrist to stop him from going after Harry.

Draco turned to the old man in surprise.

"Mr. Malfoy-"

"I want to talk to Potter – this is – this was – how can – I've come prepared with my client – my client and I would like some serious and formal explanation on this matter – you cannot just bloody –"

"Please understand that Ms. Granger is feeling terribly ill this morning because-"

"Because?" Draco repeated angrily. "Because what? Because she's been battered by Harry since the day I've last seen her?"

For a moment, he feared he had crossed the line but the old man didn't say anything.

Draco looked all the more frustrated.

"Don't you know?" Draco angrily said. "He's been hurting her!" Draco wailed like a child.

"Mr. Malfoy, these words of yours-"

"She's being a battered girlfriend!" Draco loudly yelled pointing directly at Harry's retreating form. "He's been bloody hurting her!"

"Is there a problem?" a middle-aged wizard came.

They both looked at him and Draco was almost certain he was to be blame for something.

The old man shook his head.

"Everything is alright. Mr. Malfoy is making a few inquiries. Nothing to be bothered about."

Draco stared.

The old man was actually giving the other wizard a small smile.

The wizard stared in reluctance but had nodded and left them.

Draco was still slightly furious.

Harry had left the room but he was sure that he had heard and seen what he was doing.

"Mr. Malfoy, please calm yourself down or you would be banned from this building."

"Apologies." Draco muttered at the calm old man before him.

The old man stared at him and noticed the devastation in his face.

"Miss Granger has fallen ill this morning. She wasn't feeling well to be taken here today."

Draco was to protest but the old man had slowly handed him a small and folded parchment.

Draco stared and opened the note and slowly read.

It was a request of Hermione to cancel the trial and to be forgiven for she was not up to attend the hearing and stand as witness for the day.

It was signed by Hermione herself.

Draco reread the note several times before folding it back and handing it back to the old man.

They were never really school friends but he could tell that it was Hermione's neat, intricate and clear handwriting.

The letter was authentic.

But how could Hermione write such a letter knowing how significant each trial was?

Was she really ill?

Or did Harry do something to make her write the letter?

It might have been Hermione's writing but he wasn't thoroughly convinced that Harry had nothing to do with it.

 _"_ _Are you listening?"_

 _His voice came to her thoughts and pulled her back to reality._

 _"_ _Yes. I'm sorry." Hermione replied as she turned back over the table._

 _She turned her eyes back on the notebook before her as she read his clearly written notes._

 _"_ _If you're no longer interested in listening. I suggest we stop and continue tomorrow."_

 _"_ _I'm listening. Just continue."_

 _"_ _Let's call it a night, Hermione."_

 _"_ _No." Hermione protested looking up at him. "No, let's-"_

 _"_ _You need rest." Snape said with finality in his tone. "We may continue tomorrow."_

 _Hermione looked at him as he began flicking his wand around and all the books slowly and magically returned to their places around the shelves and the potion ingredients and other mess around the table slowly cleared away._

 _She watched as he gently took the notebook from her and had kept it together with other bounded notebooks and rolls or parchments._

 _He had been teaching her a couple of potion lectures from the lesson plan he was to give her had she taken her seventh year at Hogwarts._

 _Minus the use of a wand and the actual brewing of dangerous potions – or any potion she could use against him or as an instrument to escape the cottage – Snape had been teaching her quite well and the lesson were even interesting._

 _It was like a private advance potions lessons that she was actually enjoying._

 _She would never really admit it to him but this was a brilliant idea of his to take her mind off things._

 _The devastation of Ron's loss, Harry's comatose form at St. Mungo's, their growing worry of the embedded curse upon her amongst many other things were enough to drive her mad._

 _Only the presented academics to her kept her somewhat same._

 _Or atleast, the academics she was allowed to learn with limits._

 _"_ _Kindly return to your room." Snape's voice gently commanded as he flicked his wand to slowly turn down all the lights from the room._

 _"_ _Are you visiting him tomorrow?" Hermione had slowly asked him as she limped from the stool she sat on._

 _Snape nodded curtly._

 _"_ _What time?"_

 _"_ _In the afternoon or late in the evening. It would depend on the time where there are less people around."_

 _"_ _How was he the last time you've seen him?"_

 _Snape flicked his wand and the fireplace's light slowly faded away._

 _"_ _I've already told you-"_

 _"_ _I know you have. I just wanted-"_

 _"_ _He was recovering fast the last time I've visited. I'm quite sure the news would be the same tomorrow."_

 _"_ _I know." Hermione whispered as she slowly took all her things from the table._

 _Snape quietly watched her slowly movements and knew that she'd be spending another night crying in her room._

 _"_ _I made sure he lived." Snape said staring at her crestfallen facial expression._

 _"_ _And I would be forever grateful." Hermione whispered as she shoved the last roll of parchment back in her small bag._

 _Hermione silently walked towards the door._

 _"_ _Goodnight, professor."_

 _"_ _Goodnight, Miss Granger."_

 _A silence followed._

 _Snape stared at her still form by near the staircase that would lead up back to the ground floor of the cottage._

 _She was merely standing silently._

 _"_ _Miss Granger?"_

 _"_ _I'm sorry." Hermione said softly._

 _He could tell she was crying again._

 _"_ _Sorry?" he uttered back._

 _"_ _Sorry." Hermione replied. "Sorry that you have to deal with all of these things. That you have to deal with me as well."_

 _Snape sighed heavily and stared at her back._

 _He couldn't understand how she could still think of him at their situation._

 _She was after all, the one who had more than one or two things to lose in this._

 _"_ _It's my job." Snape simply said. "And you can't be a mere casualty in this war. Dumbledore asked me-"_

 _"_ _Dumbledore asked too many things of you, don't you think?" Hermione said._

 _He didn't know how to respond._

 _"_ _I'm sorry." Hermione said again. "Goodnight, professor."_

 _And before he could even say anything anymore, Hermione had quickly ran up the small stair steps and out of his sight._

 _"_ _When will you give that to her?" Ginny asked as he entered the room._

 _Harry was packing his belongings and he was holding a Golden Snitch in his hand._

 _He quickly pocketed it and kept it out of his sight._

 _"_ _You scared me." he muttered seeing Ginny entered the room. "I thought for a moment it was Hermione."_

 _Ginny chuckled and folded her arms._

 _"_ _I think Hermione would be furious to find out you haven't packed."_

 _"_ _Lupin said we have another hour." Harry said taking out the Golden Snitch from his pocket._

 _The Dursleys were already gone three hours ago and taken to a safer location by other Aurors._

 _Order members were standby and at guard to take Harry to the Burrow as the protection at Privet Drive he has been blessed for years would soon be gone._

 _Hermione and Ron had arrived together with the 'rescue' team that will transfer him and the others at the Burrow where the others were waiting._

 _"_ _Half an hour is left." Ginny pointed out. "Lupin's just arrived and we should be ready by now."_

 _Harry nodded but his eyes were focused on the snitch in his hand._

 _"_ _When will you give that to her?" Ginny asked him._

 _"_ _What?" Harry repeated enchanting it to lock itself and pocketing it again._

 _"_ _The ring." Ginny pointed out. "The ring inside that snitch. The one I helped you buy and the one you told me you'd give her."_

 _"_ _At sunrise." Harry proudly answered. "At sunrise at the Burrow. I already talked to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley about my plans and all."_

 _Ginny smiled at him and gave him a sisterly embrace._

 _"_ _If you ever dare hurt my bestfriend, Harry Potter, I'm going to blow you up into tiny bits-"_

 _Harry embraced her back and chuckled with her._

 _He was to say something when they heard Ron and Hermione down the hallway._

 _Harry quickly kept the snitch out of sight and Ginny winked at him._

 _"_ _Ready?" Hermione asked entering the room._

 _The smile from her face faded upon seeing that Harry had barely packed anything yet._

 _"_ _I can explain?" Harry asked quickly retreating as Hermione grabbed her purse and had begun hitting him with it._

 _"_ _You're the only one who hasn't packed yet?!" Hermione angrily said and both Ron and Ginny were dying in laughter behind them._

 _"_ _Hey! Wait! Wait! I was-" Harry tried to defend himself from Hermione's attacking him._

 _"_ _I've told you already I'd help you if you – professor Lupin's already downstairs and he's-"_

 _"_ _Gin! Ron! Help me-" Harry cried out as Hermione pushed him back on the bed and had kept on hitting him._

 _"_ _Sorry, mate. Gotta let Hermione do her thing here. Come on, Gin." Ron said laughing hard as he took his sister with her and closed the door behind them._

 _"_ _Why you little-"_

 _"_ _Hey!" Harry said trying to grasp her wrist. "HEY!"_

 _"_ _Harry, I told you that that-"_

 _Hermione yelped as Harry was able to get hold of her wrists._

 _He quickly spun her around and made sure she was pinned on the bed._

 _They were both breathless from their tugging one another._

 _The annoyance from Hermione's face vanished and was replaced by a small smile across her lips._

 _Harry stared at her with the same smile._

 _He felt like he couldn't help it any longer._

 _In an unexplainable reason, he felt the urge to let her know, to tell her now – to ask her now._

 _He suddenly felt like he couldn't wait any longer to get to the Burrow and ask her._

 _"_ _What?" Hermione asked looking away for a moment._

 _Harry gently placed his finger over her face._

 _"_ _You're so beautiful."_

 _"_ _That's not going to pack your things on their own, Potter."_

 _"_ _Do you think my name is beautiful?" Harry slowly asked him as he slowly lowered himself on top of her._

 _Hermione stared at him with question in his eyes._

 _"_ _Harry is an ordinary wizard-"_

 _"_ _I mean Potter." Harry asked her with a smile as he settled himself on top of her. "Do you like Potter?"_

 _"_ _It's.." Hermione slowly paused as she felt Harry's hardening member beneath his sheer pants._

 _"_ _Yes?" Harry asked nuzzling his nose over hers._

 _"_ _I think it's a beautiful name."_

 _"_ _Really?" Harry asked closing his face over hers._

 _"_ _Really." Hermione answered placing her fingers around his soft cheeks._

 _"_ _Do you think maybe someday you'd want to have it too?" he gently asked him placing both his arms on either side of her cheeks._

 _Hermione's eyes slightly widened at his question._

 _Harry's face had slowly turned serious as he lifted himself off from her on the bed._

 _"_ _Harry.." Hermione whispered as he gently took her hand and slowly sat her back on the bed._

 _Hermione gave him a questioning glare but her instincts told her already what was about to happen._

 _Harry had pulled her to sit on the edge of the bed and had slowly climbed off the bed._

 _"_ _What are you doing?" Hermione asked him but she could already tell what he was doing._

 _He had kept his charming smile and gaze at her._

 _He had slowly pulled something out from his pocket as he adjusted his glasses and gazed up at her._

 _Harry slowly went down on his knees and offered his hand towards Hermione without breaking their gaze._

 _"_ _Do you think you would like to have the same name?" Harry slowly asked her._

 _"_ _I think I can live with it." Hermione whispered back with tears in her eyes._

 _Harry smile at her and sighed heavily._

 _He whispered a charm and the Golden Snitch in his hand slowly opened and revealed an expensive looking gold ring with an elegant and shimmering stone over it._

 _"_ _Hermione Jean Granger, with all my heart and all that I am, I kneel before you and would like to ask you to spend the rest of your life with me forever."_

 _Hermione's breathing was caught in her throat and she placed her hands over her mouth to stop herself from screaming._

 _Harry smiled at her._

 _"_ _Will you marry me?" Harry softly and hopefully asked her._

 _Hermione's heart was beating very fast._

 _Tears started falling from her cheeks._

 _Hermione nodded at him and offered her hand to him._

 _"_ _Yes." Hermione answered in tears. "Yes, Harry Potter, I would marry you."_

 _She had been his bestfriend for nearly seven years now._

 _And Harry could prove that he could quickly cross the line from friends to bestfriends and into lovers._

 _She could not imagine being with anyone else other than this boy whom she has always trusted and loved with all her life._

 _"_ _I love you." Harry whispered momentarily breaking the kiss and staring down at her beautifully freckled face._

 _"_ _I love you too." Hermione whispered back as her fingertips touched his damp lips._

 _Harry's heartbeat felt like exploding as he moved forward and captured her lips once more._

 _The fear of the looming fate that night was far and away from their thoughts as they shared the kiss._

 _They were completely oblivious to the fate that was about to be bestowed upon them in several few hours' time the moment they leave the Burrow and transfer Harry Potter._

 _This time, the kiss being slightly damper because of Hermione's tears and because they were both as joyous and excited at the prospect of being together forevermore._

"We're we not happy?" Harry's voice came.

She heard the familiar sound of Harry's unlocking of the bars of the gate.

Hermione looked up from the wall and carefully turned her painful and heavy body from across the floor.

She had been crying nontstop for three days now.

They had missed the trial – or rather she had.

She hadn't eaten anything Harry had brought out to her.

He created an enchanted spot at the gate he instilled with magic for where he passed through the tray of food for which he only opens and closes three times a day.

Hermione heard the tray being pushed inside the room and then the familiar spell from which he locked and secured the bars again.

Hermione closed her eyes and tried to ignore him despite knowing that he had not left the outside of the barred doors.

She heard him sigh heavily and settle himself on the floor by the gates.

"I remember I was happy, Hermione." Harry quietly said. "Were you not? Were it all just pretend?"

It pierced her heart to hear those words.

Something was painfully gentle and yet monstrous in the way he spoke those words.

It was like he was breaking, dying right in front of her.

But she was also dying in the inside.

She was hurting as much as he was hurting.

"You told me you love me." Harry whispered. "I thought it were all true."

A tear fell off Hermione's eyes.

She sighed heavily and slowly turned to her other side.

Harry was sitting by the bars with his back against the gates.

From where she lay, she could tell that he wasn't even seemingly aware that she was awake.

Hermione slowly sat up and quietly moved a little closer towards the gates.

Harry was holding something in his hand.

It was a Golden Snitch.

It was the Golden Snitch he has enchanted many, many years ago from where he concealed a small ring and had offered it to her.

And she had willingly, happily and excitedly said yes.

The snitch was empty now.

Just as how much he felt her feelings for him was now.

"Where have you gone, Hermione?" Harry's bitterly dying voice asked. "I had never let you go."

Another tear fell from Hermione's eyes.

She moved closer to the gate and made her awakened presence known to him.

But Harry didn't look back.

She heard him slightly sniff.

He was obviously crying.

"Harry." Hermione said moving closer towards the gates.

She lifted her hand as if to reach out for him but she did not.

She lowered her hand back down the carpeted floor and stared at his shadowy figure outside the room.

The lights from the outside hallway were magically dimmed so she could only see his silhouette from where she sat.

"Was I not enough?" Harry asked her. "Was my love not enough?"

She knew how much he was hurting but this wasn't the way towards the reconciliation she had expected of him.

"I wanted to return." Hermione finally whispered as she quietly cried behind him. "I had always longed to return."

"Then why did you not."

Hermione nodded and placed her hand over the cold bars.

Her gentle and fragile fingers touched the its cold surface and she let it stay there – inches away from Harry.

"I couldn't."

"But you are now here." Harry whispered. "And it seems to be you are still not here."

"I am here."

"You are still with him."

Hermione's face streaked down more tears.

She sighed heavily and slowly adjusted her seat and sat back right behind him, her back resting on the same cold bars of the gate.

"I have waited for you." Harry whispered as he heavily sighed. "I have waited for you for so long. I was the only one who believed you were alive."

"Harry, please stop.."

"I was the only one who believe you were still alive Hermione. I was the only one who never stopped.. who never stopped trying.."

Hermione wanted to keep her tears away from him but she couldn't stop herself from crying.

She knew saving his life came at a price and this was it. This was the price that she and Severus had to pay.

"I had to save your life."

"How would saving my life be of any significance if you can't even be with me today?"

Another silence.

Harry was holding the Golden Snitch in his hands with all the memories that came with it.

"Do you not remember our memories at Hogwarts?"

"Harry-"

"Do you not remember how much I loved you?"

"Harry, please, you need to-"

"Do you not love me anymore?"

Hermione had no answer.

Harry waited in silence.

He waited in a painstakingly long silence.

"I have loved you." Hermione said swallowing hard. "I had always loved you. And I chose to keep you alive that's why I left you."

"And now?" Harry asked him. "Why can't you love me again?"

Hermione buried her face in her hands in desperation.

"Did he give you more than I could?" Harry asked. "What did he promise you? Can't I give you what he can?"

"It's not like that."

"Then it's like what?"

Another silence.

Hermione felt him slightly shift his position.

He had adjusted himself so that they sat with their backs closely parallel against one another.

"Ten years Hermione." Harry softly whispered. "I have waited for ten years. Does none of that matter?"

"Your life mattered more to me." Hermione said with a firm tone. "I had to choose your life."

"I did my waiting, Hermione." Harry whispered and tears streamed down his face. "Ten years, Hermione."

"Harry, please. You're hurting yourself. You're hurting us."

Harry did not answer her.

"I had loved no one but you."

"And I promise you that I will help you to get through this, Harry."

"No." Harry's voice sounded constricted in his throat. "I will not let him getaway for what he has done."

"You know deep inside he is innocent. You know deep inside if it wasn't for him I wouldn't be alive today, Harry."

Another silence.

"He was meant to protect you because that was his job." Harry said bitterly.

"Let him go Harry. Just let him go and I promise to stay with you."

Harry seemed to have been caught off-guard by that.

"Harry." Hermione called out again. "Let him go. Let him go and I will marry you."

"I will not let him get away. I will give you justice." Harry had slowly returned to his feet.

Hermione quickly turned her back and stared up at him holding against the cold bars.

His back was turned to her but she could tell that he was still silently crying.

"Harry, I'm begging for his life. Please save his life."

"I have to give justice for what he has done to you."

"He saved my life." Hermione pleaded. "He saved yours."

"I am not him." Harry whispered back at her with clenched fists. "I cannot want to save everyone. And I refuse to save his life no matter the consequences."


	28. Chapter 28

_**Chapter Twenty Eight**_

 _ **Young Master**_

"Not quite funny." Harry muttered as he placed a large ice bag over the side of his mouth.

Kingsley stood before him after handing Harry the ice bag.

Harry had gone to the Ministry of Magic that morning to hand over a couple of overdue paperwork that was still with him before he took the office leave and was planning to go to the Wizengamot to ask several questions when upon entering the main office of the Auror's Department, he was greeted by a very furious and heavy punch by none other than Draco Malfoy.

He had been utterly surprised and caught off guard that before he could even take his wand out, Draco had yelled something at him before being quickly taken care of by the other Aurors and led out of the department.

For a moment, he had seen not only stars but a seemingly blackened galaxy as he fell on his back on the floor, feeling completely ridiculous at being unable to find his wand right away to defend himself.

"Fuck him." Harry muttered. "I want you to ban him out of this building."

"This is the Ministry of Magic, Harry." Kingsley replied. "He can't just be banned here. Maybe in this department but not in the building and definitely not at Hermione's trial." he quickly added reading Harry's furious expression.

"He just punched me!" Harry said nearly yelling at his old friend. "He motherfucker punched me!"

Some of the passing Aurors noticed them but didn't say anything.

Nobody would dare say anything about the furious wizard who had defeated the Dark Lord.

Kingsley did not look shaken at his decision.

"I have the power and I shall not abuse it."

Harry gave him an infuriating glare as if daring him to repeat what he had just said.

"You better make sure he stays very far from me and Hermione or I swear that the next time I meet him, it would be my fist meeting that bloody face first."

Kingsley stared at him and nodded.

He knew the measures he had to take but he wasn't going to just use his power on every bit of whim that Harry would have.

He already made a lot of those 'special requests' for him and for Hermione and he wasn't going to use more of it for Harry especially in times when he knew that he wasn't being reasonable.

"How's Hermione?" he asked Harry.

"What?" Harry irritably asked him back.

Kingsley stared at him.

"She was absent at the last trial because you said she wasn't feeling well. It was an emergency, wasn't it? You asked me to ask the Wizengamot to cancel it."

Harry gaped for a moment then quickly remembered the lie he had come up with on that.

He looked away and pretended to rearrange the icebag at the side of his face to avoid his gaze.

"She's better. But I'm not sure she can attend the next. She's still in bed rest."

"What happened to her?"

"Some sort of flu and stress due to our wedding plans." Harry shortly replied.

Kingsley opened his mouth to ask more questions but Harry finished up with the ice bag and quickly stood up.

"I'm going home."

"I'll send you a note as soon as I get the next schedule for the trial."

"Yeah." Harry answered uninterested.

Harry stood up and pointed over his desk where a pile of parchments were neatly placed.

"Alright." Kingsley replied. "Will have all these to their rightful case files. You take care of yourself. Send my regards to Hermione."

"Yeah." Harry replied taking his cloak from the long sofa he sat on. "I'll see you, mate."

And without another word, Harry left their department's office.

 _"_ _What are you doing?"_

 _Snape felt a pair of hands move around his waist and warm lips gently pressing at the nape of his neck._

 _He had been having an uneasy sleep so he decided to take a journal out and write a couple of things._

 _He had been keeping track on a couple of things out of Hermione's knowledge on special potions._

 _Despite of their 4-year relationship that had been going on now, he did not want her knowing everything there was to know about him nor his ideas for potions and spells._

 _Secrets were important for him as it had been a large part of his double-agent life for as long as he could remember._

 _"_ _Reading." Snape replied gently closing the journal and keeping it away._

 _Hermione watched him tap his wand over the end table next to their bed where the journal had been magically sealed back._

 _"_ _You keep secrets from me." Hermione commented drawing herself away from him._

 _Snape only chuckled._

 _He turned back on the bed to her as she sank back under the sheets._

 _Snape stared at her glorious form before him and sighed heavily._

 _He gently moved back towards the bed nearer her._

 _"_ _I do not keep things from you." Snape whispered as he began running his fingers over her long and slender legs._

 _Hermione pouted at him._

 _"_ _You've been keeping that diary for as long as I can remember."_

 _"_ _Am I not allowed to keep a diary?"_

 _"_ _You're keeping stuff I know nothing of."_

 _"_ _Can't I write on a diary about how I feel for you?"_

 _Hermione bit her lip to keep herself from chuckling._

 _"_ _You're not some girl who would go 'dear diary..'" Hermione said crossing her legs and arms at him._

 _Snape raised a brow at her._

 _He moved closed her and bent over._

 _He began kissing the side of her arms._

 _Hermione tensed for a moment but quickly relaxed when the tips of his fingers reached down the side of her thighs._

 _"_ _Sweetheart."_

 _"_ _You took away my only journal."_

 _"_ _That was ages ago." Snape pointed out at her. "And you aren't supposed to write on about anything. That's part of the rules."_

 _"_ _Your rules."_

 _Snape's eyes narrowed at her._

 _It has been four years now and the fire in her was still there._

 _When was it ever going to die?  
But then again, if that fire dies – would she still be the Hermione Granger he had fallen in love with? _

_"_ _I'm going downtown, tomorrow." Snape said kissing her neckline now. "Would you like anything?"_

 _"_ _Nothing." Hermione replied letting him kiss her and letting his hands run gently around her body._

 _"_ _Nothing?" he murmured against her neck._

 _"_ _Nothing." Hermione replied. "It's not like I need anything around here. Do I?"_

 _Snape chuckled._

 _He couldn't really tell if she was being honest or sarcastic._

 _But he was glad._

 _She used to answer things that referred to 'freedom' whenever he asked that question._

 _But that was ages ago.._

 _And the years had passed and Hermione seemed not only to have accepted her fate with him but seemed to have be completely in love with him by now._

 _She had finally learned to let her life go and accept her life with him._

 _"_ _A new book?" Snape whispered kissing the nape of her neck._

 _Hermione sighed._

 _"_ _A new special edition of something?" Snape kissed the side of her neck._

 _Hermione inched closer._

 _"_ _A rare selection?" he kissed then licked her earlobe._

 _Hermione moaned and opened her legs when his hand began touching her between them._

 _"_ _How about a newspaper?" Hermione mindlessly whispered back as he moved to kiss her lips._

 _Snape stopped in mid-action and stared down at her closed eyes._

 _Hermione seemed to have come to her senses._

 _She turned slightly pale and opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out._

 _"_ _A what?" Snape softly repeated withdrawing his hands from her and leaning away._

 _"_ _Nothing." Hermione said quickly placing both her hands around his neck to pull him back to her._

 _She moved her head upward to kiss him but Snape did not return the gesture._

 _"_ _What did you say?" he asked her gripping her wrist._

 _"_ _Nothing." Hermione quickly said looking away from him. "It's nothing. I'm sorry. It was stupid. I was stupid."_

 _Snape glared at her unable to say anything._

 _He was seething but he had to control himself._

 _And there he was a few moments ago, almost eternally grateful._

 _Had it been a slip of a tongue?_

 _Or was she trying out if he was having his defenses down?_

 _He felt reckless these past few weeks and months – giving her needs and wants and desires and completely forgetting that he was the one in control._

 _He had even allowed her an unlimited time and access on staying in their 'small library' for the books he had bought her._

 _"_ _It was nothing, Severus." Hermione gently whispered._

 _She lifted her hands over his face and traced the lines on them._

 _"_ _Severus."_

 _Snape breathed heavily and completely let her wrist go._

 _He pushed her back on the bed and turned away from her._

 _"_ _Severus." Hermione called back but he had quickly grabbed his pants and a towel from the floor and had stormed inside their bathroom._

 _Before Hermione could do anything, heard the lock click and the shower being opened at its full._

 _"_ _Don't drink its full contents!" Ginny angrily said pulling the bottle away from Harry._

 _They tugged at the bottle but Harry had finished all its contents before Ginny could do anything._

 _"_ _What's going on?"_

 _They both looked up and saw Lupin enter the room quickly followed by Mrs. Weasley._

 _Lupin glared at the scene before them._

 _Ginny looked furious about something and Harry was at the end of the bed with legs dangling over at the sides._

 _"_ _Harry!" Mrs. Weasley gasped quickly entering._

 _She shoved the groceries at the side of the room as she quickly followed Lupin who had taken Harry into his arms._

 _He was struggling against Lupin._

 _"_ _I said I need to practice my legs!" Harry struggled._

 _"_ _Harry, the Healers said you can only do that twice in a day and only for a few minutes. You've already had your exercise this morning and after lunch before Molly and I left-"_

 _"_ _It's just seven in the evening- I can still-"_

 _"_ _He had just taken the potion the nurse brought in here!" Ginny's voice sounded somewhere in the room._

 _"_ _He what?" Lupin asked as he managed to pull Harry back on the bed with Mrs. Weasley's piercing gaze at Harry._

 _They all looked at Ginny._

 _Ginny stared at Harry and was suddenly seemingly reluctant._

 _"_ _Gin!" Harry murmured giving her a glare._

 _Ginny crossed her arms and looked away from them._

 _"_ _He drank the potion the nurse brought in a while ago-"_

 _"_ _I just drank it because I wanted to sleep and be undisturbed –"_

 _"_ _No." Ginny spat at him._

 _"_ _What's going on here?" Lupin asked taking serious command of the situation._

 _He stared at the two of them who were bickering like some first years._

 _"_ _He wanted to drink all the potion as soon because he thinks it would make him stronger in a faster pace."_

 _"_ _No, I did not-"_

 _"_ _Harry." Lupin said warningly staring at him. "We both know that is not how these medication will work on you."_

 _Harry opened his mouth but quickly closed it._

 _He knew he was right._

 _He knew they were all right._

 _He wasn't going to get better overnight._

 _He wasn't going to get back on his feet over a couple of hours._

 _He wasn't going to get back in his complete strength by drinking a gallon of the potion he was to take to gain his strength back._

 _He felt both foolish and stupid at the same time._

 _"_ _I just thought maybe it could help."_

 _"_ _Sleep, enough rest and complete surrender to those who are taking care of you will give back all the strength you need Harry."_

 _"_ _I'm doing the best I can to follow all these nonsense." Harry spat looking away._

 _He looked tearful but he didn't shed a single tear._

 _No, not in front of them anyway._

 _Mrs. Weasley looked as worried as ever but she ushered Ginny to help her with the grocery bags to be organized at the small kitchen in Harry's private ward._

 _Once the two women were busy at the other end of the room, Lupin grabbed a chair._

 _He sat by Harry's bed and stared at him._

 _Harry kept his eyes hard towards the other side of the room where the window was showing him a beautiful sunset._

 _"_ _You know there are no shortcuts, Harry."_

 _"_ _I know." Harry muttered knowing how right Lupin was._

 _"_ _Do you want to get better?"_

 _"_ _I'm wasting my time here. I should be out there looking for Hermione."_

 _"_ _And do you think overdosing yourself will help you get better, help you walk again and most importantly help you get Hermione back?"_

 _Lupin sounded harsh._

 _But Harry knew he was being truthful and honest with him._

 _He did not answer his old professor._

 _"_ _Do you think Hermione would like to see what's going on with you right now?"_

 _Harry still did not answer._

 _"_ _Do you think Hermione would agree to this attitude you are showing?"_

 _Harry only blinked and shifted his gaze._

 _"_ _Do you think Hermione would be glad to know that you've been harassing nurses and Healers who come and go in here to let you out of the hospital secretly?"_

 _Harry's fist clenched but he didn't say anything._

 _"_ _Do you think Hermione would be glad to know you've been screaming at these people, demanding things of them you know they can't give you because the things you ask aren't good for you?"_

 _Harry still did not answer._

 _"_ _Do you think Hermione would be happy to see you like this?"_

 _"_ _No." Harry answered him. "But I can't stay like this."_

 _"_ _You are being impatient, Harry." Lupin said staring at him. "And you know that leads nowhere."_

 _"_ _But when?" Harry asked him. "When will I be able to walk again and-"_

 _"_ _Harry, we waited ever so patiently for you to wake up." Lupin said stressing out the situation upon him._

 _Harry didn't say anything._

 _"_ _Have you had any idea how that felt for us?" Lupin asked him._

 _"_ _I know. You do not need to tell me." Harry snapped at him and he almost regretted it._

 _He didn't want to fight with Lupin._

 _No, not with him._

 _Not with the man closest to a father he could ever have._

 _"_ _It was a miracle for you to wake up. We need to wait for another miracle for Hermione."_

 _"_ _But we don't know where she is!" Harry angrily yelled at him. "We don't know where she is! She's out there and the war is still – do you have any idea how I – what if they find her first?" Harry angrily said._

 _"_ _Harry-" Lupin warningly said. "Calm yourself, it's not good for you-"_

 _"_ _Do not tell me what's good for me or not!"_

 _Silence._

 _Even Harry seemed stunned at what he had just yelled at Lupin._

 _Ginny and Mrs. Weasley were watching them closely but did not want to interrupt._

 _Mrs. Weasley knew that Lupin had to handle things – he was the only one who could control Harry at the moment._

 _He had always been the only one to have the ability to control Harry._

 _"_ _Do you think I do not know how important she is to you? Do you think I do not understand what you are feeling right now?" Lupin asked him but not unkindly._

 _Harry looked away again._

 _"_ _Do you think I do not keep my ears open, my eyes aware – my whole being alert at any possible sign of her? Do you think you are the only one who cares for Hermione Granger?"_

 _A long moment of silence soon followed._

 _Harry heard Ginny cry softly at the corner._

 _"_ _Do you think you are the only one who has ever loved and cared enough to look for her?"_

 _Harry looked away._

 _He felt angry and ashamed of himself at the same time._

 _Harry was breathing hard but Lupin observed that he was trying to control himself._

 _He was still physically weak and had been exhausting himself since morning._

 _The boy needed rest._

 _"_ _When you feel better, Harry, we would talk." Lupin said and he was about to stand up but Harry stopped him._

 _"_ _I know I'm not the only one who cares for her." Harry answered._

 _"_ _Then you should know that day and night people are also looking for her."_

 _Lupin looked slightly angered but not offended by Harry's way of thinking and how things have been ran while he was comatose._

 _Harry nodded coherently._

 _"_ _What happened today?" he asked him. "You said you were going to scavenge for some news."_

 _"_ _There wasn't much. I'll be going again tomorrow with Kingsley at another venue."_

 _"_ _What's the news?" he asked him. "Where's Snape? Isn't he supposed to be here?"_

 _Lupin looked up at Mrs. Weasley who quickly turned away and pulled Ginny back with her in preparing the dinner._

 _Harry turned and stared hard on Lupin._

 _"_ _I asked you. Where's Snape?"_

 _Lupin did not answer immediately._

 _"_ _What's going on?" he asked him. "I thought he's in the Order and he's supposed to-"_

 _"_ _Kingsley and I.. We have a hunch that Snape might have been in trouble." Lupin answered._

 _"_ _What do you mean?" Harry asked him. "We have not seen him since the ambush. That was-"_

 _"_ _He's supposed to be at Hogwarts. The last time I've checked with a few of our connections who are still able to make a couple of access at Hogwarts, he does spend time there but lately.. recently.."_

 _"_ _What's going on then?" Harry asked sounding alarmed._

 _"_ _Harry."_

 _"_ _He's our only connection to Voldemort. Where the fuck is he?"_

 _"_ _We think he might have been.."_

 _"_ _Did he betray us?" Harry quietly asked._

 _Lupin looked up at Mrs. Weasley momentarily who only nodded at his direction._

 _"_ _No." Lupin said shaking his head. "But we think he might have been in trouble and because we were so focused in other things, we might have neglected connection with him. We were so used into the idea that he's the one who contacts us and-"_

 _"_ _And?" Harry asked him. "And what?"_

 _"_ _And he hasn't. No note or any of the secret codes or answers he would and should be sending us by now. Nothing."_

 _"_ _Have you checked his place?"_

 _"_ _Spinner's End is empty and clear of anything that might suggest of any recent activity. He hasn't been in there since before we were ambushed, Harry."_

 _"_ _Any other place he could be?" Harry asked him._

 _Lupin shook his head._

 _"_ _Then where the fuck is he?" Harry asked. "Are you sure he didn't-"_

 _"_ _He didn't betray us." Lupin said sighing heavily. "But we think the failed attempt at the ambush might have earned him some unwanted attention from Voldemort."_

 _"_ _You think he killed him?" Harry asked. "You think he killed Snape?"_

 _Lupin didn't answer him._

 _"_ _But – he's –"_

 _"_ _We do not know yet for sure." Lupin said. "But it is very unlike of Severus to not contact us for this long. Even if he does not want to mingle with the Order members and had always only ever devoted to Dumbledore, he wouldn't be reckless or mindless as to not act to what he should be responsible of."_

 _"_ _So if he's not dead or been recently killed – he's missing?" Harry asked._

 _Lupin shook his head._

 _"_ _But isn't missing in Voldemort's reign just the same and as good as being dead?"_

 _"_ _Harry, we can't take on such conclusions. We can only hope for the best. And Severus is a strong man – resilient as he always have been – and I only hope that he just hasn't get enough time or chance at the moment to contact us."_

 _"_ _But what if he's dead?" Harry asked but not unkindly. "What if Voldemort has gotten rid of-"_

 _"_ _I hope not." Lupin said. "Because Severus Snape is one of our strongest allies. We cannot lose him. A lot of people depends on him. Even if people do not say it, I know that a lot of them knows that there are certain things and tasks that only a man like Severus Snape could possibly accomplish."_

 _"_ _Young Master, your visitors are here."_

 _The old servant stood by the doorway and bowed at Draco._

 _Draco did not say anything._

 _A newspaper was open before him and a glass of expensive wine was nearly empty with the bottle next to it nearly empty as well._

 _"_ _Young Master?"_

 _"_ _Tell them to wait for me at the library." Draco only answered._

 _The old man stared at his Young Master Malfoy – the only and last remaining Malfoy._

 _Lucius Malfoy had been sentenced to a life imprisonment at Azkaban._

 _Narcissa Malfoy, the lady of the manor had also passed away not too long ago._

 _The Dark Lord's defeat under the hands of the Boy Who Lived had been breaking news all over the country and other Wizarding Communities for the past two weeks._

 _And yet beyond and above all these, Young Master Malfoy seemed unaffected or afflicted._

 _He seemed to have succumbed in the darkness of being alone and the loneliness it brought him._

 _More than anything, he missed his mother._

 _The funeral had been almost unbearable and it was very much unlike what he felt upon seeing his father being sentenced by the Wizengamot._

 _Drinking in the last drops of the wine from the glass he stood up._

 _"_ _Get me another bottle. I'll come back for it here later." Draco commanded as he steadied himself to walk to the double doors to exit the large waiting room._

 _"_ _Yes, Young Master."_

 _"_ _Bring in a couple of drinks and prepare dinner for them." Draco said as he walked out of the room with dazed eyes._

 _The old servant stared after Draco with certain worry in his eyes._

 _"_ _Young Master, do you think you can-"_

 _"_ _Do as I say and kindly follow me to the library incase there are things that I cannot handle on my own."_

 _"_ _I will, Young Master."_

 _The old man watched as Draco moved out and about the room and walked down the hallway that led to the library._

 _He bent over to pick up the fallen newspaper on the floor._

 _The Dark Lord's defeat from weeks ago had been front news until today._

 _He sighed heavily and stared the extremely large yet empty room around him._

 _The Malfoy Manor was as quiet as it has ever been._

 _He could only half-feel how the Young Master felt._

 _He quickly did the few things he asked of me and soon followed Draco out of the waiting room._

 _He was an old man._

 _He was one of the oldest and most loyal servants of the Malfoys._

 _He had watched Lucius Malfoy grow up._

 _He had watched Lucius finish Hogwarts and become a Death Eater._

 _He had watched the man of the Malfoy manor get married and have a son._

 _He had watched him hold lady Malfoy's hand at day and twist the life out of it at night._

 _He had watched her become an arm candy at his grand parties and a wife to be beaten at night._

 _He had watched Draco cover his ears at the screams and the glasses shattering at the master's bedroom._

 _He had watched Draco grow up._

 _He had taken care of him and the needs he had before going to Hogwarts._

 _He had been like the father who never really cared for him and the mother who had always understood him._

 _He had to protect him for anyone who would wish to cause him harm._

 _He always had to be by Young Master Malfoy's side no matter the consequence and events._

 _As like tonight, people from the Wizengamot, a few governors of Hogwarts and several other people from the Ministry was about to make the one and only left son of the Malfoy - Draco Black Malfoy - one of the richest bachelor that Europe has ever had by letting him sign documents and giving him the billions' worth of inheritance that his parents had left just for him._


	29. Chapter 29

_**Chapter Twenty Nine**_

 ** _Courage_**

 _Hermione quietly observed Snape from across the table in their small dining area._

 _She had been pretending to be focused over her bowl of cereal while Snape made his coffee at the other side of the kitchen and was finishing a pot of couscous rice, olives, tomatoes, celeries and other spices she had watched him prepare earlier on._

 _Her eyebrow quirked up high as he finished the pot of food for her and had covered it as he took his mug of coffee and stirred it continuously._

 _"_ _The meal will last you until dinner time." Snape slowly said. "If you get hungry and this supply does not last, there is bread and some sandwich spread you can eat."_

 _Hermione quietly nodded as he pointed at a pantry at the kitchen that she knew was filled or rather newly refilled with food._

 _"_ _Are you going away tonight?" she curiously asked him._

 _Snape only nodded at her as he added a few teaspoons of cinnamon over his coffee._

 _Hermione observed him and how he had been behaving the past few days or weeks._

 _It had been a week ago since the very awkward 'kiss' of an incident between them._

 _It had also been another week since the time for which they had first slept together._

 _Another week had also passed since they gone over it and done it again before they were able to take complete control of themselves._

 _It would be another week soon and they had barely talked about any of the incidents and had been living in struggled awkwardness inside the cottage._

 _Well, she wasn't exactly awkward._

 _She was the one who actually wanted and had twice attempted to talk to him about these happenings that came to be._

 _And he was the one who did not seem to want to talk about it or rather entertain the idea of it._

 _Hermione felt both furious and hurt at the same time._

 _He didn't seem interested into talking about it nor addressing the situation that had been and the present one they were having right now but he was quite very different when the situation presented itself and his lips were all over hers and his hands roaming all over her body._

 _She would have addressed it as molestation or a reference to something akin to it, but she secretly hated herself for she knew deep down, she had actually enjoyed all of the three events that had occurred._

 _They had been preceded events or unplanned but they were definitely not unwanted by either of them._

 _And that reality, they both secretly kept deep inside of them._

 _"_ _When.." Hermione cleared her throat as she kept her eyes over her own breakfast. "When are you coming back then?"_

 _Snape looked up at her for a brief moment before resuming his gaze over his coffee._

 _"_ _As soon as I can." he simply replied._

 _Hermione's brown quirked in what looked like both awe and irritation._

 _Was there still that barrier between the two of them after everything that has happened between the two of them?_

 _"_ _As soon as you can?" Hermione asked back. "Like when is that?"_

 _"_ _I'm not sure." Snape simply answered her._

 _"_ _Not sure." Hermione repeated out of the corner of her mouth._

 _Snape could sense her annoyance but he did not want it realized._

 _"_ _Well, enjoy your thingy then." Hermione snapped at him as she threw her table napkin over the table and grabbed her plate._

 _"_ _Where are you going?" Snape asked forcing himself to remain where he was._

 _"_ _Not sure." Hermione snapped back at him as she walked out of their small kitchen._

 _Snape stood still, listening._

 _He heard her walk back towards their small living room banging the glass double doors behind her._

 _"_ _Fuck." Snape muttered shoving his table napkin on the table as well._

 _He glared at the empty space around him._

 _"_ _Damn it." Snape cursed moving himself away from the table and making his way out of the kitchen to follow her._

 _He strode down the hallway towards the living room and found her reading instead of eating by the carpeted floor._

 _"_ _Miss Granger."_

 _No answer._

 _"_ _Granger."_

 _She completely ignored him._

 _Snape's fists clenched._

 _"_ _Hermione." he called out._

 _"_ _Hmm." she simply answered him._

 _He watched with folded arms as she continued to flip through the pages of the book in her hands._

 _He needed her attention towards him._

 _"_ _Have you taken the potion I gave you lastnight?" he slowly asked her unable to think of anything else._

 _"_ _Hmmm." Hermione only answered without looking up._

 _Snape rolled his eyes._

 _"_ _Are you there?"_

 _"_ _Hmmm."_

 _"_ _I asked you." Snape said sounding annoyed now. "Did you take the potion I asked you to take last night?"_

 _"_ _Not sure." Hermione sarcastically replied._

 _Snape lost his patience as fast as it could have passed his senses._

 _He moved and bent towards her and painfully grabbed her by the arm._

 _Hermione yelped in surprise and pain and the book fell off her hands as Snape dragged her to her feet._

 _"_ _What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Hermione angrily said struggling to free herself._

 _Snape didn't let her go._

 _"_ _Let me go!" Hermione angrily yelled at him. "Let me go!"_

 _His black eyes pierced her defiance._

 _"_ _I fucking asked you if you took the potion I asked you to!" he angrily yelled at her._

 _Hermione only stared at him but didn't answer._

 _He shook her angrily but no word came out from her._

 _Unmoved, she looked as defiant as ever._

 _"_ _I'm not fucking messing with you, Granger."_

 _"_ _Oh now it's Granger again?" Hermione spitefully said her eyes blazing with fire. "Can you make up your mind, professor Snape?"_

 _"_ _I asked you-"_

 _"_ _But when it's over the bed it's all about being dear Hermione or my sweetheart-"_

 _Snape's fingers deepened over her arm but Hermione did not show any sign of weakness._

 _"_ _Hermione-"_

 _"_ _Hermione?" she almost laughed at him. "Now it's Hermione? Why? Do you want to fuck right now, professor?"_

 _Snape's eyes glinted._

 _He looked vicious as she tested his patience._

 _He raised his hand to hit her but she didn't not show any sign of cowardice._

 _His hand remained in the air as his eyes pierced her._

 _"_ _Go on." Hermione challenged him. "Now you're going to hurt me?"_

 _Snape stared at her for a long moment before completely letting her go._

 _Hermione's eyes began to water in both anger and confusion._

 _"_ _What the fuck is your problem?!" Snape spitefully said turning away from her and sinking back on the couch burying his face in his hands._

 _He knew what the problem was ofcourse._

 _"_ _Do you want to know?" Hermione asked watching his frustration._

 _He did not answer her._

 _"_ _Do you want to know? Are you sure you want to know professor Snape?" she added the last bit with such laced hatred and sarcasm._

 _Snape shook his head._

 _"_ _Stop talking." Snape warningly said._

 _"_ _Do you want to know? You think you can just have things your way?" she snapped walking around him._

 _"_ _Stop talking." Snape repeated. "I only asked if you took the potion-"_

 _"_ _What does it matter if I did or did not?" Hermione snapped back at him crossing her arms._

 _"_ _You know that you need to take that-"_

 _"_ _It doesn't matter really. You'll have your way so I'd have my way as well-"_

 _"_ _It's imperative you take that goddamn potion Hermione-"_

 _"_ _It's imperative? Now you sound concerned-"_

 _"_ _I am concerned-"_

 _"_ _Concerned? But I can't be concerned about you-"_

 _"_ _You don't need to-"_

 _"_ _I can't know where you're going – what you're up to-"_

 _"_ _You know I can't tell you everything that-"_

 _"_ _When have I ever been allowed to know things-"_

 _"_ _Hermione, stop it-"_

 _"_ _No, I'm not going to- I do have the right to speak-"_

 _"_ _Hermione, I said stop talking – you don't know-"_

 _"_ _No, you don't know how frustrating it is – us not talking about-"_

 _"_ _Stop it – I just want you to stop-"_

 _"_ _It's all about you and your want – all about you-"_

 _"_ _Stop talking!"_

 _"_ _No, I'm fucking not going to stop talking until you talk to me-"_

 _"_ _I SAID STOP IT!" Snape angrily yelled._

 _He suddenly stood up and grabbed her by the wrists._

 _He pulled her and pushed her back on the couch holding her arms painfully over her head and his other hand covering her mouth securely._

 _Hermione's eyes flashed in anger at him and at the way she couldn't defend herself._

 _"_ _You don't know how very frustrating our situation is-" Snape said in a deep tone his black eyes closely holding her gaze._

 _Hermione's brows only furrowed._

 _The Gryffindor in her was alive and kicking and Snape could not help but slightly fear that fact._

 _"_ _You have no idea – how I feel – how I feel about this – I'm only concerned about your well-being-"_

 _Hermione's eyes rolled._

 _Her eyes showed each emotion his words were causing her._

 _"_ _Hermione, you have no idea-" Snape said halting as he gazed right at her._

 _He suddenly let her arm and mouth go._

 _Hermione's hand was quick._

 _In a flash, she had taken the opportunity to slap him as hard as she could possibly go._

 _His cheeks reddened and Hermione momentarily felt fear all around her._

 _Snape only gaze at her with question in his eyes._

 _Tears fell from Hermione's eyes._

 _"_ _You have no – I just want us to talk – I need you to talk to me – I need to know – I need to-"_

 _"_ _Hermione-"_

 _"_ _Just let me go." Hermione cried at him "If you can't be honest, if you can't just let me know about everything, just let me go – you're keeping me here, you're not telling me-"_

 _"_ _I can't let you go. I can't let you be."_

 _"_ _Let me go, please let me go."_

 _Hermione began hitting him with her fists as she cried._

 _Snape let her hurt him and let her cry at him._

 _It was one of those days again._

 _"_ _Hermione, please, you need to trust me." Snape whispered gently reaching for her gently._

 _She shook her head and refused and pushed him away but Snape took her in his arms._

 _Hermione struggled but he placed a tight hold around her and kissed her forehead._

 _"_ _I'm sorry." Snape whispered trying to stop himself from being teary-eyed._

 _"_ _You keep me here – you keep me away from them – from Harry-"_

 _"_ _I'm sorry, I'm sorry Hermione. I know I've been insensitive. I should have.. I should have talked to you.. we should have been talking about things."_

 _"_ _No, you're not sorry. You don't want to.. you don't.."_

 _But her words sank out of nowhere._

 _Snape had caught of her lips and mouth into his._

 _He moved her face and gently forced her into a kiss for which she momentarily struggled against but soon gave into._

 _Hermione relaxed into the kiss and her hands voluntarily moved about around Snape's neck, pulling him closer and closer to her until she lay back on the couch with him on top of him kissing her ravishingly and all thoughts of stopping himself, all the questions she had – everything they felt vanished at that very moment._

 _Everything else was forgotten as they melted into one another's deeply comforting kiss and embrace._

 _Hermione broke the kiss and opened her eyes._

 _Snape's black eyes met hers and his fingers gently traced her tear-stained face._

 _He wiped the shimmering water off her facial features._

 _"_ _Let me go if you don't care about me." Hermione begged him. "Bring me back to them."_

 _"_ _I care about you that's why I can't bring you back." Snape answered him._

 _Hermione closed her eyes and Snape kissed her forehead._

 _"_ _Hermione, I'm sorry. I know I've been insensitive.. we will talk.. we will-"_

 _"_ _Tell me what's going on out there – tell me what's been – "_

 _"_ _I can't talk about the things you know I'm not supposed to-"_

 _"_ _Then what are we going to talk about?" Hermione asked almost angrily. "What do we-"_

 _"_ _Us." Snape answered her. "Us. I've been insensitive, I know I should have asked.. I should have talked.. we should have.. we should..discuss things.. I've been everything but someone who you needed to talk to.."_

 _"_ _Us?" Hermione repeated. "You want to talk about us? Us? What about us?"_

 _For a moment, a pain like something he had not felt in years passed in his chest._

 _He momentarily looked confused and hurt but the latter's feelings quickly vanished from his features._

 _He was assuming._

 _He had assumed._

 _He had completely dug up and laid down in his own grave._

 _He should have known that she was not likely to forget her life easily and was unlikely to leave her feelings for Harry Potter behind._

 _"_ _I'm sorry." Snape said slowly moving himself from her. "I'm sorry, it's not what I-"_

 _"_ _It's not what I mean." Hermione said taking hold of his wrist and making sure that he wasn't going to move away from her._

 _Snape's black eyes looked up at her again._

 _There was something in her eyes that told him she felt otherwise from what he had thought a moment ago._

 _"_ _Hermione-"_

 _"_ _Do you love me?" she asked him almost in what sounded like a hopeful tone._

 _"_ _Hermione-"_

 _"_ _Do you love me?" she asked him again, eyes not letting his go._

 _Snape couldn't answer._

 _He hesitated and held his feelings back._

 _And that moment of hesitation was all Hermione had needed._

 _Her eyes narrowed again and she let him go._

 _"_ _I want to be alone." Hermione answered him. "I'm sorry, leave me alone please if you can't-"_

 _"_ _We don't need to call anything that we have." Snape quickly said._

 _He placed his fingers beneath her chin and her look at him again._

 _He moved his face closer to her._

 _"_ _Look at me." Snape whispered. "Look at me, sweetheart."_

 _Hermione reluctant as she was, slowly looked up at him._

 _"_ _Isn't us important?" Snape asked her. "Don't you trust me?"_

 _Hermione sighed heavily._

 _He knew that looked very well._

 _He had seen it countless of times in exams she had taken with him in times when she was hesitant to answer a certain question, to fully write an essay or in practical potions exams._

 _It was the look of uncertainty in her mind but a sure answer in her heart._

 _"_ _Don't you trust me?"_

 _"_ _I trust you." Hermione whispered back. "I trust you completely."_

 _Snape gently smiled at her._

 _He bent closer and brushed a kiss over her lips, enticing her._

 _He moved his face back and looked at her reaction._

 _She was only staring at him though still with question in her eyes._

 _He brushed another kiss but this time slightly longer and ensuring that her lips fully tasted his._

 _Hermione sighed and returned the kiss gently._

 _Snape broke the kiss and moved back again and stared at her eyes._

 _"_ _Do you still need to call us something?" Snape softly asked._

 _Hermione's eyes shed some tears and she placed her arms around him._

 _"_ _I'm sorry." Hermione whispered moving her face closer to him. "I trust you completely."_

 _This time, her words sounded sure and something she meant deep inside of her._

 _She moved her face closer and inched up towards him._

 _Snape gently smiled at her and bent forward and captured her lips again._

 _The kiss this time was deeper, longer, full and beyond enticing._

 _He pushed Hermione gently back on the couch as he slowly undressed her while Hermione closed her eyes, letting him kiss and touch her and letting herself go in the moment bearing in her mind that maybe things do not really matter as they should and she should slowly forget the life she had lived for there was nowhere to go but forward – and forward a life there was with the man she has and the man whom she could only trust completely._

Hermione opened her eyes and turned her head when she heard the grill and door magically open.

Harry entered carrying her breakfast tray.

He looked shaven, clean and cheerful.

He was wearing black pants and a sweatshirt and was in his socks.

He did not look as if he was planning to go to work or anywhere else.

"Goodmorning sweetheart." Harry simply said entering with the tray.

Hermione slowly sat down and stared at the breakfast tray.

He had a bowl of fruit with milk and cereal, a platter of toasts, eggs and sausages and some jam and a small cup of sliced up peaches.

"I'm not hungry." Hermione muttered rolling her eyes at him.

"I don't give a fuck if you're not hungry." Harry muttered back as he settled down on the floor next to her.

It had been four days since their supposedly appearance at the trial and for which he had cancelled purposely.

Hermione stared back at him with hatred in her eyes.

"Come, which do you want first the cereal or some toast and jam?" he asked him happily as he moved closer and moved the tray with him.

A cling of chains were heard.

Harry ignored her.

Hermione's legs had been tied against the post of the bed.

Hermione had tried to escape Harry the other afternoon when he brought in a late lunch.

She had taken the bread knife from the tray of potatoes and steak he had brought in and had threatened Harry with it.

Harry was frozen for a moment but a mere flick of his wand that distracted Hermione momentarily and an Accio from him were all it took for him to be calm again.

Sooner than she thought, she had been knocked out by a spell and the next thing she knew when she awoke, she was lying on the bed and her right ankle was tied around the bed post.

Harry had threatened her that if she tried something like that again, he would have to either tie both her hands on the bed or both her legs and hands around the posts.

"I said, I'm not hungry." Hermione spat turning away from him.

Harry was quick.

He grabbed her arm and pulled her painfully closer back at him.

"Which do you want for breakfast?" he asked dangerously.

"I'm not hungry." Hermione spat.

Harry's mouth was turning.

He rigidly grabbed her face and gripped her jaw hard.

Hermione flinched in pain as he pulled her over the tray.

"Are you going to eat on your own or maybe you'd like me shove this down your throat?"

Hermione stared up at him with so much hatred and pain in her eyes.

"I can eat on my own." Hermione spat at him.

Harry smiled at her.

He buttered and placed jam over the toast and handed it over to her.

Hermione stared at him and took the toast from him.

"You don't have to chain me."

"I needed to." Harry answered her buttering the other toast for himself.

"Harry."

"Hermione." Harry said as he took a bite from the other toast.

Hermione quietly ate while giving him deadly glared time and again.

This scene was almost as familiar to her as she could possibly think.

She had been in this situation before – only at a different place, a different but not unfamiliar scene and a different man.

"Harry, please let me out." Hermione said. "We've missed the trial and there would be another one."

"I'll think about if we're going." Harry said. "If you behave and act accordingly, I think we can go."

"Behave?" Hermione incredulously asked. "Act accordingly?"

Harry stared up at her and was stopping himself for finding it all amusing all the same.

"Yes." Harry said. "If you don't go and do that same stunt again maybe I can let you off these chains." Harry answered as he finished the toast and stood up.

Hermione only half finished her toast.

"I'm done." Hermione muttered under her breathe pushing the tray from her.

Harry sighed heavily.

"Fine." Harry said picking the tray up from her. "I'd be back for lunch later. Get some sleep, Hermione."

Harry moved and placed a kiss over her forehead and moved to the door when Hermione called her back.

"What makes you think you're any different from him?" Hermione spat at him. "What makes you think what you're doing right now is any different from what he's done to me?"

Harry almost did not answer.

Hermione could see his hand shook with the tray in his hand.

He was seething in anger again.

He gently turned to her and stared down at her still form on the floor.

"You want to know?" Harry asked him. "You really want to know Hermione?"

Hermione did not answer, she almost regretted what she asked of him.

"Our difference Hermione is that I keep you here because I goddamn love you." Harry said walking back to the door before turning back at her.

Hermione looked up at his seething yet calm form which was a scarier version of him.

"He kept you Hermione for god-knows what reason-"

"He was trying to protect me!" Hermione bitterly said. "He was trying to protect you!"

Harry spun and stared at her with glinting eyes.

Hermione saw his fists clenching at his sides.

"I kept you because I love you, Hermione." Harry quietly said. "But he just wanted to bed you."

And with that, Harry walked out of her room and banged the door angrily behind him.

Hermione heard the grills and door being magically locked again as tears stained her features once more.

But she wasn't about to give up easily, not yet anyway.

She was a Gryffindor and she will always be a Gryffindor even if it means standing or dying by its characteristics.

As Harry was quite busy berating her and her feelings over the things they usually argued about, he did not notice something.

Harry had always been careful about bringing in utensils to her but in his fury and distraction, he must have forgotten to take back the small bread knife that Hermione had used to jam and butter her toast.

Hermione had managed to keep her senses intact and her emotions under control despite Harry's physical and mental torture over her and these enabled her to take the bread knife and keep it beneath her without Harry noticing anything at all.

As the door and bars closed before her, Harry could have sworn that he saw a glimpse of what looked like painful triumph in Hermione's soft brown eyes.

 _"_ _I'm here, I'm here." Snape whispered in a hushed tone._

 _Immediately, the servants closed the double doors and let Snape in the master's bedroom._

 _The large master's bedroom was empty except for the woman who lay on the four poster bed in the midst of the room._

 _It was Narcissa Malfoy._

 _"_ _You should not be here." Narcissa croaked out. "You should not be here. Lucius will be here any minute."_

 _"_ _I can't leave you." Snape said. "I can't just leave you."_

 _"_ _How did you know.." Narcissa said as Snape sat by her bed and knelt on the floor holding her hand._

 _"_ _It does not matter."_

 _"_ _Draco's servant sent you a Patronus-" Narcissa said in an almost angry tone._

 _"_ _Give me an hour – half an hour, I will brew something that will ease your pain-" Snape whispered as he pointed his wand over his face and removed the Disillusionment Charm._

 _Narcissa extended her very weak hand towards him to stop him from moving away from the bed._

 _"_ _I am dying, Severus." Narcissa whispered holding his hand closely to her heart. "I can feel it."_

 _"_ _No, shush, no, that's not going to happen." Snape whispered gently brushing her soft hair._

 _But they both knew that she was right._

 _"_ _I'm not going to let that happen." Snape whispered bending closer and kissing her forehead. "I'm not going to let that happen."_

 _"_ _Don't." Narcissa said griping his wrist with her remaining strength. "Don't go anywhere."_

 _"_ _I can't just let you be like this. I'll make a potion – have – have someone from St. Mungo's-"_

 _"_ _I don't want the hospital." Narcissa firmly said and a look of defiance quickly passed her face._

 _Snape nodded and understood._

 _He sighed heavily and took her hand to his lips._

 _"_ _Please let me help you." Snape whispered. "Tell me what exactly hurts and I will brew something-"_

 _"_ _Draco." Narcissa said. "Draco will return with his father. You must make sure that you're gone once they arrive-"_

 _"_ _I'm not going to leave you like this-"_

 _"_ _A notebook is laid in that drawer. Take it. I had created that special banking account for you, Severus. It will suffice you and your needs – enough for a new beginning-"_

 _"_ _Cissy, please stop talking this way-"_

 _"_ _Everything you will need to begin again will be supplied, Severus. Please ensure Draco's safety."_

 _"_ _I have casted the charm on him, the enchantment. Even without me by his side he will remain unharmed for as long as he does not denounce his being a Black nor a Malfoy."_

 _"_ _My son will not do that for me. No matter how much he despises Lucius and the Malfoy name, my son will not relinquish the magic that binds him to my blood. He will remain a Malfoy whether he likes it or not."_

 _"_ _It will be his protection Narcissa even if you-" he couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence._

 _Narcissa held his gaze and reached out for his pointed and pale face._

 _"_ _You are very tired too." Narcissa said with a weakened smile. "But you are beautiful in your own way and I believe you deserve to be happy."_

 _"_ _Narcissa, please-"_

 _"_ _It was the right decision." Narcissa whispered. "You have done well, my dear friend."_

 _"_ _Hermione would have survived.."_

 _"_ _We both know that's a lie. She would not have survived without my help." Narcissa smiled at him._

 _"_ _I would never have…"_

 _"_ _I know you wouldn't." Narcissa said smiling at him. "But we both know it was what was needed and it is what I wanted."_

 _"_ _Narcissa, please don't speak this way."_

 _"_ _Seven years is long, Severus. She would need you. You need to be there for her. You are the only man for the job._

 _Snape almost laughed at it._

 _"_ _Only man for the job?" he asked her. "Dumbledore couldn't have thought of anyone else for any job and this one right here that has also been needed to be my-"_

 _Narcissa painfully smiled again at him._

 _Snape only nodded at her._

 _"_ _Please tell me how I can ease your pain."_

 _"_ _Take the notebook and go, Severus."_

 _"_ _Hermione will not be happy with me."_

 _"_ _You deserve happiness and if she cannot give it, she is an ungrateful woman."_

 _"_ _Love is not measured by that." Snape said._

 _Narcissa placed her finger over his cheeks and smiled._

 _"_ _How much you have grown, I will never be able to comprehend, Severus."_

 _"_ _Don't leave me. I cannot lose you. I cannot lose my only friend."_

 _"_ _You aren't to lose me and I will be able to guide and protect you from whence I shall be sent forth."_

 _"_ _What if she does not become happy with me?" Snape asked her._

 _"_ _If she loves you, she will stay."_

 _"_ _And if she does not?"_

 _"_ _If you love her, then you will let her go."_

 _Silence._

 _Snape bent forward and kissed her forehead for the last time._

 _"_ _I will be always grateful of you." Snape whispered as he moved her hand close to his face._

 _"_ _And I to you." Narcissa whispered gently kissing his closed fist around hers._

 _Snape watched in pain as Narcissa sighed heavily and her breathes became shortened and heavy by each dragging moment._

 _"_ _I love you, my dear friend." Narcissa said a tear falling off her face. "Go. Go and take the notebook with you. Have a new beginning, a new life."_

 _"_ _Narcissa-"_

 _"_ _I will always be happy knowing you have become the man I always knew you were."_

 _"_ _I am not any man to deserve any-"_

 _"_ _You are the bravest man I've ever known of." Narcissa whispered closing her eyes in the heavy pain that passed through inside her._

 _Snape's eyes threatened with tears as he watched her dying form in his hands._

 _"_ _Cissy, please.."_

 _"_ _You do for others what others would never and you sacrifice yourself like none I know of."_

 _"_ _I'm not brave enough for all of these-"_

 _"_ _But you have enough love in you for all of these." Narcissa whispered. "It will not be easy but it will always be what is right."_

 _"_ _Narcissa.."_

 _"_ _I sometimes feel like the Sorting Hat too makes its own mistakes. Don't you think it sorts too early?" Narcissa asked him with a twinkle in her eyes as she smiled at his direction._

 _"_ _Cissy, please."_

 _"_ _I will always be proud and grateful of you." Narcissa said with a painful smile before her eyes drifted off and slowly closed._

 _Her firm grasp over his hand slowly weakened until her fingers softened and opened on their own accord._

 _"_ _Cissy?" Snape whispered as tears came from his eyes. "Narcissa? Cissy?!"_

 _He called._

 _He called again._

 _His voice echoed in the grand master's bedroom as he repeated her name over and over again but no sound nor answer came from her._

 _His cries became angrier and painful by the moment._

 _Her labored breathing slowed down and slowly decayed until she Snape could no longer see nor feel any sign of movement from the woman in his arms_


	30. Chapter 30

_**Chapter Thirty**_

 ** _Tears, Maps and Patronus_**

 _"_ _Hermione!" his voice called. "Hermione!"_

 _But Hermione did not answer._

 _She moved the shower's handle and turned it to ensure that more water poured out blocking the sounds from the outside of the door and vice versa._

 _She was crying._

 _She had just slept with the Potions Master for the second time._

 _She didn't know what to do._

 _She felt she was growing insane._

 _Why would she want to be in the bed with him?_

 _She hated him._

 _She hated him with all the morsel of her body._

 _But she also trusted him and knew that he was taking good care of her._

 _He cared for her._

 _She knew and was sure of that but love?_

 _She didn't care._

 _She was sure that she did not love him but something about him kept her and her feelings both confused and attached towards him._

 _Over the sound of the cold water pouring, she could still hear his tapping against the door and his insistent voice calling her name._

 _Hermione scrubbed her skin harder and harder by the moment as she cried._

 _She could feel his mouth over her soft skin, his tongue lingering along her neckline and earlobes and his dark and rich voice echoing around her ears._

 _She could almost feel his fingers tracing the insides of her thighs as he touched her for the first and second time._

 _Hermione hated herself._

 _She hated him, she despised him and yet she wanted the feeling of him close to her, the feeling of his skin against hers._

 _She was betraying Harry. She was breaking his heart despite his knowledge._

 _She was breaking her own heart._

 _"_ _No, no, please go away.. go away.." Hermione cried out loud as she scrubbed the sponge harder over her skin._

 _Her tears were barely felt over her face as the harsh cold water poured down from up overhead from the shower._

 _Her skin began to turn richly red at the way she harshly scrubbed the sponge over her skin._

 _It was as if she felt when she washed away and scrubbed every dirt over her skin she was likely to erase the touches and kisses that Snape has planted over her skin._

 _She was disgusted._

 _Not of what he has done exactly but of what had transpired – twice even – and how she could possibly let it happen._

 _It broke her heart that she was so frustrated to find and be with Harry again that she had lost herself and lost herself in Snape's arms for comfort._

 _She wanted nothing but to be with Harry but she knew that wasn't possible._

 _She knew it was nowhere possibly to be with him and if he wasn't going to bring her back, she had to find a way – but how?_

 _How could she when she knew the dangers and harm it could bring him?_

 _More tears flowed from her eyes as she scrubbed even harder – cleaning, clearing and erasing every possible memory of their time together and everything else that came in between._

 _"_ _Harry, I'm sorry.." Hermione cried harder by the moment. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry.. Harry.. please… please.. save me.. Harry.. Harry.. I'm sorry.."_

 _Hermione repeatedly cried and scrubbed her skin painfully up to the point that it began to slowly bleed that she barely heard the door being opened and a voice came._

 _She was barely conscious as she continue to cry and scrub and barely felt the pair of dry arms take her from the large bath tub, forcedly pulling her out and calling her name._

 _Snape struggled and forced Hermione's crying and naked form from the tub._

 _He was barely able to pull her out and they both fell back over the carpeted bathroom floor._

 _She hit herself further with her bare hands now – scratching her own skin and scathingly staring at herself._

 _"_ _Hermione, please stop.. please, please stop it.."_

 _"_ _Don't touch me – don't touch me – let me go!" Hermione screamed against him, kicking and continuously hurt herself._

 _Snape grabbed the towel from the other side of the room that had fallen and quickly forced it around Hermione to keep her from being cold._

 _"_ _Please, stop this.. Hermione please-"_

 _"_ _Get your hands off me!" Hermione screamed at him. "Get your filthy hands off me!"_

 _Snape held her tighter in his arms, rocking her back and forth to calm her down._

 _"_ _Get away! Get away! I want to go back to Harry! I want to-"_

 _"_ _Hermione, please.. please don't hurt yourself, please stop this."_

 _Snape wasn't sure what triggered it._

 _He wasn't sure what triggered Hermione's tantrums tonight._

 _He thought things were becoming better for them – he thought that the second time, she actually really wanted what has happened._

 _But seeing her this way now – seeing her hurt herself because of him was more than painful for himself._

 _"_ _Hermione, please calm down – let's talk about this – let's-"_

 _"_ _NO!" Hermione said and she began hitting him now. "Get your hands off me! Get your filthy hands off me! Don't touch me! Don't touch me!"_

 _"_ _Hermione, please-"_

 _"_ _I want to go back to Harry! I want to go back-"_

 _"_ _Hermione, please.. please don't do this, you're hurting yourself – don't do this to yourself-"_

 _"_ _Please bring me to Harry – Harry!" she began screaming Harry's name this time which triggered pain in him that he had not expected._

 _"_ _Hermione, please-"_

 _"_ _Harry! Harry! Help me.. help me.. help me.." Hermione cried kicking and moving against him._

 _"_ _Hermione.."_

 _"_ _Please bring me back.. please.. Harry.. help me… please… "_

 _"_ _Hermione, Harry's not here.. he's not.. he cannot.."_

 _"_ _I don't want to be here.. I don't want.. I don't want you.. I don't want you.. please get away.. please… Harry… Harry, save me.."_

 _It took about another hour to calm Hermione down._

 _Snape patiently waited as she struggled, curled and calmed herself down in his arms on the bathroom floor._

 _She only stopped yelling because it seemed that all her energy had been used up._

 _But her tears did not stop._

 _She continued to cry and wail time and again as they lay on the floor together._

 _Snape was unable to take track of the time but sooner than he expected, he had found himself still on the floor with her fast asleep in his arms._

 _Tears were still gleaming all over her face but she was fast asleep with a grimace of a facial expression._

 _It was night time already._

 _Snape sighed heavily with an annoying head ache._

 _If she was losing it, he wasn't sure what to call what he was feeling._

 _He looked down at her curled up form in his arms._

 _She was fast asleep but he knew that there was no peace in her heart and her mind._

 _She was going to wake up later and cry again for sure and tomorrow, everything would be the same._

 _She was never going to give up on forcing him to bring her back._

 _She was never going to give up on the rules he had placed over her._

 _She was never going to surrender completely to him._

 _She was never going to be whatever he wanted her to be._

 _She was never going to be truly in the place where he was._

 _She was never going to be with him._

 _She was never going to love him the way he wanted to._

 _Tears warmed his eyelids as he moved his lips over her cinnamon curls as he kissed her head._

 _Hermione Granger was never going to be his no matter what he does because her heart will always belong to only one man._

 _It was true._

 _Another loss to another Potter._

 _"_ _Harry, you've got to eat." Kingsley said as he handed him his third mug of coffee._

 _"_ _I'm not hungry." Harry said as he walked around the large conference room as he took the mug from him._

 _It was half past two in the morning and an emergency meeting for the Order of the Phoenix and high-ranking Aurors have been called out at the office of the Minister of Magic._

 _Kingsley worriedly looked at Harry who drowned himself with the third cup and was reading and studying through a very large European map across the long conference table._

 _Lupin had just arrived in the room together with professor McGonagall, Bill Weasley with his father and two more Aurors from Harry's department._

 _It had been a very quiet and ordinary Tuesday night until someone from the Ministry of Magic sent Kingsley a sudden, unexpected and unbelievable report._

 _24 hours ago, someone had filed and requested for a copy of birth certificates, academic and professional records from the Ministry of Magic bearing names of two people that have been associated with none other than Harry Potter and the Second Wizarding World War._

 _An old Auror who used to work at the Ministry of Magic and who has requested to be transferred to his old hometown at Scotland a few years ago, had quickly sent message to the Minister of Magic himself in regards to the requested files._

 _He might have been an ex-Auror retired of the services and an old man, but he wasn't naïve not to know and understand the meaning of the names Hermione Jean Granger and Severus Tobias Snape._

 _Snape's name alone wasn't unfamiliar due to his records not only as an ex-Death Eater nor as a Hogwarts professor, but all of his associations with the Dark Lord alone._

 _Hermione Jean Granger was ofcourse a name never forgotten by those who were involved in the war or those who had lost someone in the first and second war and had known of the name Harry Potter and everyone else associated to him._

 _Despite being unsure and the things it might cause him due to Harry's would-be awareness of this, he did not think twice of sending Harry a message in regards to it. After all, the boy had been waiting for a decade for any news of the bestfriend and love of his life that he had lost in the war._

 _Two younger Ministry assistants came bursting into the office carrying scrolls of maps in their hands and a couple of other parchments._

 _Harry hurried towards them and grabbed the maps from them._

 _He quickly asked them to lay the maps open and had asked for a scroll of parchment and a quill._

 _Kingsley stared at the way Harry was working._

 _He had been alerted only about half an hour ago by his Patronus and wasn't really expecting him but he had arrived as fast as he could possibly do so with the knowledge that the others were to follow him after the Patronus he had sent himself._

 _"_ _Where's the old man?" Harry asked as he studied the map on the table and took a few notes. "Is it possible for him to arrive later today?"_

 _"_ _Possible." Kingsley answered him as he handed a tray of coffee towards Lupin and the others who had just arrived._

 _"_ _Good." Harry replied. "Is it possible to work up a team to get there later today?"_

 _Kingsley and Lupin exchanged glares._

 _"_ _Harry, I think we should study the map first." Lupin suggested as he walked next to Harry and stared down at the map._

 _"_ _That's what I'm doing." Harry quickly answered without looking up from a line he was tracing over the map._

 _"_ _Yes, what I mean is that we need verification-"_

 _"_ _Was there an address left to them?" Harry had asked Kingsley and ignoring the look Lupin was giving him._

 _Kingsley shook his head._

 _"_ _Not sure about that information Harry. But the old man can bring all the info-"_

 _"_ _Kindly ask. We need to know everything that has been left in him when they requested these files-"_

 _"_ _Harry, we're not even sure if it was Hermione or Severus that has-"_

 _"_ _Are you kidding me?" Harry asked not meaning to be rude. "Who would request for their names but them?"_

 _Lupin did not answer and had exchanged glances with Kingsley and Bill._

 _"_ _Harry, we should not just jump into this." Bill said as he walked next to him this time and studied the map._

 _"_ _That's why I'm studying it now. We cannot lose any minute-"_

 _"_ _Harry, this is a complicated place at the ends of London. These are isolated and broken islands. We don't know what may be found in these places-"_

 _"_ _I think that's what I'm fucking trying to do right now."_

 _Bill and LUpin stared at one another._

 _They knew that tone too well. They had heard and seen it several times over the years and weren't good signs at all._

 _Lupin lowered his mug of coffee and sighed heavily as he moved one of the maps closer to him and read it through._

 _"_ _This is an isolated island Harry." Lupin pointed out. "We can do further research for a couple of days and-"_

 _"_ _Days?" Harry repeated shaking his head as he drew a couple of circles over the map and took a few more notes._

 _"_ _Yes, days." Lupin pressed on slightly irritated by Harry's attitude._

 _"_ _No, we're not waiting for days. When the sun rises we're going to-"_

 _"_ _We're going to what?" Bill asked him standing up from the chair. "We're going to what Harry? Attack? Go there and what when we get there? We don't even know where they are – we don't even know where this freaking island is-"_

 _"_ _THAT'S WHAT I'M FUCKING TRYING TO DO HERE IF YOU ALL WOULD JUST SHUT UP!" Harry angrily yelled across the room._

 _Silence filled the room._

 _The others all looked back up at him and his enraged state._

 _"_ _Harry, calm yourself down." Lupin quietly said. "We can talk about this-"_

 _"_ _NO!" Harry yelled shoving his hand away from him. "Can't you see I'm trying to work here- if you're all too busy to work on this I can do this by myself – I don't need any of you-"_

 _"_ _The thing is that you need us." Bill said standing tall and staring at Harry. "You need us Harry because we're not going to let you burst into that godforsaken place without-"_

 _"_ _Let me?" Harry repeated mockingly. "Let me? Who the fuck do you think you are?" Harry angrily spat at him._

 _Silence was broken by a voice Harry did not anticipate._

 _"_ _Family." Professor McGonagall answered quietly as she stood up with a firm look over her face. "We are family, Harry – we had always been."_

 _Harry did not say anything._

 _Nobody dared to say a word against her._

 _"_ _And if this information is true, then we shall go there and find them but in the most well-thought-of manner and not some mindless, poorly thought of scheme like some unexperienced Auror you seem to want us to act upon."_

 _Harry stared back at the old woman but did not say anything._

 _His fists were clenching on top of the table where he was halfway into writing something._

 _He looked very furious but someone who was also fearful of the old woman in front of them._

 _"_ _Do you understand what I'm trying to say, Mr. Potter?"_

 _"_ _Yes." Harry muttered under his breath. "I understand, professor."_

 _Lupin cleared his throat and broke the tension._

 _"_ _Come Harry. Let's study the map. What was the given information?"_

 _Harry did not answer at first but Lupin walked next to him and he blinked away from staring at McGonagall._

 _"_ _This island." Harry said pointing towards the largest circle he drew over the map._

 _Lupin took a glance over the map._

 _"_ _Beltane?" he asked curiously taking a closer look at it. "This is the Island of Beltane?"_

 _"_ _Yes." Harry answered as Kingsley walked to his side and the others began to move around the room to check the maps and parchments of information across the table._

 _Harry stared and waited as Lupin studied the map and read through a geographical book over the table that Harry had requested a few hours ago._

 _"_ _It's hardly populated." Lupin commented as he read through the map and the information from an open book across the table._

 _"_ _Hardly." Bill piped in as he pulled another bigger version of the map over the table. "There's barely any mainland or landmarks or history and trace of trades."_

 _"_ _They could be here." Kingsley pointed out as McGonagall read through a couple of notes that Harry had written earlier. "There are only three waterways that could be the entrance and exit to and from the island from the nearest mainland."_

 _Lupin shook his head as he studied and compared the maps across the table._

 _"_ _This island is really isolated. If they are here, how would – how and why would they end up there-"_

 _"_ _Ask Snape." Harry bitterly said as he looked down over the maps. "I'm quite sure he has an answer."_

 _"_ _We can't jump into any conclusions, Harry." Kingsley pointed out as he lowered the map in his hand._

 _"_ _Really?" Harry asked him with a raised brow. "You're suggesting Hermione just suddenly decided to live in a place so far and isolated there would hardly be any books or information to feed her mind? I hardly think Hermione would survive three days there-"_

 _"_ _Harry." Lupin said calling back his attention from all the sarcasm coming out from his mouth._

 _Harry closed his mouth and kept quiet._

 _"_ _Innocent until proven guilty, Harry." Lupin reminded him._

 _Harry ignored him._

 _Lupin pulled a parchment and pointed a few things from the list he had created earlier._

 _"_ _There is barely any information in the place but I think we can do further research on the-"_

 _"_ _The place has only one small town, one very small and it gave me information from what I've read awhile ago that there is small trace of trade there but the whole island is completely off the coast that are monitored or clear over maps."_

 _"_ _It's like the place had been forgotten." Lupin suggested._

 _"_ _Godforsken indeed is more like it." Bill said._

 _"_ _The island is completely surrounded by waters and travel back to the nearest port in Scotland takes about three days – this is a very far off island. You could almost count with our fingers the possible population here."_

 _"_ _We need to check it, Remus." McGonagall said and this time her voice was warmer and calm. "With these information, they may indeed be here."_

 _"_ _They are there." Harry said as he finished his third mug of coffee. "I'm telling you they are here."_

 _Lupin looked up and stared at Harry and knew that determination over his face._

 _Truth be told, he believes that they could possibly be there._

 _An isolated island?_

 _An island with history of trade and landmarks that are barely over the maps and books?_

 _It sounded like a good place to stay for quite a very long time._

 _It was a place of solace and many other forms of reason to be able to stay away from other people._

 _But why?_

 _That was the most crucial question of all – why?_

 _Draco burst into the master's bedroom to find Narcissa on the bed._

 _He felt it, something inside of him told him that something had gone terribly wrong._

 _Narcissa was pale and unmoving over the bed._

 _Draco's eyes widened upon seeing the unmoving form of her mother on the four poster bed._

 _A scream of anger._

 _Echoes of cries._

 _Lucius Malfoy had come into the room and stared at the form of his wife._

 _"_ _Draco." Lucius whispered quickly pushing Draco aside as he grabbed her wrist and felt for her pulse._

 _"_ _Send a Patronus at the hospital." Lucius said as tears began to fill his eyes._

 _Draco watched, speechless and almost immobile as he stared at his father kneel by the bed, feeling for Narcissa's pulse._

 _"_ _She's alive." Lucius whispered. "Barely. Draco, get the Patronus to the hospital."_

 _"_ _I don't-"_

 _"_ _Draco, your mother.. she's alive but barely. Cast the Patronus. I can't cast it."_

 _Draco seemed shaken but he knew the meaning of those words._

 _His father could no longer truly produce a full Patronus._

 _With a swish of his wand, his Patronus took form and was sent out of the room in a misty and magical form._

 _He stood there as Lucius fretted around Narcissa's body and carried her from the bed._

 _Her pulse was extremely weak – it was barely there but it was there. And it was enough to possibly revive the life out of her._

 _"_ _Draco, we need to bring her down-"_

 _Draco's eyes widened and he slowly pointed his wand to his father._

 _"_ _I'm not letting you get out of this place. We already talked, father. You're going to –"_

 _"_ _I know what we've talked about!" Lucius yelled angrily as he carried his dying wife in his arms._

 _Draco stared and blocked the door pointing his wand over his father._

 _"_ _You're going to have to give yourself up to them. I can't keep you anymore. Mother and I can't-"_

 _"_ _Your mother's life is far more important for me-"_

 _"_ _Now it's important to you?" Draco asked him incredulously._

 _Tears started running down his pale cheeks as he stood there with his wand shaking before his face._

 _"_ _Draco, please."_

 _"_ _Now you're concerned? I've been telling you a long time ago that she's sick – that she's not well and now-"_

 _"_ _Draco, please.. Your mother.. we need to bring her-"_

 _"_ _I will bring her-" Draco yelled at him. "You goddamn sit over there and wait for what they will-"_

 _Lucius' eyes widened and he slowly lowered Narcissa back over the bed._

 _Draco shook his head as he cried._

 _Lucius Malfoy's face started to pale at the thought coming through him._

 _The Dark Lord had been gone and Death Eaters alike have been scouted, killed and sent to Azkaban._

 _Draco had been keeping his father out of harm's way because his blood and magic was still intact and were keeping the Malfoy power standing still._

 _He had been wanted for so long but Draco and Narcissa had been keeping him – or rather, Draco had agreed to keep him because of her mother's request._

 _But tonight, the story would be different._

 _"_ _What did you say?" Lucius asked panic rising in his voice. "What did you do Draco?"_

 _Draco shook his head and momentarily glanced at her mother's dying figure._

 _"_ _Mother will be gone soon." Draco cried at him knowing it was truth no matter how painful that was. "And I hope you understand what that meant-"_

 _"_ _What did you do Draco-" Lucius yelled at him as he stared around the room, panic suddenly attacking him._

 _"_ _I can't keep on doing something that is not right." Draco said as he moved closer to her mother's side._

 _Lucius stared from Narcissa's body then back at Draco._

 _He slowly took his wand out from his robes._

 _"_ _Draco, you wouldn't-" Lucius said shaking his head in utmost disbelief._

 _"_ _You are only here because of mother's request." Draco whispered._

 _He took a very painful glance down at his own mother's dying form._

 _Lucius stared at him, ready to strike but Draco had things prepared ahead._

 _He knew it and he already felt it._

 _His mother was dying and knew that it was an inevitable fact._

 _He couldn't live that way and couldn't live in the shadows any longer._

 _It had been too hard and too long already and he wasn't going to stay that way – not when he knew that it was only by her mother's request that he was doing what he was and was not doing what he knew he should._

 _"_ _Draco." Lucius' voice was almost begging at him. "Please."_

 _Draco shook his head and looked away from Lucius._

 _"_ _I'm sorry father." Draco whispered and with a swish of his wand and a powerful non-verbal spell, Draco charmed the manor and with one massive wand movement, had lifted all the powerful enchantments protecting the Malfoy Manor that he had been slowly weakening for weeks now._

 _At first, there was nothing._

 _Lucius waited in silence with his wand raised at his own son._

 _And then they both heard it._

 _Glasses began to break and voices were heard everywhere._

 _Ministry officials, Aurors and Order of the Phoenix alike began bursting into the manor and taking hold and order of the whole house._

 _Apparitions came from all direction and soon, faces both the Malfoy men knew came into view._

 _Draco watched with a firm look over his face as Aurors slowly surrounded Lucius Malfoy with wands raised towards him._

 _He barely heard and understood the warrant that was being uttered for Lucius and the way he had been disarmed._

 _"_ _Draco." A voice came and a hand lowered over Draco's shoulder slowly lowering his wand hand._

 _Draco's body was shaking in anger and tears still streamed down his face but he slowly lowered his wand and let Lupin take it from him._

 _"_ _Healers are on the way." Lupin whispered by his side as they both stared at the Aurors who placed wards and spells around Lucius' wrist to disable him from moving against the magical bonds they placed._

 _"_ _How could you.." Lucius whispered as he stared at his own son who had orchestrated the groundbreaking capture of the most wanted Death Eater that the Aurors had been after for so long._

 _"_ _Because I could." Draco whispered back as he knelt by the bed over her mother's side. "And because it is what she has wanted for a long time but couldn't have the courage to do so."_

 _Lucius did not say anything as he was held down by the Aurors._

 _They both barely heard the house being turned down for any other evidences of Lucius' betrayal of the government and community as a Death Eater and as a loyalist of the Dark Lord._

 _"_ _You'll be fine." Draco whispered kissing her mother's forehead._

 _"_ _I'm here, mother." Draco whispered as he held the small of her wrist where the weakest of her pulse could be felt. "You'll be fine mother.. everything will be alright."_


	31. Chapter 31

_**Chapter Thirty One**_

 _ **The Truth**_

 _"_ _Potter!"_

 _Both Harry and Hermione looked up and saw a furious looking Snape staring at their direction at the corner of the classroom._

 _They had been asked to read on a few paragraphs on today's lecture on Defense Against the Dark Arts and write their thoughts about the lecture._

 _However, Harry not been paying attention as he was busy running his hands over Hermione's lap who was restraining herself from giggling as she wrote their supposedly 'partner' work._

 _"_ _What?" Harry asked as he quickly sat up straight while Hermione tried her best to keep a passive face as she continued to write._

 _Snape slowly walked towards their corner in the room._

 _Nobody was paying attention anymore to the seatwork they were supposed to do._

 _For some reason, Snape was more than vindictive as he could still possibly be._

 _He already had the position he had always longed for this school year so it kept everyone questioning why he would act this way especially at the way he almost treats Draco as bad as everyone these days._

 _Draco Malfoy had always been the obvious favourite of the Potions Master and the sudden change of his special treatment to the boy this year was not only curious for many but also a questionable act._

 _What would change between the two of them?_

 _"_ _Yes?" Harry asked. "Professor?" he quickly added when Hermione kicked him under the table._

 _Snape stared at him, down to their work, at Hermione then back at him._

 _"_ _I asked this to be a partner work. It seems only Miss Granger is working."_

 _"_ _I'm doing my part too."_

 _"_ _Really?" Snape silkily asked him as he stood closer their table. "And which is that?"_

 _"_ _I was-"_

 _"_ _He was reading through the paragraphs and pointing out the possible answers for our essay, professor." Hermione said sitting straight and looking up at Snape._

 _He turned to the girl with glinting eyes._

 _"_ _Pray tell, Mr. Potter." Snape said folding his arms. "What have you read and possibly learned in regards to uses and possible cure for deeply embedded curses?"_

 _Harry stared up at him without any answer inside his head._

 _He had read that – well, only the introduction._

 _He had been too occupied gently running his hands over Hermione's leg beneath her skirt._

 _He had totally lost track of what he was supposedly learning._

 _Harry opened his mouth to say something but Hermione quickly interrupted._

 _"_ _Professor, I'm sorry, I might lose it from my head. I was wondering if you can explain to me the difference of this term to the one used on the deeply embedded curses and the possible relation and distance or length of time for they used on this one right here?_

 _Hermione turned the book to Snape's side so that he could read through it from where he stood._

 _The room was quiet._

 _Harry wasn't blinking, mouth still half-open to defend and explain himself._

 _Hermione was waiting, expecting him to answer her inquiry._

 _Snape's eyes glinted momentarily at Harry before slowly putting his attention back on the book and paragraph Hermione's fingers were on._

 _He stared at her and down at the part she was pointing at._

 _He slowly took the book and Hermione watched intently as he quietly read, his lips moving through the paragraph she was pointing at._

 _He took the book from the table and lifted a few pages forward then pointed at an advance chapter and pointed at a paragraph._

 _"_ _Sixteenth line, Miss Granger." Snape said as he slowly returned the book back towards the table and slowly turned his attention to Harry._

 _"_ _Thank you, professor."_

 _"_ _Mr. Potter, I suggest you work more and listen more. I know you're very excited at the party that professor Slughorn is about to have for his most 'brilliant' and 'favoured' students- perhaps too excited to have Miss Granger as your date that you couldn't even keep your hands off her for a minute -" his eyes settled on him with such hatred._

 _"_ _I'm not really-"_

 _"_ _Studies first, before anything else. You wouldn't know what you'll surprisingly learn in this room that can possibly save yours and others' life later, Mr. Potter."_

 _And with that, he slowly moved away from them with his eyes settled upon the paragraph that Hermione was reading through._

 _"_ _What happened?" Snape said quickly entering the room and locking it behind him. "What's the emergency? Are you not feeling well?"_

 _Narcissa casted the Silencing Charm around the room and stared as Snape settled his things over the table in the small hotel room._

 _She sat quietly and watched him with narrowed eyes as he began to unpack a couple of potion bottles and ingredients._

 _She stood from the chair and dimmed the lights in the room – they couldn't be too careful these days._

 _"_ _How are you feeling?" Snape asked sharply turning to her and preparing his things._

 _"_ _I'm fine." Narcissa said. "I've felt a lot better since I've last seen you and since you've given those potions. I still have enough bottles."_

 _"_ _What?" Snape asked halfway into preparing things to be brewed._

 _He stared at her with question in his eyes._

 _"_ _But you said there's an emergency." Snape said. "You sent me the message, you said you do have to see me."_

 _"_ _I needed to." Narcissa quietly said. "And it is not about me but it is an emergency."_

 _Snape's black eyes narrowed as he slowly lowered the objects in his hands._

 _He completely turned to her and stared at her worried expression._

 _"_ _What's going on?" he asked knowing the look she was giving him. "What's happening, Narcissa?"_

 _Narcissa looked up at him with such worry in her eyes._

 _He had not seen her this worried since she had asked him to watch over Draco in the year that the Dark Lord had asked him to kill Albus Dumbledore and he had to protect him with all that he could._

 _Narcissa looked reluctant as she backed away and slowly sat back on the edge of the bed._

 _Snape stared and waited but the silence between them was unnerving and making him feel sick._

 _"_ _Narcissa." Snape quietly said. "Cissy, what's going on?"_

 _Narcissa looked up at him with both fear and reluctance in her eyes._

 _"_ _Severus, I'm not sure how I will tell you.."_

 _"_ _Just tell me." Snape said. "What's going on?"_

 _Narcissa bit her lower lip which told him all the more that she was terribly and horribly worried about something._

 _"_ _I've only seen you about a week ago, Cissy. And I've written you a note a few days ago and you said you're feeling better. If you didn't call me here because of your state then why did you?"_

 _Narcissa didn't answer._

 _Snape walked to her and knelt by her side, taking her hand gently into his._

 _"_ _We talked that seeing one another is not a good idea and we'll only do it if it is truly imperative." Snape said emphasizing each word and making her feel even more uncomfortable._

 _"_ _Severus.. I'm not.."_

 _"_ _You've called me for something. What is going on?" he asked the last words with emphasis on each of them._

 _Narcissa looked up at him with evident fear in her eyes now._

 _Snape took hold of her wrists._

 _"_ _Cissy, what's happening?" he asked her. "I cannot help you if you wouldn't-"_

 _"_ _How is she?" Narcissa suddenly asked him. "How's she doing?"_

 _Snape blinked and stared at her. For a moment, his brain seemed to have stopped from working as he worked on what she was asking._

 _"_ _Hermione?" he asked her evidently confused._

 _"_ _Yes." Narcissa answered. "How is she doing?"_

 _"_ _She's.. she's fine." Snape answered her. "She's.. She's better since we've casted the enchantment on her. She's trying and coping at the idea that she has.. that she needs to be isolated in such a very long time."_

 _Narcissa looked sideways and away from him._

 _Snape gripped her wrists tighter._

 _"_ _What's happening?" he asked suddenly alarmed. "What's this got to do with her?"_

 _Narcissa swallowed hard and stared at him._

 _"_ _Severus, I don't know.. we've.. I've.."_

 _"_ _What?" Snape asked slightly shaking her._

 _He was causing her panic but she needed to see that she was doing the same to him._

 _"_ _Narcissa, if you don't-"_

 _"_ _I've seen Bella the other day." Narcissa said looking away again. "I've talked to Bella and there was.. she said something.."_

 _"_ _Something?" Snape asked definitely alarmed upon hearing Bellatrix being involved in this._

 _"_ _Yes." Narcissa nodded. "She mentioned something about.. about the curse.."_

 _"_ _The Urduja Curse?" Snape asked. "The one she fucking casted on her?"_

 _"_ _Not on her." Narcissa corrected with slight anger in her tone. "It was meant for the boy-"_

 _"_ _The boy or the girl – it's the same thing, Cissy. She casted it to harm them!"_

 _Narcissa didn't say anything._

 _She knew her sister and how evil she was but she was still her sister._

 _"_ _I'm sorry." Snape quickly said gently taking her hands into his. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you."_

 _"_ _It's fine." Narcissa muttered at her._

 _She heavily breathed and held his hands in hers._

 _"_ _I think we might have a problem." she slowly said. "I think you might have a problem.."_

 _"_ _Well isn't that a surprise?" Snape sarcastically said with genuine anger in his voice._

 _Narcissa's face softened at him. She looked like she was about to cry at him._

 _"_ _Just tell me." Snape said heavily breathing to accept whatever was coming for him to carry this time._

 _"_ _The Urduja Curse is meant to.. to harm.." Narcissa slowly explained to him._

 _"_ _Yes." Snape agreed. "That's the main point of the curse."_

 _"_ _It's meant to harm in a.. different manner but we're able to… to sort of hold it back or seal it."_

 _"_ _Yes." Snape said. "Thanks to your blood. I will be grateful for that."_

 _Narcissa nodded as she looked away again._

 _"_ _Severus, this isn't going to be easy."_

 _"_ _Nothing has ever been."_

 _Silence._

 _Narcissa heavily breathed and held his hands tighter in hers._

 _She slowly looked up at him and held his gaze._

 _"_ _What is it?" he slowly asked. "Tell me, Cissy."_

 _Narcissa nodded and a tear fell off her eyes._

 _"_ _The Urduja Curse is meant to harm but since we've sealed it, it's effects won't come out as full as it should be.. however.. it will.. it will then destroy inside."_

 _"_ _Destroy inside?" Snape repeated trying to comprehend what she was trying to tell him._

 _"_ _Yes." Narcissa said heavily breathing. "The curse is meant to harm, it's nature is to harm. It's most essential property is to harm.. but since we've sealed it, it will not do what it's meant to do however.. it will do the reverse."_

 _"_ _Do the reverse?" Snape repeated at her. "Do the reverse?"_

 _"_ _Yes." Narcissa slowly said. "Not really reverse.. but something of the sort."_

 _They stared at one another for a moment before it dawned on Snape._

 _"_ _Self-destruct." Snape's voice was suddenly filled with panic and fear. "It will self-destruct."_

 _"_ _Yes."_

 _"_ _It will.. self-destruct." Snape repeated over again. "It will kill her? It will kill Hermione?"_

 _Narcissa looked reluctant but she nodded in admittance._

 _For a moment he only stared at her and then he let her hand go and backed away from her._

 _"_ _But.. she can't.." Snape muttered. "I've been taking good care of her so she can..so I can bring her back. I promised to bring her back."_

 _"_ _I know." Narcissa answered. "Sweetheart, I know.. but.. "_

 _"_ _But what?" Snape asked her. "But what?"_

 _Narcissa didn't answer._

 _She moved herself away from him but Snape grasped her hand._

 _He rigidly held her and Narcissa turned pale._

 _"_ _Tell me everything-"_

 _"_ _My arm, Severus-"_

 _"_ _She's well, she's been doing well – she's actually been doing better and she's-"_

 _"_ _Now she is." Narcissa gravely said. "But not…not for long. The curse embedded in her will slowly harm her within."_

 _"_ _But we've sealed it – we had-"_

 _"_ _It will slowly kill her inside, Severus."_

 _The words stabbed his insides gravely._

 _He held her tighter than ever._

 _Narcissa flinched in pain and actually entertained the thought that he was about to really hurt her._

 _"_ _You can't let her die!" Snape suddenly yelled at her. "I can't let her die!"_

 _"_ _There is a way." Narcissa slowly said with her back turned to him. "There is a way but it's not.. it's not something I want you to do."_

 _"_ _Not something you want me to do?" Snape repeated with sarcasm and hatred._

 _He walked to her and faced her._

 _"_ _Isn't giving many things up, sacrificing many things and putting my life in the line for Dumbledore and the Dark Lord too much to bear already?" he angrily asked her. "Is there something else you think I cannot do?"_

 _"_ _Yes." Narcissa said with anguish. "I won't.. I've seen you and watched you burn your own soul in hell but I will not push it farther, Severus-"_

 _"_ _What is the way!" Snape angrily asked. "What's the goddamn way, Narcissa!"_

 _"_ _You won't do it." Narcissa firmly said. "I wouldn't let you."_

 _"_ _Let me?" Snape asked her. "You wouldn't – you couldn't tell me what to and what not to do-"_

 _"_ _It's too much already. I won't let you put yourself in a way and in such a position that will place your-"_

 _"_ _I don't give a damn anymore, Cissy." Snape angrily said. "I don't give a fucking damn any more just tell me how I save her life!"_

 _Narcissa stared back at him with such hatred in her eyes – hatred for herself._

 _Snape waited for her answer. His eyes were begging her._

 _Narcissa looked away for a moment. Reluctant as she was, she looked back at Severus with shame all over her face._

 _"_ _Please." Snape said. "Tell me what should be done to save her life so I can bring her back."_

 _Narcissa heavily sighed._

 _"_ _Bella mentioned that the curse has been embedded and manipulated by the Dark Lord."_

 _Snape quietly listened as he watched her spill tears from her eyes and words from her mouth._

 _"_ _I have created the properties of the enchantment." Snape explained. "I have proposed the properties of the enchantment but the Dark Lord has enhanced it and manipulated it with his own magic."_

 _"_ _He has created certain properties to it. Yes?"_

 _"_ _Yes."_

 _"_ _He created the property that will make his own Death Eaters immune to it, yes?"_

 _"_ _Yes." Snape said. "But I don't understand what you mean-"_

 _"_ _You're a Death Eater. You are immune to it."_

 _"_ _Yes." Snape said. "Yes, I am immune to it."_

 _Silence._

 _They exchanged glares._

 _Then Snape's expression slowly changed._

 _He shook his head and backed away, quickly letting her go._

 _Narcissa took a step forward him and reached out for his arm but Snape moved himself away from her._

 _"_ _You are immune to the properties of the curse, Severus." Narcissa slowly said. "Only you can save her but at a terrible price."_

 _Snape closed his eyes and took another step backward._

 _He could almost tell what was coming._

 _"_ _We've sealed the curse. But it will self-destruct."_

 _"_ _I won't.. I can't.."_

 _"_ _You wanted to know, now I'm telling you. This is the way to save her."_

 _"_ _There must be.."_

 _"_ _You are immune to the curse. You're immune for the characteristic of yours that the curse is created with."_

 _"_ _My blood?" Snape slowly answered._

 _"_ _Not just your blood." Narcissa said. "Everything that you are."_

 _He did not say anything._

 _Narcissa reached out for him but he moved himself away from her soft fingers._

 _"_ _Everything that I am?" he repeated with incredulous sarcasm._

 _"_ _It is impossible to transfer your character as a Death Eater to her.. but it is possible to shield her, to protect her within by putting yourself within her."_

 _"_ _You speak like this is some school project, Cissy."_

 _"_ _You can protect her by being one with her. Seven years, Severus. You can slowly kill the curse inside of her by slowly transferring yourself, by creating and casting protection over hers by use of.."_

 _"_ _Stop it." Snape said. "You're lying to me. You're.. Bellatrix is playing with you, with us.. with me.. She hates me and she-"_

 _"_ _She does not know of what has happened." Narcissa pointed out. "She does not know that she is with you."_

 _"_ _She.. I will kill her.. I will goddamn kill your sister."_

 _Narcissa gently cried at the anguish Snape released in front of him._

 _"_ _The curse is deeply embedded. As slowly as it will decay inside of her by the sealing of the enchantment that we've made, it will self-destruct. But if you do as you should – transferring yourself, your essence and significance to her – you can slowly protect her, shield her as the curse dies inside of her."_

 _Snape was silent._

 _He didn't know what to say._

 _He didn't know what to do._

 _He wasn't prepared for this part of what has to be done in order to keep Hermione alive and keep his promise of bringing back to them._

 _"_ _I won't do it."_

 _"_ _It won't be easy but you can. You already have feelings for her-"_

 _Snape's eyes flashed in anger and he angrily grabbed her by the wrists, painfully twisting them._

 _"_ _Severus-"_

 _"_ _You don't- you don't-"_

 _"_ _Let me go-"_

 _"_ _You don't use that on me – you don't tell me – not because I have feelings-"_

 _"_ _It is easier for you because you already feel for her-"_

 _"_ _Not because I have feelings for her it would mean that I'm more than willing to bed her!" Snape yelled throwing her back to the bed._

 _"_ _Severus-"_

 _"_ _She's a child!" Snape angrily yelled. "She's my student! And she's not goddamn mine to begin with!"_

 _"_ _That doesn't matter!" Narcissa angrily yelled back at him. "It will make her live – it will make her survive-"_

 _"_ _I'm not going –"_

 _"_ _You don't have a choice! You don't have a goddamn choice Severus! None of us ever had any goddamn choice!"_

 _Snape didn't say anything._

 _He wanted to hurt Narcissa for what her sister has done but he knew it wasn't right._

 _In his frustration, he threw around a couple of the furniture in the small hotel room they've rented._

 _Narcissa didn't say anything._

 _She cried silently but firmly sat on the bed and let him lash out his anger._

 _"_ _Severus." Narcissa whispered after a while as Snape took his travelling cloak and headed for the door._

 _"_ _I'm not going to bed her." Snape said firmly as he closed his cloak and stood by the door. "I would do a lot of things but not this, Cissy. I will find a way."_

 _"_ _There is no way."_

 _"_ _There will be a way."_

 _"_ _If you don't do this, you will kill her yourself. You will waste everything we've done."_

 _"_ _I'm not going to do this. Ask me anything, anything else but not this. I can and will do anything and everything else but not this-"_

 _"_ _Severus you know this is the only way to save her – you know that – you must forget your conscience, your dignity and your morals-"_

 _"_ _And of my feelings?" Snape angrily asked her without facing her. "My feelings? Or Hermione's?"_

 _"_ _She will understand. She understood and is overcoming what is coming to her already. This one, she will because you will be with her, you will guide her through and protect her –"_

 _"_ _I will not, I will never violate her." Snape firmly said._

 _"_ _This is the only way and deep down you know that."_

 _Silence._

 _Snape's fists clenched at his sides._

 _"_ _I have to go." Snape said. "Send me a message when you need new potions."_

 _"_ _Severus, this will save her life. She is too beautiful, too brilliant and innocent of these wars. Don't let her die."_

 _"_ _It might have escaped your notice since you've lived a good and comfortable life all throughout, but sometimes, Cissy, you need to understand that enough is enough."_

 _And with that, he opened the door and walked out banging it behind him._

Hermione's heart was pumping very fast.

She lay quietly over her bed, clutching the bread knife beneath her blanket.

Any moment now, Harry was to come in to bring her lunch.

It was her only chance and she desperately needed to take it.

She wasn't going to hurt him, she just needed to buy enough time for her to escape.

She had been keenly observing his routine these past days and knew the time he was coming and how it were all going to be.

She only needed the right timing and the right way of doing things.

She wouldn't hurt him, not really.

But she needed to get out of the house and get some help.

Harry was no longer the Harry she knew and she must get out of the house again – no matter what it would cost her.

Hermione's thoughts were vaguely interrupted when she heard the door clicking open.

Harry slowly entered bearing a tray of food for her and a smile over his face.

"Roast beef and some mashed potatoes with herbs!" Harry happily announced as he entered the room.

Hermione didn't move from her position.

She waited for him to come closer.

Harry entered and walked closer to Hermione who was lying back on the bed with her back turned at him.

"Mione." Harry said with melody in his voice. "Come sweetheart, you'll like this. I especially learned this from Mrs. Weasley. You can tell by the way it smells how good it is."

It did smell good and it did smell delectable.

Hermione remained still on the bed tightly clutching the bread knife.

She could hear Harry nearer her now, settling the tray by the bedside table and telling her to wake up for lunch.

"Mione, come on." Harry said. "After you eat, I'll bring here the new books I've bought you."

She felt Harry finish with preparing the tray and settling himself at the end of the bed.

She felt his hand slowly settle over her lap, moving and nudging her gently to wake her up.

"Mione?" he whispered reaching for her.

Hermione swallowed hard and slowly turned, pretending to have woken up.

"Harry?" she asked slowly turning to him and nudging him to come closer.

Harry smiled meaningfully at her and slowly crept up the bed towards her.

Hermione slowly lay on her back, carefully keeping the bread knife hidden from sight.

Harry moved closer her and she opened herself up towards him to entice him.

"Mione?" he asked smiling at her and gently moving his hands between her thighs.

Hermione gave the smallest of moans she could and looked back at him.

She really did not want doing this but she did not have a choice.

"You alright?" he asked gently touching her.

Hermione nodded and smiled at him.

"I'm feeling better after some sleep." Hermione said with a small smile.

Harry moved closer and without second thoughts, he moved his face to hers and kissed her.

Hermione opened her legs and let him settle between them and kissed him back.

"Tell you what." Harry whispered. "Let's eat together?" he asked her.

Hermione nodded at him.

"I could hardly eat with these." Hermione whispered against his lips before gently kissing him there.

Harry sighed heavily and groaned at the effect she had on him.

He looked reluctant but with a whispered of a spell, Hermione quickly felt the chains break from her ankles and the wrist on her other hand freeing both hands and legs.

Hermione sighed heavily as Harry pushed her back on the bed and started groping her around.

She moaned and sighed as he hungrily kissed her, touching her in every part that he could possibly reach for.

"Mione.." Harry whispered against her neck, "Mione.. please.. let's do this.. I really want you.. I've missed you so much.."

"Harry.." Hermione only whispered, controlling her movements and thoughts as she let him settle on her and lose himself.

"Please tell me you love me." Harry desperately whispered nipping her neck. "Mione, tell me you won't leave me.. tell me you love me.. I want to hear it please.."

Hermione tried to stop her tears from falling.

She couldn't be emotional at that moment and she needed herself more than ever.

She let him touch her in all parts of her and she did the same to her as she tried to feel for his wand.

Her hand reached around, touching him and slowly creeping inside his clothes until her fingers passed through the wooden stick stuck behind his back.

He arched and kissed her again, taking her mouth deeply and almost savagely in his.

He bit her lower lip and kissed her, forcing open her mouth with his tongue.

Hermione moaned and tried to move closer to him as to reach his wand.

Soon enough, Harry was halfway undressing himself and her as well when Hermione was able to access the wand stuck behind his back at the inside of his pants.

"Come closer." Hermione whispered against his ears as she licked him. "Closer and inside me."

Harry groaned at the way her voice whispered against her ear and nibbled it for a moment.

He moved closer and pushed her back harder on the bed.

Harry had relaxed and had completely lost his control and placed his guard down.

He began to reach down, fretting to free himself off his belt and pants to free him and his very hard member when two things quickly happened at once.

He felt a sudden painful streak just right across his abdominal area and then Hermione grabbing something from behind him and pushing him back.

It was so fast that he was not able to defend himself nor clearly comprehend what had just happened.

But next thing he knew, he was on his back on the bed, flinching at a small slice of wound across his bare chest and Hermione holding a bread knife in her other hand and his wand at the other.

She was breathless as she held both things in her hands and struggled to climb down and backwards from the bed.

Harry stared at the small cut over his chest.

It wasn't deep to harm him but it was enough to cause him slight pain and cause him to lose his control of his thoughts momentarily.

Hermione was pointed the wand over him as she backed away from the door.

He smiled and laughed at her fearful expression.

"Mione, what are you doing?" he asked as he lay back on the bed watching her.

"I'm sorry Harry but I can't stay here."

"And where are you going I wonder?" he asked slowly sitting up on the bed and flexing his bare arms.

Hermione sighed heavily as he looked back at her with that scary calm expression again.

"Don't come closer." Hermione said. "Don't you dare come closer, Harry."

"This is purely stupid, Mione." Harry said. "Sweetheart, come on, give me my wand-"

"NO!" Hermione angrily said and some sparks shot out from the wand.

Harry's eyes flashed in anger.

He moved closer to the edge of the bed and sat there watching her closely.

"You're going to hurt me?" Harry asked. "You think you can hurt me?"

Hermione didn't say anything as she backed away from him.

Harry slowly stood up from the bed, closely watching and completely intimidating her.

Hermione's head spun not knowing what to do now.

He was positioned near the door so chances of going to the other side was quite a risk.

She was nearer the window but it was locked.

If she tries to open it with the wand, it would give Harry a momentary chance to hurt her or take the knife or wand from her.

Her mind spun as it tried to calculate which was more risky and which was likely to make her lose this.

It wasn't a well-thought of plan but she had to take the chance.

"Yes?" Harry asked her. "You do know and realize that there is no way out, Mione?"

Harry smiled and extended his hand towards her.

"Come, Mione. This is stupid. Let's have lunch and then we can talk about things-"

"We never talk about things!" Hermione angrily lashed out on him. "You're just keeping me here! You're just keeping me here! We never talk about things!

Harry only stared at her and her emotional state.

Hermione stared back at him, hearing her own words.

Something about what she had just said made an impact inside of her.

The feeling she had was pure anguish and hatred yet there was that mix of unexplainable déjà vu she felt.

Why was the feeling so scary and familiar at the same time?

"We talked about things." Harry offered taking on step towards her. "We always talk, Hermione. You're the one who didn't want to talk about things. You've kept things from me."

"Because you don't understand!" Hermione screamed taking another step back. "You don't understand what has happened-"

"What's fucking happened is that he has taken you when he wasn't supposed to! And your job was tell the truth at that goddamn court!"

"He's innocent!" Hermioen screamed unsure of herself suddenly. "He's – he has – "

"He's kept you, Hermione. Ten years – ten long years of waiting for you, of looking for you – do you know how that felt?" Harry asked him. "Do you know how I felt in those long years?"

"He was – he was just – you don't understand-"

"Yes, that's what you keep telling me and telling everyone. Do you know how stupid that sounds and how frustrating it is Hermione?"

"Harry, please-"

"I've been goddamn trying to bring you justice and all you do is whine and whine and beg that I free the man that kidnapped you and kept you from all of us from all those years!"

Suddenly, the glass of the windows broke behind Hermione.

It was Harry's magic again, spiraling out of control.

The glasses have been shattered but the grills were still there.

Hermione stared back at him.

"He kept me for a reason-"

"I no longer care what the reason is, Hermione. Soon, verdict will be given and he will rot at Azkaban and you will marry me and live your life with me-"

"You can't make me marry you-"

"Why?" Harry asked. "Do you prefer marrying that bastard?"

Hermione shook her head and didn't answer.

"Just let me go, Harry. This isn't the right way."

"I don't fucking care anymore what's right or wrong."

"Harry-"

"Why should I?" Harry asked with a cruel smile. "He didn't goddamn care what was right or wrong, did he?"

"Harry, he only did what he did because the situation called for it-"

"He could have contacted us to tell us if he really wanted to bring you back, Hermione."

Hermione didn't say anything.

Suddenly, she couldn't find words for that.

She knew he was right deep down.

If Snape wanted to bring her back, he would and could have told them.

But the implications and his explanations in their stay at the cottage before were so brutally true that she had agreed to everything he told her and asked her to do.

She had stayed with him without questioning his morals and decisions.

And now suddenly, Harry seemed to make sense above anyone else.

Tears streaked down her cheeks as the reality seems to crash down on her in an endless downward spiral.

"What?" Harry asked her confidently and slowly walking towards her.

"Harry, please-"

"What, Hermione? I'm right, aren't I?" he asked her slowly.

The scary look in his eyes were there again as Hermione stared back at him.

"Harry, don't do –"

"No, you have to hear all of these Hermione. You don't know how frustrating and desperate those years were.. you have no idea.. you don't tell me these things – that I don't have a right – that I should free him – that you should-"

"He was trying to save my life!" Hermione yelled at him. "He was trying to save yours!"

"He could have done all those things without making things so complicated!" Harry yelled back at her.

Hermione wanted to shut her ears and senses down as she backed away from him.

"He was trying to-"

"Save your life?" Harry asked sarcastically. "Save mine? I've heard all these – we've all heard of it, Hermione. But you see, the thing is that he could have done that but he could also have decided to do the right thing-"

"He only kept me – "

"He kept you because the circumstances favored him. Yes, at first his intentions might have been good and all that crap you believe in but those things changed, didn't they?"

"Please-"

"His intentions changed when he saw and realized that he was actually enjoying your company-"

"Harry-"

"You know he started changing when he realized that he actually enjoyed taking you and fucking you on his bloody bed-"

"Harry, please-"

"You know deep down I'm right." Harry said advancing towards her. "You know that I am right, Hermione. But he did something, he has blinded you and your morals and-"

"Harry-"

"He goddamn took you in to save you but he also saw that it was an opportunity to have you!" Harry suddenly yelled.

Another blast from the room and the mirror from the dresser broke into pieces.

They were both taken aback by it and the moment that Harry looked back at the mirror, Hermione quickly whipped the wand out.

"Bombarda!" she yelled at the grilled bars of the window.

Without thinking twice, she quickly turned her back and grabbed a chair to reach up towards the window.

She heard an angry yell and then felt a pair of hands grasp her around the wrist.

They both fell back towards the floor and the wand fell out of her hand and rolled out of sight.

Harry held and pinned her hard on the floor on her stomach and she struggled hard against him.

"You think you can get out – no, 'Mione – I won't let you – you can't – you won't – you're to stay here-"

"Let me go!" Hermione screamed as she kicked him and moved against him. "Let me go, Harry!"

"I'm never letting you go, Hermione – you're mine and you're staying here-"

"Let me go!" Hermione screamed reaching to hit him hard.

They struggled over the carpeted floor, Harry getting hurt as Hermione kicked herself free, reaching his face and scratching it scathingly while he tried to keep her down face forward on the floor.

Hermione took a deep breath and in one go, she did her best to move against him.

They had hit the end table by the bed and the tray crashed at the side of the floor, spilling the platter of food and pitcher of water on the floor.

Hermione reached out and fretted for the fallen empty tray.

Harry grabbed her by the back of her hair and kept her down, keeping her legs pinned over the floor with his arm and his other arm trying to reach to keep her unmoving.

Hermione screamed as he pulled her hair back in pain.

But in one swift movement, she was able to grab the tray and in one go, she plunged it right at the side of his face.

Harry screamed and felt dizzy for a moment as he fell back on the floor clutching the side of his face.

His visions blurred for a moment as the pain and shock stung him.

Hermione scrambled up to her feet and quickly pulled the chair back up and tried to climb on it again.

Harry struggled on the floor and despite his shaking form and blurry vision, he tried to reach for Hermione to stop her.

He was able to grab her ankle and pull her back on the floor with him.

Hermione kicked and kicked until she was able to free herself.

Harry dealt with the pain over his face as he watched in pain as Hermione climbed the chair again in another attempt.

This time, she was able to climb it up and reached for the window and climb out of the now broken grills.

"Hermione!" Harry yelled angrily standing from the floor. "Come back here! Come back here!" he angrily yelled.

He reached out as Hermione struggled to climb through the small gap of the window.

She had half her body out of the window and Harry was able to grasp her leg again.

He struggled and pulled back as hard as he could and Hermione screamed for help and kicked as hard as she could possibly.

She looked down around her and saw that if she managed to escape Harry's clutch, she would be able to climb out of the roof but the jump she had to make right after would be risky and costly.

But she had to make a choice right then and there.

She looked behind her and saw Harry grasping her leg hard while his other hand clutched the side of his face.

"I'm sorry, Harry." Hermione whispered and she kicked him as hard as she could one last time.

Harry accidentally let her leg go and as soon as he had done so, Hermione pushed herself as hard and as fast as she could out of the window.

She slid uncontrollably out of the window and fell back on the bricks of the roof.

Harry heard her scream in pain as she hit the hard bricks.

He moved and stared out of the window and at her moaning state by the roof.

He could see her struggle in pain and could barely move her leg as it looked like she had twisted her ankle at her attempt to escape through the small gap of the window.

"Fuck." Harry whispered spitting the blood from his mouth.

Without thinking twice, he quickly move out of the window and ran out of the room to catch her down from the roof.

Hermione struggled and forced herself up from the bricks of the roof.

Her visions were slightly dazed but she crawled and struggled to look down.

The fall was higher than she thought but she had no choice.

She could hear Harry running out of the house towards their staircase to get out of the house before her.

And so without having second thoughts as well, Hermione painfully crawled towards the edge of the rooftop and closing her eyes with the hopes of falling back over the small thick grass ground, she moved herself and let herself roll back from the rooftop and down towards the ground.

She screamed in pain as she fell back on her stomach.

Her head spun in pain and the pain around her twisted ankle doubled.

But she was breathing meaning she was alive.

Hermione breathed heavily, forcing herself to stand up as she heard Harry reaching the staircase.

Dazed, confused and scared, Hermione was able to get up from the grassy ground and limped as hard and as fast as her legs could take her towards the lawn and the outskirts of their gate.

She heard Harry reached the landing of the stairs just as she had reached the boundary from their gates.

She looked back and saw Harry open the door of their house, eyes wide upon seeing her leave the ends of the grounds of their house.

Hermione tried to get up but her leg was too painful.

She cried and closed her eyes as she watched Harry run towards her with an angry stance and a bleeding form.

She shrank back in fear on the grounds as she slowly felt her visions blurring and pain completely overcoming her.

Her eyes slowly closed in as she heard Harry scream her name.

But she heard something else..

She heard the familiar sound of Apparation and before she could really see who it was or comprehend the situation, she felt a pair of hands grasp her and take her around the waist and then the familiar sensation of Disapparation pulling her into that incredulously dizzying feeling.

She last heard Harry's angry yell and then saw a pair of familiar blue eyes before completely passing out.


	32. Chapter 32

_**Author's Notes:**_

 _ **I would like to point that this was posted originally in another fanfic page about two weeks before my graduation recital so that gives us close to almost a year cause I had my graduation recital May 13, 2017 hahaha and this had been posted at the other webpage with a note posted t-minus 14days to my graduation recital. funny how time flies.**_

 _ **Chapter Thirty Two**_

 _ **Solvit a Sanguine**_

 _"_ _Well?"_

 _"_ _Well what?" Snape asked as he sealed a couple of potion bottles._

 _Narcissa stared up at him and his irritated state._

 _She watched quietly as he continued to seal several bottles of potions for her._

 _"_ _How is she doing?"_

 _"_ _She's better." Snape said. "She seemed to have grasped the reality of what both have to deal with."_

 _"_ _And how are you doing?" she slowly asked._

 _Snape didn't answer as if he didn't hear her._

 _"_ _Severus?"_

 _"_ _I'm fine." Snape said._

 _Narcissa's brows quirked._

 _"_ _You're fine?" she repeated sighing heavily. "Really?"_

 _"_ _Cissy, if you're going to go through asking me details if I've been sleeping with her the answer is yes and that's as far as I can tell you."_

 _Narcissa didn't say anything as Snape sharply turned to her._

 _"_ _Sev, I only-"_

 _"_ _You only what?" Snape asked. "You only wanted to ask and know if I'm taking her to bed to check if I'm doing my duty of killing the curse inside of her?"_

 _"_ _I'm merely concerned about you."_

 _"_ _Yes. I'm sure you are." Snape snapped at her as he completed twelve bottles._

 _"_ _You agreed to it."_

 _"_ _I agreed to keep her in order to seal the curse and prevent her from killing Potter and the rest of those people. I never agreed to sleep with her."_

 _"_ _But you know it is the only way."_

 _"_ _Did I have a choice?" Snape angrily asked turning. "Did you fucking sister give me any choice?"_

 _Narcissa didn't say anything._

 _Snape shook his head and began packing his belongings on the hotel table._

 _"_ _I have to go. She's expecting me to return soon."_

 _"_ _Is she dealing with it accordingly?"_

 _"_ _Oh, I'll ask her later." Snape sarcastically answered. "I'll ask her how she's emotionally dealing with the fact that she's been sleeping with her ex-professor for the past couple of weeks, Cissy. I will make sure to retell all details to you when I next see you."_

 _Narcissa watched him close his bag and walk towards the door._

 _She gently moved across the room and took hold of his arm._

 _Snape shoved her hand away but she didn't let go._

 _They stared at one another with Snape's eyes filled with fury._

 _"_ _I am here for you." Narcissa said. "I will help you go through this."_

 _"_ _She's confused, Cissy." Snape said. "She thinks she's going mad because she's come into terms that she needs to sleep with me in order to ensure that I do not get angry with her for not doing so in her fear that I might do something to her like kill her or worse abandon her on that fucking island."_

 _"_ _Why didn't you tell her?"_

 _"_ _Tell her?" Snape repeated smirking. "Tell her? You want me to tell her, 'Hi Miss Granger we need to fuck so that I can save your life or else the curse inside of you consumes and kills you' – is that what you had in mind?"_

 _"_ _Sev-"_

 _"_ _No, Cissy. She does not know that and I'm not about to tell her that because that will complicate things farther than it already is."_

 _"_ _But she's emotionally confused and-"_

 _"_ _What do you think if she finds out? She'll be all happy and jolly?"_

 _"_ _But-"_

 _"_ _I'm trying to fucking utilize things accordingly and that includes me keeping things from her that will eliminate further stress and pain in her part. Is that hard to grasp?"_

 _"_ _You're keeping it from her and then what? What about you? You will deal with this alone-"_

 _"_ _I've been dealing with so many things in my whole life without anyone's help."_

 _Silence between them took place._

 _Narcissa seemed slightly offended by what he had just said but she didn't say anything about it._

 _"_ _She must know."_

 _"_ _She does not need to know."_

 _"_ _But it would-"_

 _"_ _It is easier to grasp and accept for her the reality that she has to deal with it this way. It does not matter how she looks and thinks of me. The idea is that I fucking kill the curse inside of her, keep her for seven years and then she can go back to her life and things will finally go with whatever it was supposed to be in the first place."_

 _"_ _I know this isn't easy for you."_

 _"_ _Hermione thinks that it's all about feelings. She thinks that she must surrender herself to me in order to avoid further trouble, further pain. She thinks being in my good graces will help her survive easier, hel help her attain her goal – which is still to get away from me and go back to them."_

 _"_ _Severus-"_

 _"_ _This is how she thinks. And if this will make things easier for her, easier to accept then I would gladly keep it that way."_

 _Narcissa sighed and moved from him, not knowing anymore what to say._

 _He was right._

 _He had always been right about many things._

 _"_ _And of your feelings?" Narcissa asked._

 _Snape stared for a moment before suddenly turning from her._

 _"_ _I have to go. It's getting late. She might look for me."_

 _Narcissa grabbed him back._

 _"_ _Severus, I asked you-"_

 _"_ _What about my feelings?" Snape snapped turning back to her from the door._

 _"_ _When she goes back – when you bring her back – what about you-"_

 _"_ _She does not need to know-"_

 _"_ _You can't just – I won't survive if it was me-"_

 _"_ _That's you. I've learned to deal with my feelings a very long time ago."_

 _"_ _When you bring her back, can you deal with it? After all this time? After all the things you would have to put in and invest with her? All the feelings you've invested? You're telling me you can bring her back just like that?"_

 _Snape stared and breathed heavily._

 _He slowly removed Narcissa's hand over his arm._

 _Without blinking he nodded at her._

 _"_ _I've done so many things in my life and that part is not something I cannot deal with."_

 _"_ _Severus-"_

 _"_ _I can live without her."_

 _And with that, he turned away from her, closing the door behind him and leaving her alone in the small motel room._

 _Lupin entered the room and found Ginny trying to feed Harry by the bedside table._

 _Mrs. Weasley was talking to a Healer and Mr. Weasley was talking to the Minister of Magic himself at the other side of the room._

 _"_ _Where's she?" Harry quickly asked the moment Lupin entered the room._

 _It had been an hour ago since Harry awoke from his comatose state._

 _Nobody knows why or how but they were more than grateful for the miracle that had taken place._

 _Lupin walked forward the bed and stared closely at him._

 _"_ _How are you feeling?" he asked after seeing him calm down from his earlier state._

 _"_ _I'm fine." Harry quickly said. "I want to know the plan for Hermione's rescue."_

 _They all looked at one another._

 _The truth in that?_

 _They had been searching and searching for hours, days and weeks and weeks._

 _But nobody has a clue about Hermione's whereabouts._

 _They were all assuming that she has been dead since the attack._

 _"_ _We're doing our best." Lupin simply replied staring at Kingsley who eyed him momentarily._

 _"_ _Doing your best?" Harry repeated. "Do you mean there is still no lead up to now?"_

 _Silence around the room._

 _Mrs. Weasley quickly walked to his side._

 _"_ _Well, Harry, it's not very easy – but everyone – Aurors and Order members have been-"_

 _"_ _It's been- it's been – I've been out for weeks – a month or so and you're telling me-"_

 _"_ _Harry, calm yourself down. You need rest." Ginny said staring closely at him._

 _One of the Healers walked to Harry's bed and nodded at him._

 _"_ _You need complete bed rest, Mr. Potter. And I need to take some more tests in the-"_

 _"_ _No, I'm not going to-" Harry was suddenly apprehensive and agitated. "I want to go to the headquarters and-"_

 _Harry stopped struggling against Ginny and Lupin._

 _He looked up at them with sudden fear in his eyes._

 _"_ _What's going on?" Harry asked pushing their hands off him._

 _"_ _Harry?" Ginny asked staring as he pulled the blankets off himself._

 _Harry stared around them and then stared at his legs._

 _He couldn't move his legs._

 _They had placed bandages around them and earlier, he thought that he was only unable to move them because of the bandages and other medicinal objects and wires around him._

 _But now as he tried to do so, he couldn't feel his legs – there was no sensation from waist down of his body._

 _"_ _Wait – why- " Harry gasped, panic rising inside of him as he stared up at the people around the room._

 _Lupin walked closer the bed and stared at him._

 _"_ _What's wrong?" Lupin asked seeing the different fear in Harry's eyes._

 _"_ _I can't.." Harry gasped forcing to feel his legs, "I can't-"_

 _"_ _Harry?" Ginny fearfully stared as realization dawned on her._

 _Lupin pushed the Healer blocking him from the bed and stared down at Harry._

 _Harry grasped his arm painfully._

 _"_ _Remus-"_

 _"_ _What's wrong?" Lupin asked although he already had a guess._

 _He looked up at the Healer before them who looked stricken and alarmed._

 _"_ _Harry?"_

 _"_ _Professor Lupin – I can't – " Harry struggled to put the words out of his mouth. "I can't – I can't move my legs-"_

 _"_ _What?" Mrs. Weasley gasped moving towards him and grabbing his arm in a caressing manner._

 _Lupin's eyes widened as he moved closer and tried to touch Harry's legs._

 _"_ _I couldn't –" Harry gasped fearfully. "I can't feel – I can't feel my legs –" he cried._

 _Lupin's heart sank at the look of fear and anger in Harry's face._

 _"_ _Professor Lupin – I can't move my legs – do something – do something- "_

 _They all looked at the Healer in the room._

 _"_ _I'm not sure.. I.. We would need more tests, Mr. Potter. You've only woken and this – this cannot-"_

 _"_ _Do something!" Lupin angrily said taking hold of Harry's arm as he began to struggle against the bed._

 _"_ _I can't feel -" Harry cried yet again. "I can't feel my legs! I can't feel my legs!"_

 _Ginny's tears began to spill as he saw Harry yet again in another tantrum as the realization came crashing into them._

 _She wanted to cover her ears from Harry's desperate plea at Lupin to help him and at his angry cries of realization that he wasn't able to move nor feel his own legs after the attack._

 _"_ _Mr. Septimus?"_

 _Snape turned around and saw the old man bring out the package for him._

 _A very large pouch of money and a bag that contained three new books._

 _He had finished delivering the needs of the Apothecary this morning and had even added a free twenty-four pages worth of notes of how the owner of the shop could possibly make good use of the ingredients he had just deliver and historical origins the could tell his future clienteles to impress them and gauge them to buy from him._

 _"_ _Yes. Thank you." Snape said taking the bag of money and staring at the package of books._

 _"_ _How's Halaena?" the old man asked him. "Last time you've told me she had a flu."_

 _"_ _She's sickly but she's better." Snape simply replied taking the sling bag that contained the books around his shoulder._

 _Living for seven years at the island, Snape needed an identity._

 _He usually crossed one of the small trading routes from the isolated island they were in to the mainland to trade, get news and buy needs for the two of them._

 _This task demanded him to create identity for himself and with the woman's clothes and other needs for Hermione that he had to consistently buy, he also needed to create an identity for her._

 _He was known as 'Mr. Septimus' – and that alone._

 _A man who knew a lot of medicinal plants, special medication and other Apothecary needs._

 _He was even good at many other things that could have made him rich at the village if necessary._

 _He wanted his identity to remain anonymous but he knew that wasn't going to work._

 _"_ _You know if Halaena is too sickly, I can just bring your payment and get my orders from time to time. You don't have to leave her and all that."_

 _"_ _She's fine." Snape said as he sealed the bag of money inside his long traveling cloak._

 _"_ _Aloof with people, eh?" the old man said with a smile._

 _"_ _Yes." Snape muttered. "Very."_

 _"_ _Here." the old man said handing him another pouch. "It isn't much. Just some apples from our backyard. My wife insists that a fruit a day will keep her from getting sick."_

 _Snape stared at the small pouch that the old man was offering him._

 _"_ _No, thank you but-"_

 _"_ _No, I insist. My wife and I both insist, Mr. Septimus."_

 _Snape stared at the generousity and the kindness of the old man._

 _He needed that._

 _The two of them needed all that._

 _"_ _You've been a good businessman to us." the old man said. "And like a close friend too if not that of a family. Every Christmas you bring me and my wife the best wine you can possibly make as gift."_

 _Snape stared at the bag of apples and nodded._

 _Hermione would love the apples._

 _"_ _Thanks for this. I have to go." Snape said as he hurriedly pack all the things not wanting any further delay._

 _The old man smiled at him and watched Snape hurriedly leave his small store expecting to see him by the coming month as their schedule permits._

 _A few minutes later, Snape was walking down the small and quiet streets of the small town he visits every once in a while to sell his products and to buy whatever was needed back at home._

 _Hermione was waiting for him with a delectable dinner tonight for sure._

 _She promised to make something good out of the basket full of food he had bought in the other day._

 _He walked down the quiet streets, head down and carefully carrying the small basket of apples in one hand, the sling bag in his other shoulder with the new edition of books and the money clanking from time to time inside his traveling cloak._

 _He was quiet lost in his thoughts as he walked down that his attention was only caught by another when he passed another store._

 _It was a small and old shop that carried certain thrift objects and clothes._

 _A large bag was on display over the window._

 _It looked like a traveling bag._

 _It was a large black bag with a nice-looking strap._

 _It looked quite decent from where he could see it and a few charms could probably enhance its insides to make room for more than what it could carry._

 _"_ _It's just new. Just arrived two days ago. Would you like to see it?"_

 _Snape looked up and saw an old woman stand by the door of the shop._

 _She smiled at him as she stared at his stance._

 _"_ _I'm not really traveling anywhere."_

 _"_ _Yes, but it may come handy, yes?" she asked and offered._

 _Snape stared at her then back at the bag._

 _Yes, in a few days, it could probably be handy._

 _"_ _How much is it?" Snape asked her._

 _The old woman stared at him in curiosity._

 _"_ _Not much." she answered him. "This is a second-hand shop, my dear boy. You may take a look at it first before you decide if you would buy it."_

 _"_ _I'll buy it." Snape said as moved towards the door of the shop. "Some traveling is in order soon."_

 _The old woman stared at him as she let him in the shop._

 _Snape entered and carefully pulled out some money from the pouch inside his cloak._

 _The old woman took the bag from where it hung in display and brushed off a few dusts from it and walked behind the dusty counter to get a paper bag to pack it up._

 _"_ _I don't see you much often, but you're familiar."_

 _"_ _I sell products at the Apothecary down a few streets." Snape said simply said as he paid over the counter._

 _"_ _Oh, down old man's shop." the old woman muttered._

 _"_ _You live alone? I barely see you around."_

 _"_ _I come around once or twice a month only. I live somewhere else."_

 _"_ _I see." The old woman looked at him in curiosity._

 _Snape took the package over the counter and finished his payment._

 _The old woman was still gazing at him and he tried his best to avoid it._

 _"_ _Married?" she asked him._

 _"_ _No." Snape muttered as he took the packed bag under his arm. "Thank you for this. Have a good day."_

 _"_ _Are you the lad that lives at that small cottage at the other island?" asked the old woman before he could reach the door._

 _Snape stopped but didn't turn back._

 _He didn't answer._

 _He didn't want to answer._

 _"_ _I'm just curious." the woman said. "I heard someone had bought the cottage over there a few years ago. You don't look from around here so I'm wondering."_

 _"_ _Yes." Snape simply replied. "Just a place I stay from time to time when I'm traveling here at Beltane."_

 _The old woman only stared at her back._

 _Snape waited for another moment before walking towards the door and thanking her for the bag._

 _The moment he reached the outside, he began a quicker pace this time in order to avoid other people that may ask him further questions._

 _He didn't want questions._

 _No, he hated questions._

 _Not now, not ever._

 _He just wanted to get home and have a good meal with Hermione when he gets there._

 _After all, he only had a week to go before the seven years of a deal was up and he really wanted to use every minute of the last week he was spending with her as much as possible._

"Hermione?" asked a soft voice. "Hermione, can you hear me?"

Hermione groaned and stirred.

Her body felt quite heavy.

"Will she be alright?"

"She would be fine, young master Malfoy."

The old man nodded and stared at Draco who stood next on the four-poster bed.

"Just ring the bell young master if you would need my help."

With that, Draco watched as his most trusted servant left him alone with Hermione in the guest room of the West Wing at the manor.

It has been twelve hours since he had found and taken Hermione from the very lawns of Harry Potter's place.

He had only decided to take a visit but the scenery that he had caught was something he was unlikely to forget.

Hermione was literary crawling down the lawn and out of their gates.

He heard Harry's angry cries from somewhere in their large house.

He wasn't sure if Harry had seen him because he was in a traveling cloak, but the moment he saw Hermione's bleeding and hurt figure, he quickly knew what he had to do.

No matter what it could cost him if Harry did see him.

"Harry.." Hermione's voice fearfully croaked.

Draco looked up and walked closer the bed and felt her head if she still had fever.

"It's Draco." he said. "Rest, Hermione. You're safe here."

Draco?

Draco Malfoy?

Hermione groaned and tried to open her eyes but they were too heavy to open.

Her arms and legs felt too heavy as well.

She could barely move her fingers as she lay comfortably on whatever she was laid on.

"D-Draco?" Hermione whispered trying to make sense of everything around her.

"Yes." Draco replied reluctantly holding her hand.

"Draco?" she whispered again trying to turn on her side where she could hear his voice better.

"Shush, rest." Draco said caressing her hand in his. "You're at the manor. You're safe here. You can tell me what happened but you need rest so get some more sleep."

"I'm not.." Hermione croaked opening her eyes and seeing nothing but blurry visions. "I'm not… H-Harry.. Har-ry.. he's.. he's going to…"

"He can't hurt you." Draco said. "Not here anyway."

He stared down at her physically harmed body.

He had called in for a private Healer to see Hermione for which he had to pay triple in order for the Healer to keep quiet of the patient that she needed to tend to.

A twisted ankle, a wounded knee, an almost fully fractured ribcage from her fall from the roof and a few scratches here and there were the diagnosis.

Other than, Hermione needed bed rest and some good and generous servings of full meals were in order and she was going to get better in just a few days.

Draco stared and brushed the hair over her forehead.

"Sleep." Draco said. "You're better here. You're safe here. Harry can't come into the manor."

Hermione groaned as if in protest.

But she didn't say anything as she could barely move her lips.

She felt tired, groggy and sleepy at the same time.

"The Healer that came gave you some Sleeping Draught." Draco said staring at the small cup at the bedside table from which he helped pour in Hermione's unconscious form earlier.

"D-Draco.."

"Sleep, Hermione." Draco said staring at her poor state. "You need rest before we go and face what we have to soon."

Hermione fell back into a deep sleep with her mind unable to fully comprehend everything and feeling nothing but the soft and gentle hands that brushed her head and held her hand.

"I'm _Harry Potter_!" Harry's voice yelled and echoed down the hall. "I'm Harry Potter and I fucking demand to see Kingsley!"

Harry marched down the hallway and pointed his wand directly down the double doors.

The conference room's door burst open and people all stared.

Kingsley was standing at the other end of the room at the middle of explaining something at the conference meeting.

Aurors and Ministry officials alike were in the room as Harry stood, wand pointed forward.

"Minister, I tried to stop him-" the assistant witch of Kingsley said fearfully staring at him and at Harry who looked livid as he stared at the people around the room.

"It's alright, Veronica." the minister said with a small smile. "Let Mr. Potter be."

"I want a court order." Harry said staring aggressively at Kingsley. "I want a court restraining order against Draco Malfoy."

The people around the room were staring at Harry with curiosity.

"Harry, we can talk later." Kingsley said. "I can meet you at my office in half a hour-"

"No, I want to talk to you now."

Harry's voice was evident of demand.

He didn't care who were in the room hearing him this way and seeing his attitude.

"Harry, let's talk in the minister's office."

Harry looked around at the familiar voice.

He was taken aback as he suddenly noticed that Lupin was in the room.

He stood from the right hand chair in front of the Minister of Magic.

He looked very concerned at Harry.

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked seeing the people around the conference table.

He had just realized most were from the Auror department he was heading and the others were people he frequently see at Hermione's trial.

"What's this?" Harry asked slightly alarmed at seeing the people in the room. "What's going on?"

"Harry, let's talk later." Kingsley repeated and this time, there was an unmistakable demand from his tone.

He barely spoke this way, let alone to Harry.

He barely demanded anything from anyone in this manner.

Something about his tone and the way that the people stared at Harry told him that this wasn't a good idea at all.

"I want to talk about Draco and Hermione." Harry said unable to stop himself with his temperament rising.

"Draco and Hermione?" Kingsley repeated.

"Yes." Harry said. "I want you to make a restraining order against Draco Malfoy so he couldn't come near Hermione."

"That's the thing, Harry." Lupin said interrupting him.

Harry sharply looked at him and the way Lupin stared at him irritated him.

Something was amiss.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

Kingsley and Lupin exchanged glances and Harry didn't miss it.

"What's going on?" Harry demanded almost yelling. "I want to know what's going on!"

"Draco." Lupin said in a clear voice. "Draco Malfoy had come in earlier to request a restraining order against you, Harry."

"Against me?" Harry repeated incredulously with his eyes widening in hatred.

"Yes." Lupin said. "He came in earlier and took a note bearing Hermione's signature who has just requested for a restraining order for you to come anywhere closer her."

The color from Harry's face drained momentarily but was quickly and completely replaced by the colour of red.

He looked murderous.

But before Lupin nor Kingsley or anyone else in the room could do anything, Harry had taken a firm hold of his wand and had stormed out of the conference hall with nothing but a blinding hatred in his heart and in his mind as he battled on where to go first – to the Malfoy Manor to take the life out of Draco or just straight to Azkaban and take the life of the man that was the cause of all the suffering he was enduring when all he wanted was to live a normal and peaceful life with Hermione Granger?

 _Snape staggered and blood sputtered out of his mouth as he reached the basement of their cottage._

 _The basement was meant to be storage of his potion ingredients and in Hermione's lack of knowledge, was a smaller version of his potions laboratory that she didn't know existed._

 _Despite her pandemonium on wanting to stay at the basement from time to time, Snape forbade her to go down there until he says so._

 _Hermione, despite the curiosity that was killing her knowing there was 'nothing but storage room and junk' down the basement, followed his order like the docile student that she was._

 _"_ _Lumos." Snape said barely able to move his hand with the wand and mutter the enchantment._

 _The room was lit and he moved across the room where the long wooden table of unfinished potions were._

 _He swiftly pointed it over a small cauldron and ignited fire._

 _Despite the swelling pain inside his chest, he was able to move across the room taking ingredients from drawers and shelves and throwing it over the cauldron to boil.._

 _"_ _Fuck." Snape muttered as he felt his nose began to bleed._

 _He grabbed a cloth from the small drawer at the other side of the room and limped back to the table._

 _He impatiently stared at the cauldron with simmering potion._

 _He cursed himself and took a mental note that after tonight, he was going to have to brew a couple of it in advance than to have to wait in literal dying pain as it brewed._

 _He continued to press the cloth over his nose where the bleeding wouldn't stop just as the heavy pain inside his chest._

 _Snape groaned as another jolt of pain grew inside of him, momentarily immobilizing him as he tried to focus and sit upright on the chair._

 _His fingers grasped the ends of the table as the searing pain passed through his body._

 _More blood came out from his nose._

 _He stared back at the cauldron with slightly blurry vision and saw that it was nearly ready._

 _He pointed his wand across the room and a goblet and a small bottle flew over the table._

 _Barely able to move, he forced to move the goblet and the small corked bottle near him._

 _He poured the clear contents of the small vial onto the goblet and waited._

 _The potion was nearly ready._

 _Another jolt of pain passed through his chest._

 _It was pain like he had never felt before._

 _It felt like daggers were scratching down over his skin, tearing him into pieces and wanting to scrape the organs of his body off from him._

 _"_ _Fuck. Fuck." Snape said in his delirious and unrecovered state._

 _The potion has finally simmered to its full extend._

 _Snape pointed his wand and the fire from it died._

 _Another whip of his wand and the potion from the cauldron slowly filled itself over the goblet on the table._

 _Snape screamed as another jolt of pain passed through him._

 _He coughed and blood came out form his mouth._

 _With a barely able body from the pain, Snape forced his arm to move across the table to reach for the goblet._

 _He stared at the contents that has turned into a black color._

 _Sighing heavily, Snape quickly drank the hot potion and hungrily took it despite its temperature._

 _The taste was so bad he wanted to spit it out._

 _The pain inside him increased like he was being literary burned in hell._

 _He threw the goblet aside as the pain inside of him intensified._

 _Snape fell back on the floor on his back and the wand in his hand rolled out from his grasp._

 _He groaned as the pain grew worse inside of him._

 _He struggled on the floor, clutching his throat and chest that were bearing the pain at the moment._

 _He kicked on the stone cold floor as he struggled with the pain he endured._

 _He moved and squirmed over the floor as the pain that was at par in comparison that of the Cruciatus Curse moved all throughout his body._

 _One final cry from him and all the pain inside his body had vanished as quickly as it had come to him._

 _Snape lay on his back, breathless and eyes tightly shut._

 _He was breathing fast as he lay helpless on the stone cold floor._

 _He let his own throat go and the hand clutching his chest._

 _There was no trace of pain anywhere in his body._

 _The bleeding of his nose had stopped._

 _All possible cause of pain and irregularity had vanished from his body._

 _His visions were slowly going back to its normal state._

 _"_ _Accio wand!" Snape muttered in the softest whisper he could possibly do at the moment._

 _He felt that all energy from his body has left him._

 _His wand had flown right into his hands._

 _Snape lay on the ground breathless and heavily thinking._

 _Just an hour ago, he felt heavenly – literary and figuratively speaking._

 _He had taken Hermione Granger._

 _Yes, his student.._

 _He had taken Hermione for the first time ever._

 _She was pure and untouched._

 _She was his._

 _And now, he had to pay the price for that._

 _It was something he was likely to endure not only today or the day after nor the week after._

 _Not even just the month after._

 _He was to endure it in the full run and course of seven years._

 _The pain he had endured for a few minutes felt like he was being killed and grilled down in hell_

 _Now atleast he knew how that felt and he could have a little practice on that._

 _Snape tried to move from the floor but his body felt too weak and too heavy at the moment._

 _He closed his eyes and recalled how beautiful Hermione was._

 _How soft her skin was against his touch, how innocent her movements were and how sweet her kisses had been._

 _He would have to deal with her emotions later but as far as he knows, she had thoroughly enjoyed their time together just as he had._

 _He made sure that Hermione was unlikely to forget that first time._

 _He wasn't prepared for it, he didn't even plan it._

 _But it came and he could just hate himself because he wanted her once more._

 _The wounds from his body from the Dark Lord's attack wasn't even fully healed yet and now he had to endure that hell-like state earlier._

 _So that was what it felt like for the effects of the Urduja Curse to run through one's body._

 _It had passed his veins and bloody._

 _It has passed his body in accordance to what was supposed to happen because he made love to her._

 _The moment he made love to her, a part of the Urduja Curse had died by order of his immunity from the curse._

 _A part of the curse had died the moment that he had taken Hermione as his for the first time._

 _The curse's properties transferred to his body and died there due to his immunity from it._

 _What was day one of the many days of seven years that he had to endure the same or possibly worse feeling the moment he makes love to her again?_

 _The pain was so excruciating that he felt he was going to die as parts and parts of him felt the severe hellish pain._

 _Snape sighed heavily and forced himself to get up._

 _Tomorrow, she would not have known of what has taken place an hour right after they made love._

 _He was to keep that tonight and for the rest of the days and the nights that were to come._

 _Hermione must not know of the pain he endures in order to kill the curse inside of her._

 _It was enough for her to carry the reality and the burden that she had seven years of isolation with nobody but him – her ex-professor and present lover._

 _He could only laugh at the term – lover._

 _He wasn't her lover._

 _He was nobody for her._

 _It was enough for her to carry the burden of what she only knew – her knowledge of everything must but limited and he had to make sure of that._

 _It was enough for Hermione to think of the things as they seem to be._

 _He wasn't going to ask her to carry the burden and the knowledge of what he had to endure every single time he was to make love to her in order to kill the curse inside of her._

 _He wasn't going to and was never going to let her know of the price of the pleasure she would think he was having every single time that they will make love to one another._


	33. Chapter 33

_**Author's Notes: This, on the other hand, have been posted on May 2, 2017 which was the day of my graudation recital audition that I thankfully passed. Not that I should not have or what but gawds, had I not passed that and everything would have been for nothing.**_

 _ **I could almost not believe how my writing transpires and transcends through time.**_

 _ **In love with everyone always,**_

 _ **xx**_

 _ **Chapter Thirty Three**_

 _ **Memories**_

 _"_ _You alright?" Harry asked._

 _Hermione turned around and stared at Harry who had come out of the house._

 _Hermione nodded and walked towards him._

 _She moved and tightly buttoned Harry's traveling cloak._

 _"_ _I don't like the idea of this." Harry said pointing at the charm placed over everyone else._

 _They all looked like him after a couple of charms and ofcourse, the detested Polyjuice Potion that Hermione helped Lupin to brew._

 _"_ _You've got no choice and it's been decided so."_

 _"_ _Decided so?" Harry repeated. "I don't remember deciding on it."_

 _"_ _It was voted for, Harry." Hermione said straightening out his collar. "We all voted for this to happen. We all wanted this."_

 _"_ _All of you." Harry muttered with a sharp glint in his eyes. "I also do not remember voting for this."_

 _"_ _Harry, please."_

 _"_ _This was voted for without my consent."_

 _Hermione smiled at him and embraced his irritated figure._

 _"_ _I don't want any of you to die." Harry said looking at her quickly changing mood and gently caressing her cheek._

 _"_ _No one is going to die." Hermione said. "Don't be ridiculous."_

 _Harry stared at her and didn't say anything._

 _Despite her positivity and the things that were prepared for in advance in order for this transfer to happen, he was still feeling bad about something._

 _Something was amiss, something wasn't quite right._

 _"_ _This was your idea."_

 _"_ _Professor Lupin agreed to it." Hermione pointed out. "He has thought of it too, it's not just me."_

 _"_ _No." Harry said. "It was a mere idea for him but you were the one who forced everyone else into it."_

 _"_ _But it's brilliant, isn't it?" Hermione asked proudly. "It would confused them. It would buy us time to escape you out of it should anything unwanted come up."_

 _"_ _This isn't the point I'm trying to say here."_

 _"_ _Harry, stop being so worried."_

 _"_ _Lupin only agreed to it because you and the others have forced him to agree to it – making him see sense on the plan when I don't see it at all."_

 _Hermione heavily breathed and took a tighter hold around his neck._

 _"_ _Harry Potter." Hermione said. "Harry Potter.. why are you so worried?"_

 _"_ _Because we're about to travel in the midst of the night, with most of us having the same face as I am, we're about to travel blindly in the nightsky and with Death Eaters everywhere – waiting for us – these are only a handful of reasons I am extremely worried."_

 _Hermione didn't say anything._

 _She bit her lower lip and smiled at him._

 _"_ _We're here." Hermione said. "We would protect you."_

 _"_ _That's exactly my point."_

 _Hermione didn't say anything._

 _She also didn't feel right about tonight but she was not going to tell him that._

 _"_ _If it makes you feel better, I'll ride with you tonight." Hermione offered with a calm smile._

 _"_ _No." Harry quickly said. "That is not going to happen."_

 _He turned from her but Hermione grabbed him and placed her hands around his waist._

 _She tightened her embrace from behind and inhaled his scent._

 _Harry sighed heavily, completely stressed out with the situation._

 _"_ _Please, Harry." Hermione said. "Let me stay with you tonight."_

 _"_ _That's the most ridiculous and dangerous idea you've ever had."_

 _Hermione tightened her embrace._

 _Harry sighed, closing his eyes and turning to her._

 _Hermione smiled up at him and stared at the emerald eyes she fell in love with._

 _"_ _Yes, Harry Potter?" she asked._

 _Harry stared._

 _It was an offer he didn't want to refuse._

 _It would ensure that Hermione was closest to him, therefore, he would be able to watch over her and protect her at full extent._

 _"_ _Yes?" Hermione asked him. "I'll tell Lupin to switch with me. He can ride with Ginny and Ron with Mad-Eye or something."_

 _"_ _I don't know.."_

 _"_ _Yes?" she repeated closely watching him. "Yes, Harry?"_

 _Harry stared at her for a moment._

 _There was something in her smile he couldn't say no to._

 _There was something in the way she smiled at him tonight that was seemingly unforgettable._

 _"_ _Yes, Harry Potter?" she asked giggling._

 _Harry sighed heavily and pulled her to him._

 _He kissed her forehead and nodded._

 _"_ _Yes." Harry whispered at her kissing her softly. "Yes, we'll switch with Lupin. I'll take you instead."_

 _Hermione smiled at him and embraced Harry tightly._

 _She suddenly felt the urge to want to memorize his scent - his facial features, his warm smile – the way his hands felt around hers._

 _Something about Harry tonight seemed different._

 _Something about tonight felt different._

 _She wanted to memorize him and every part of him for something in the depths of her, she felt that something foreboding was inevitably growing._

"Are you alright?

Hermione looked up and saw Draco walking towards her.

She was sitting by the terrace, staring out at the elegant and vast garden area of the Malfoy Manor.

"I'm fine." Hermione quietly replied looking back at the beautiful scenery before her.

Draco walked next to her and asked the servant to place the tray of breakfast next to them.

"Breakfast?" he offered with a smile.

"I'm not very hungry."

"You need to eat though." Draco said taking a toast from the platter and sitting next to her.

Hermione only nodded at him.

She has not felt this peaceful in a long time.

It has been a day since Draco took her from Harry's place.

A few hours after she had woken, Draco quickly offered if she wanted to make a restraining order against Harry in order for her to have a peaceful time away from him.

He offered his place for her to stay.

Hermione was reluctant but she wanted to be away from Harry for quite some time.

The trauma she had endured at his place was so severe that she was willing to dive into anything comfortable that was offered to her.

Draco made the letter and had her sign it.

It was temporary, but it would atlesat buy her a few days so she could think and help herself emotionally heal even for a little while.

"The trial is in two days." Draco told her. "Are we attending?"

"Yes." Hermione said without hesitation.

Draco nodded at her and sat quietly next to her.

Never in his life had he ever imagined that he would be offering Hermione Granger this peaceful view at the Malfoy Manor.

"The library at the West Wing is open for you if you would like to take your mind off things."

Hermione only nodded.

She knew how vast the selections there were and how beautiful that place sounded.

But at the moment, she couldn't care about anything else at all.

She kept relieving in her mind's eye the past few days she had endured in Harry's place.

He had tied her, forced her to eat and had grudgingly laid a hand or two on her when went against his will.

The feeling was enormously overwhelming and scary and yet – yet at the same time, she felt that everything that has transpired in the last few days was more than familiar.

She had endured almost the same things at the cottage at Beltane in the hands of a different man.

"Do you think it possible for me to see Severus?" she slowly asked Draco.

Draco sighed heavily.

In truth, he wanted that to happen.

He knew how much Snape wanted to see Hermione despite his words.

He also knew how much Hermione wanted to see him up close since their parting months ago from which she was rescued.

But he also knew that these would complicate things further and might make unwanted implications and effect on Snape's trial.

"I will try and see what I can do." Draco quietly said. "I make no promises, Hermione."

"That's good enough."

Another silence took place.

"The memories you've shown me, Hermione.." Draco slowly began wanting to ask this for quite some time now.

"What about them?"

He felt reluctant.

"They seem to lack.. some things.." Draco said quietly observing her.

Hermione shifted uncomfortably from her position.

"Lack things?" she slowly repeated.

"Yes." Draco said. "Your memories seemed.. I'm not saying.. tampered with but.. there seemed to be gaps.."

Hermione didn't immediately answer him.

She wasn't sure what to answer.

"You don't have to tell me everything if you don't want to." Draco quickly said staring at her suddenly uncomfortable form.

Hermione shook her head but no words came out.

Draco watched her grasp the ends of the dress he had bought for her the other day.

"Draco.."

"You don't have to Hermione." Draco said forcing a smile. "You don't need to tell me anything you're uncomfortable of talking about – I would understand that. I only wondered about it just incase it might help Severus' case."

"It's not like that." Hermione said and Draco could see the dread and struggle in her facial features.

"Hermione?"

Hermione turned to him and reached out for his hand.

Draco stood from his chair and quickly went to her, holding her hand.

It was cold and slightly trembling.

Hermione looked like she was going to vomit right then and there.

"Hermione?"

"It's not that I don't want.." Hermione began with her lips almost just mumbling the words.

"You can tell me." Draco said gently holding her hands in his. "You can tell me, Hermione."

Hermione stared at the blue eyes before her.

"Draco it's not that I don't to…" Hermione whispered pressing her hands around his.

"Then what is it?" Draco quietly asked her.

Hermione bit her lower lip.

Draco took that as a sign that she was both scared and nervous to tell him.

"I don't remember." Hermione finally answered her. "I don't remember them, Draco."

"Don't remember?" Draco repeated slightly confused. "What do you mean you don't remember?"

"I don't remember it." Hermione fearfully repeated. "There are.. there are gaps in my head.. in my memory.."

She was almost crying as she pressed her hands over his.

Draco stared for a moment and the realization slowly dawned on him.

 _He knew it._

He felt that way when he showed her parts of her memories before.

He even felt like he has endured something of the sort before but that wasn't really important at the moment.

"Your memory has been _tampered_?" he asked in shock. "Your memory has been-"

"I'm not sure." Hermione cried at him. "There are days.. times for which.. for which I see things in my head.. things I'm not.. things I don't fully remember happening but I've felt like… like they've happened.."

"I don't understand.. wait..What do you - tell me the things you just remember?"

"Memories.." Hermione answered. "Shortened memories.. or clips.. things.. broken things inside my head.. broken memories like something, something has been taken or erased but something was left there.. some things were purposely left there and some others taken.."

Draco watched as she cried and held her temple, shaking her head.

It didn't really make sense.

Why would someone erase memories or rather certain parts of memories?

"Does Harry know?" he slowly asked her. "Does anyone else?"

"No." Hermione cried shaking her head. "I haven't told anyone- I couldn't –I only told you - I couldn't tell anyone because they might think I'm crazy or – or it might damage Severus' chance of getting out of this-"

"But if he's innocent as you tell me so, he would-"

"No, Draco.." Hermione said. "I won't take chance on that.. You need to promise me that you would keep this."

"But if these memories were taken.. they are essential.. they are.." Draco stopped talking as he took both her arms back from her head and tried to calm her down.

He stared at her devastated form.

 _What was happening exactly?_

"Hermione, look at me." Draco asked forcing her. "Hermione, please look at me."

Hermione shook her tearful face but she slowly looked up at him.

"You need to tell me which memories these are.. we need to… I need to see which memories of yours have been tampered with.. we need to know what importance they are.. why were they taken from you.."

"I don't know.. I can't.."

"You're brilliant and intelligent and strong." Draco said. "Do this with me.. trust me, Hermione. I want to help you. I want to help Severus.. If we can sort this out, we'd find out what.. It might help Severus."

Those words were something Hermione couldn't say no to.

She slowly looked up at him.

Draco held her tearful gaze.

"Hermione, you need to tell me what you strongly remember about these broken memories."

"There was someone else." Hermione quietly answered him. "There seemed to be someone else inside my head.. who was there."

"Who was there?" Draco asked her. "Who was there, where?" he asked.

Hermione bit her lip.

"At the cottage?" he asked her. "At the cottage? At the island?"

"Yes."

Draco's heart was pumping fast at the answer.

Apparently, there was really more to what has happened many years ago.

This was far more complicated than he thought of.

And Snape had a lot of explaining to do.

"What do you remember?" Draco asked her. "What do you remember about this memory and circumstance?"

"The Unbreakable Vow." Hermione quietly answered. "Someone had created the Unbreakable Vow because I remember holding hands with Severus and the light of the spell."

Draco's heart felt like it was being pierced thoroughly.

He couldn't clearly state inside his hand what has happened but in accordance to her revelation, he might have hunches of these said memories and what might have completely taken place ten years ago.

 _Hermione quietly sat by the dining table staring at the woman in front of her._

 _The beautiful lady of the Malfoy Manor sat before her, casually sipping a tea that Snape had made._

 _She couldn't believe it._

 _She couldn't believe her eyes that someone else was at the cottage and of all people, it had to be this woman._

 _She despised her in way she couldn't understand._

 _But Snape seemed to be very keen of her and her presence in their little cottage._

 _She had arrived earlier that morning and had taken delight into bringing in bags of groceries and a bag filled with newly bought clothes both for her and for Snape._

 _She wanted to burn the things she had brought in the cottage._

 _But Snape seemed unwilling to have her out of his sight._

 _Was it jealousy she felt against this woman?_

 _"_ _Easy, Miss Granger."_

 _Hermione blinked and realized she was staring at her with such an irritating smile at her._

 _"_ _What?" she snapped angrily._

 _Narcissa shook her head and lowered the tea cup on the table._

 _"_ _You stare at me as if you hate me that you'd literary take some fangs and scratch me.."_

 _"_ _I do hate you." Hermione coldly replied._

 _She only smirked but did not answer._

 _They could both hear Snape finishing the meal he has promised to make for them in less time._

 _"_ _You hate me?" Narcissa softly said. "But I saved your life."_

 _"_ _You were only saving your own skin or rather Draco's."_

 _Narcissa still didn't say anything._

 _She was staring at Hermione as if she was some princess she was so fond of annoying._

 _"_ _Severus, I really don't need to stay for dinner. I can go in a while." Narcissa called out._

 _They heard Snape move things in the dining calling back that he was nearly done._

 _"_ _Please." Hermione said. "Stay for dinner seeing you've already stayed for the whole day."_

 _"_ _You were the one unwilling to cooperate fully." Narcissa pointed out. "If you worked earlier and fast with the two of us, I would have been gone hours ago."_

 _Hermione bit her lip and clenched her hands beneath the table._

 _How could the woman just enter their home and speak like that to her._

 _Did she not know how devastated she already was?_

 _Was she delighted that she was being this way?_

 _"_ _I don't need you here." Hermione said. "We don't need you here."_

 _Narcissa laughed – a cackle of a laughter that almost resembled Bellatrix's._

 _Only that hers was slightly sweeter and less evil._

 _"_ _You might not need me my dear, but Severus does."_

 _Hermione's hatred for the woman increased by the moment._

 _If only they did not need her._

 _But she was right._

 _They needed her._

 _She needed her._

 _Narcissa came in that morning and they had a talk at Snape's basement for which she wasn't allowed nor included._

 _It took them almost all morning before coming out of the basement._

 _They then had coffee and sooner than she expected, Snape came to her rom and asked her to join them._

 _They returned to the basement and she had been asked to do something._

 _She held hands with Snape as Narcissa sat before them._

 _She wasn't sure what exactly was to take place until Snape explained to her._

 _Apparently, Narcissa had a way against the Urduja Curse that her beloved sister placed upon her._

 _The seven years of seclusion she had to endure was apparently no secret to the woman as well._

 _She seemed to know things more than she did and she hated her for that._

 _And as if these things weren't much for her to bear, they had to ask her one more thing._

 _She had to do the Unbreakable Vow._

 _She did not want to._

 _She did not want to do something she didn't like._

 _But Snape told her that it was the only way to ensure that things would go the way they should._

 _She begged and promised Snape that she was good at controlling her emotions._

 _That she could control herself should a circumstance rose that would have her forced to spill everything._

 _Snape trusted her and she trusted him in return but she didn't see the sense in it._

 _She was not to tell a soul of Narcissa's appearance nor any of all the help that Narcissa was giving them._

 _She was not to tell a soul of the reason of her seclusion within the seven years in order for the enchantment of sealing it to work perfectly and be fully completed without any physical or emotional interference._

 _She was not to tell a soul about Snape helping and reviving Harry out of the state he was left with after the ambush._

 _She was not to tell a soul about Snape's true intentions._

 _She couldn't understand any of it and why these were the conditions asked of her for the Unbreakable Vow._

 _She had – reluctantly – but said yes and agreed to the terms of the spell._

 _In return, should she break any of it, Snape's life was on the line._

 _Snape had made sure that Hermione was not to break any of the conditions of the vow._

 _Narcissa and Snape knew how much Hermione valued him for saving her and Harry's life._

 _She was not about to betray him no matter what._

 _Snape planted in her head the value of the use of the Unbreakable Vow._

 _He said he trusted her with all his heart but that in circumstances that may rise at the future and her outbursts of emotions may interfere, they may not complete the seven years and she might do something unwanted that may harm Harry and the others._

 _It were all for her, it were for the Order and her friends, it were all for Harry Potter._

 _The dinner that Snape made and prepared for them was actually quite delicious and festive if only Hermione enjoyed it thoroughly._

 _Her mind was still on the woman in front of her._

 _After an hour of an awkward dinner for which Hermione kept giving her dagger stares, Narcissa decided to leave._

 _Snape felt Hermione's anger._

 _She felt that only Narcissa wanted the Unbreakable Vow to take place._

 _Hermione felt as if Narcissa forced Snape into it so that her hands and name would be clean out of the situation she has dipped herself in._

 _The woman was as despicable as her sister in her own ways._

 _But Snape was the one who forced her into making the Unbreakable Vow._

 _She was the only one he trusted and the only one he could bring at the cottage to make it for them._

 _He forced her into it, making her see sense in it and telling her that he couldn't help her and Draco most of all if things go haywire if Hermione's emotions went uncontrollable._

 _Hermione walked behind Snape as they took Narcissa down the hallway of the cottage._

 _She was about to leave them._

 _She had been waiting for hours for the woman to leave and suddenly right now, it felt strange._

 _A battling feeling inside of her seemed to be screaming for the woman not to leave._

 _She was going to be alone again with only Snape at the cottage._

 _Narcissa wasn't coming back._

 _Not anymore, not ever again._

 _She came only for one purpose alone and that purpose had been fulfilled._

 _She watched as she took her traveling cloak and covered herself with it._

 _She turned back and nodded curtly at her and smiled at Snape._

 _"_ _I still have twelve bottles left." Narcissa said and Snape nodded in their understanding._

 _Hermione only watched the two of them exchanged meaningful glares._

 _"_ _Thank you, Cissy." Snape simply said taking her to the door._

 _Hermione walked another step but Snape gently grabbed her hand and pulled her back._

 _There was a small line before the doorway's threshold that she wasn't allowed to cross._

 _She bitterly stared at him and took two steps back._

 _Narcissa glared at him then at Hermione._

 _She tried not to stare too long at the girl before her._

 _She didn't want to kindle and caress the pity that was growing inside of her the first moment she had seen her._

 _"_ _I'll see you, Severus." Narcissa said taking her wand out and turning from them._

 _"_ _Be safe, Cissy." Snape had said behind her back as he held the door._

 _Narcissa nodded and quietly stood with her back to them._

 _"_ _Cissy?" Snape slowly asked seeing that she was unmoving and seemed to be thinking about something._

 _"_ _I forgot something." Narcissa whispered slowly turning back to them._

 _Hermione stared curiously as Narcissa turned to face them._

 _She looked at Snape momentarily as if wanting to apologize for something._

 _"_ _Forgot something?" Snape asked her._

 _Narcissa quietly nodded at him but slowly turned to Hermione's direction._

 _Hermione stared in wonder and then she slowly raised her wand hand and pointed it at her._

 _"_ _Cissy?" Snape asked, slightly alarmed at the sight of her._

 _He didn't have his wand with him as there was no need for it._

 _Hermione stared fearfully back at her and had grasped his arm in alarm._

 _"_ _I'm sorry, Miss Granger." Narcissa softly whispered pointing the wand at the level of her forehead._

 _"_ _Mrs. M-Malfoy?"_

 _"_ _But I love my son too much to let him get hurt. There are things I want him to remember me for and there are things I don't ever want him to know about."_

 _It sounded strange to both Snape and Hermione until Snape realized what she was about to do._

 _"_ _Cissy-" Snape said getting himself in front of Hermione who clutched fearfully and tightly behind him._

 _"_ _Mrs. M-Malfoy what are you-" she croaked out seeing her point the wand directly over her forehead._

 _Narcissa met Snape's eyes._

 _He looked at her, begging her not to do what she was about to do._

 _"_ _Obliviate." Narcissa softly whispered with tears watering the sides of her eyes._

 _The jet of light emitted from her wand's tip and went straight to Hermione's head._

 _But Snape knew it wasn't just some simple Memory Charm._

 _Narcissa was still muttering things under her breath._

 _She was only taking certain things out of Hermione's mind._

 _She muttered another incantation and Hermione lost her consciousness and fell into Snape's arms._

 _Snape caught her and worriedly stared at her and then back at Narcissa._

 _"_ _What did you do-" he asked worriedly shaking Hermione._

 _"_ _She'll be alright. I had to do what I had to do." Narcissa said lowering her wand and taking the hood up of her cloak._

 _"_ _Cissy-"_

 _"_ _I do not ask you to understand." Narcissa said giving him a knowing stare. "I will see you after two weeks."_

 _She turned from him and waved her hand and walked to the boundary for which she could Disapparate and sooner than Snape thought, she slowly disappeared from view._

 _"_ _Do you need anything else?" Narcissa asked as he watched Snape close his cloak and held the Death Eater's mask in his other hand._

 _"_ _I'm fine." Snape muttered. "Will you be alright?"_

 _Narcissa nodded._

 _"_ _Draco is in his room. He is safe with me here tonight. I am feeling ecstatic."_

 _"_ _Lucius will be at the second team." Snape said as Narcissa straightened the back of his cloak._

 _"_ _I don't care which team he goes with." Narcissa muttered._

 _She looked up at him with fearful eyes._

 _"_ _Be safe." Narcissa said. "Be safe tonight, Severus. The Order of the Phoenix are willing to die for the boy. They will not think twice on killing for defense."_

 _"_ _That's better." Snape muttered. "Keeps them on their feet."_

 _Narcissa heavily breathed and stared up at him._

 _"_ _Bellatrix will be at your team."_

 _There was evident worry in her tone as Snape looked up at her._

 _"_ _The Dark Lord granted she stays with the first team."_

 _"_ _I know." Snape said. "I'll keep an eye on her."_

 _Narcissa didn't say anything._

 _She wasn't sure what he was referring to exactly._

 _"_ _Severus, please –"_

 _"_ _I won't harm her." Snape said._

 _Narcissa looked unconvinced._

 _"_ _As long as she stays out of my way and does not do anything drastic or crazy, your sister is safe."_

 _"_ _Bella will kill." Narcissa warned him. "She is reckless and she will kill anyone in her way. I need you to be very careful."_

 _"_ _I will." Snape promised her knowing that given any chance, he'd love to strike on Bellatrix Lestrange._

 _Armed and ready, Snape headed for the door of the guest room for which he stayed at the manor._

 _"_ _Do me a favor and ensure that Draco does not do anything drastic tonight by following us."_

 _"_ _I will make sure he stays in his room."_

 _Snape turned back to Narcissa and gave her a curt nod._

 _Narcissa held his hand for a moment and pressed them firmly._

 _"_ _Severus, if Harry Potter dies.. if he is handed to the Dark Lord you know it will be the end of us."_

 _"_ _The end of everything." Snape corrected her. "I will protect the boy."_

 _"_ _The Dark Lord will kill you if he finds out of your loyalty."_

 _"_ _He shall not question me." Snape said. "Not after everything I had offered and given him."_

 _Narcissa looked nervous and worried all the same._

 _"_ _You must not worry. He will not find out about my intentions."_

 _"_ _I'm worried of the possible crossfire and how you might get hurt tonight."_

 _"_ _They are planning to ambush the boy. This is my job – to protect him. That's why I volunteered for the first team, Cissy. To ensure that things go our way. No other man can do this."_

 _"_ _No other man can do what you do." Narcissa said. "No other man can ever be Severus Snape."_

 _Snape breathed heavily and pulled her to him._

 _He gently kissed her forehead to comfort her._

 _"_ _We've planned this already. I will protect the boy as he is transferred. I will ensure that the transfer becomes successful no matter the consequences and the.. the possible casualties."_

 _"_ _You can't stop me from worrying. You've laid too much of your life already."_

 _"_ _I will give anything I could to ensure that this war is won by Harry Potter."_

 _Narcissa didn't say anything._

 _Snape smiled at her._

 _"_ _I will see you by tomorrow." Snape said with the smallest of smile he could give. "Stay with Draco."_

 _Sooner than they thought, the Dark Lord has called for all the Death Eaters by the grand entrance of the Malfoy Manor to prepare for the flight to ambush Harry Potter and the rest of the Order of the Phoenix that plans to transfer him to a safer location._

 _Little did Snape know that there is a fate awaiting him at tonight's ambush._

 _A fate that not any of them was ever prepared for._

 _"_ _Ready?" Snape asked entering the room._

 _Hermione looked up at him from the bed._

 _Snape's eyes narrowed._

 _Books were stacked in a corner, her clothes were still all scattered all over the bed and the floor and other things were still not yet prepared nor packed._

 _The traveling bag he bought the other day at the thrift store lay open and empty at the end of their bed._

 _"_ _Can you tell me why exactly you're not yet packed?" he slowly asked sitting on the bed._

 _Hermione sighed and turned from him, furiously focused on a book she was reading_

 _Snape stared at her quiet form._

 _He pursed his lips and sighed._

 _"_ _Hermione?" he asked gently. "You were supposed to be done packing by now. We leave in three hours."_

 _"_ _I'm not in the mood."_

 _"_ _Not in the mood?" Snape repeated incredulously. "Not in the mood? Are you kidding me?"_

 _Hermione didn't answer._

 _"_ _Hermione." Snape said._

 _She ignored him._

 _"_ _Hermione, if you don't face me now and talk to me-"_

 _"_ _You're going to what?" Hermione snapped turning to him._

 _She threw the book at the end of the bed and moved back at the headboard glaring angrily at him._

 _"_ _What's wrong?" he softly asked reaching for her. "What's wrong Hermione?"_

 _She stared at him disbelievingly with a disapproving glare._

 _"_ _Really?" Hermione asked. "You're going to ask me that?"_

 _Snape sighed heavily and tried to reach for her again._

 _She moved herself away from him._

 _Snape looked away for a moment, his eyes roaming all the scattered belongings around the room._

 _He was staring at everything but at her._

 _"_ _We've talked about this, Hermione." Snape said with finality in his tone. "Don't be stubborn about it."_

 _"_ _Stubborn?" Hermione repeated. "What am I, a child?"_

 _"_ _Yes, at the moment." Snape snapped back at her. "You're exactly that right now, Miss Granger."_

 _Hermione's temper flared._

 _"_ _What did you say?" she asked. "What did you just call me?"_

 _Snape cursed himself at the slip of the tongue._

 _He didn't answer._

 _He suddenly felt her dive across the bed and forced him to face her._

 _"_ _What did you just call me?" she angrily asked._

 _Snape faced her, unable to say a word._

 _Hermione suddenly slapped him._

 _It was so hard that it turned his face red._

 _He didn't say anything._

 _Hermione suddenly burst into tears._

 _"_ _Why are you so cold?" she cried at him._

 _Snape stared at her._

 _Slowly, he reached for her._

 _Hermione moved herself from him and shoved his hand away._

 _He reached for her legs and gently caressed them until Hermione's features softened and he was able to pull him closer to her._

 _"_ _We've talked about this."_

 _"_ _I don't want to go."_

 _"_ _You know you have to go." Snape whispered taking her in his arms. "Hermione, you have to go."_

 _Seven years._

 _Seven years were finally over._

 _She was finally – finally – free of the Urduja Curse._

 _She was finally allowed to go back to Harry and the others._

 _She was finally free._

 _But now, it absolutely didn't feel right._

 _"_ _Please don't call me that." Hermione cried as she lay against him. "Please don't call me that."_

 _Snape nodded at her and held her tighter in his arms._

 _"_ _I'm sorry, sweetheart." Snape said. "I didn't mean to hurt you."_

 _"_ _Come with me." Hermione said placing her fingers around his. "Just come with me, Severus."_

 _She felt Snape shift beneath him and sighed heavily in his stress._

 _"_ _We've already talked about things."_

 _"_ _Yes, but there could be changes." Hermione said. "We can make amends and arrangements."_

 _"_ _The moment you return to them, it would buy me several days of time to fix and settle on things we've left behind. Then you know where I should be."_

 _"_ _What if they don't believe you?" Hermione asked him. "What if-"_

 _"_ _Draco will help me." Snape said. "The moment we return, it would be easier for me to access Draco."_

 _Hermione shook her head._

 _"_ _We can do this together." Hermione pleaded. "We don't have to part, Severus."_

 _"_ _You need to go back to them." Snape clearly said. "You need to go back to them first and.. you need to rearrange your life.. you need to go back."_

 _"_ _I don't want to go back."_

 _"_ _Please don't be stubborn. This was the plan from the beginning."_

 _"_ _But they changed." Hermione protested looking up at him. "Did they not change?"_

 _He looked down at her._

 _At the freckles, at the way her nose wrinkled, at her beautiful eyes and the scent that her skin left against his._

 _Ofcourse, everything has clearly changed._

 _But things had to go back – or rather – she had to go back._

 _A deal was a deal._

 _"_ _I will tell them." Hermione said. "I will explain to them.. I will.. we would do this together."_

 _Snape didn't say anything._

 _He knew it wasn't going to be easy._

 _Hermione's disappearance was already hard to accept._

 _Her returning with him tagged along as the lover was something he didn't want to bag on._

 _"_ _Do I not matter to you?" Hermione asked. "Did we not change things?"_

 _Snape looked at her._

 _Without a word, he moved closer and took her lips to his, deeply kissing her._

 _Hermione moaned in his mouth._

 _She gently grabbed his hand and then quickly placed it between her thighs._

 _She had been waiting for him all morning._

 _He has said that he needed to deliver some of his creations to a client._

 _But she knew better._

 _Snape just did not want to see her pack her belongings before they leave for the train later._

 _Snape kissed her then pulled back but Hermione locked his face into hers by placing her hands around his neck._

 _She forced him to kiss her, her other hand pulled down by her to run between her thighs._

 _"_ _Hermione – please-" Snape moaned between their kisses._

 _His hands started running between her thighs, his fingers reaching up and feeling the wetness from her underwear._

 _"_ _Please don't let me go." Hermione cried letting him kiss her, allowed him full access to her body._

 _"_ _I love you, Hermione." Snape whispered, gently lifting her clothes and planting kisses from her abdominal area and up her breasts while his other hand reached beneath her dress to grasp her between the legs._

 _"_ _I love you, Severus." Hermione cried as Snape's mouth lingered all over her, his hands mercilessly moving around and about her making her forget everything that was about to commence._

Snape found himself in the midst of the night in the visiting room.

He had been woken and taken there at the room where he usually met Draco.

"Did something happen?" he asked as Draco entered the room at the ungodly hour.

Draco was quiet as he entered not really knowing what to say.

He was trying to calm himself down as he wasn't sure how he would face him and talk to him about what he had just discovered.

"Draco?" Snape asked concerned.

Draco sat at the opposite chair from the table and stared at his own godfather.

"Hermione has requested a restraining order against Potter." Draco relayed unable to immediately tell his godfather why he was there.

Snape slightly looked alarmed but he remained composed.

"Is she alright?" he asked her.

"Harry's kept her locked in for days. That's why she wasn't at the trial. He's had her literary tied to her bed and fed her because he wouldn't let her near any object that might hurt either of them."

Snape's eyes flashed in anger.

"He what?" he angrily asked. "He tied her? He fucking-"

"She's better and she's fine." Draco said. "She's at the manor and getting better. But that's now why I'm here."

Snape glared at him.

What was more important than that for him to come over in the middle of the night?

"What's happened?" Snape asked him. "What has happened, Draco?"

"You tell me." Draco said unable to hide his slight frustration at him.

Snape stared at him with no comprehension at all of what was going on.

"Draco, I don't understand what you're trying to say."

"Fine." Draco said. "Let's go straight to the point then."

Draco sat back on the chair and sighed heavily.

"I've been trying to help you from day one and I've asked you to tell me everything. You've been helpful – yes, but you haven't been completely honest with me."

"I've been honest with you." Snape said raising his eyebrow at the attitude Draco was showing him.

"No, you haven't." Draco said with controlled irritation in his voice.

Snape's patience had its limit.

"Tell me what's going on so I can help you with whatever it is you've been pissed about."

Draco stared momentarily as if checking if he was lying or if he was really going to help him.

"Remember when I told you that Hermione told me things?" he asked him. "When I've told you that Hermione has shown me things?"

"Yes." Snape said through gritted teeth at the memory of it.

He still didn't want Draco knowing about all the precious things he had shared with Hermione back in the cottage despite that it would help his case.

"What about them?"

"Apparently, when I've seen those memories I knew something was up.. something was amiss. I've thought it was just me – being paranoid and overthinking – but apparently, not. I was right."

"Right?" Snape asked uncertainly.

"I've thought about it. The memories seemed tampered. And I've found out that after all this time, it seems that I was right."

"Tampered memories?" Snape repeated. "Draco, I don't understand – I've never tampered with Hermione's memories-"

"No." Draco said. "I didn't think so. Not you, per se. So who was it?"

"Who was what?"

"Who else was at the cottage?" he asked straightforward. "Who else knew about you and Hermione back at the cottage?"

Snape's heart skipped a beat.

He couldn't answer that.

No, that was something he couldn't answer at all costs.

He was glad that Hermione had not divulge about it.

But given that her memory has been tampered, she might have slight and small understanding of the things and memories inside her head that could have killed either of them if she admitted things to Draco.

Despite her tampered memories, she did not only stay true to her word and promises.

The feeling, the memory and the enchantment of the Unbreakable Vow had stayed deep in her senses.

She was not able to tell Draco everything.

"I can't help you." Snape said standing up from the table. "I can't answer that."

Draco watched as his godfather stood up and turned from him.

"Answer me." Draco demanded.

"I can't." Snape said. "I can't help you with this, Draco."

Draco stared at his back.

He knew that tone too well.

He knew that he wasn't going to say anything else, not another word to whatever it was he was keeping.

He stared at his godfather, thinking, thinking fast and thinking hard.

What would he keep?

What would Hermione keep?

What would be taken from her that neither of them could say a word about it?

It took him a moment or two but when it came to his mind, he felt like his head had been spun around and his heart had been struck.

He quickly moved forward and forced Snape to face him.

"You did it." Draco said breathing fast and heavy. "You did.. but who?" he asked.

Snape looked away, silently cursing Draco's intellect.

"You did it – look at me, I'm talking to you – look at me-"

"Draco, please, I can't tell you – I cannot –"

"But how? There must – there was – someone else –" Draco said, his mind swirling at the possibilities.

Snape turned away, he did not want him to see the expression over his face that might tell him everything.

There was a long silence before Draco spoke again.

"You couldn't tell me.. you couldn't tell any of us and neither could Hermione-"

"Draco, stop it."

"I couldn't… I should have seen it in the first place. But who?" Draco asked him. "Who else knew of this?"

Snape could tell that his mind was working fast and hard by the facial features he was giving away.

His eyes suddenly widened as he stared up at Snape.

"It couldn't.. " Draco breathed. "She.. wouldn't.."

"Draco." Snape said turning to him and grasping his wrist.

Draco shoved his hand away and moved a step back.

He was piecing things together in his head.

His guess of having a tampered memory himself was there.

Someone else had tampered his memory because there was one recollection in his mind from which he had always felt different or odd and wrong all the same.

His eyes widened as he took another step from Snape who looked back at him with great concern and worry.

He remembered the things that could have been and should have been.

The oddities that had taken place before and the way things were going around and about.

Their resources at the cottage, Hermione's reluctance to tell the truth in the court, Snape's admittance of a crime he was innocent of – everything else in between – it all now made sense to him.

But could it be?

Could it really be?

"The Unbreakable Vow." Draco whispered looking up at him. "There had to be a third person at that cottage." Draco said seeing Snape avoid his gaze as much as possible.

"You should go." Snape said. "Find another way to free me."

"No." Draco said determined to get all the answers.

Snape shook his head and turned from him again.

"It was mother." Draco whispered piecing everything inside his head and having a hard time catching up the thought inside his head and the words out of his mouth.

"Draco."

"It was mother who was there." Draco said. "It was mother who knew about everything."

He didn't believe what his own mouth was saying.

"Draco, your mother was a good woman."

"Obviously." Draco said. "Too good of a woman for a son she loved deeply. She did everything she could.. she weave things through.. she helped you.. she.. she.."

Draco stopped.

They both heard the doors being opened and two Aurors entered.

"What's going on?" Draco asked alarmed as the Aurors went forward and took Snape.

Snape nodded at him and whispered that he was fine although the Aurors were obviously hurting him.

"Wait, what's going on?" Draco asked. "I'm talking to my client here-"

One of the Aurors stopped him from getting nearer them.

"He has to be taken to another room. He has a visitor."

"A visitor at this hour?" Draco asked. "At this hour?"

The man looked at him with disgust.

Draco's eyes narrowed.

"I'm his fucking council!"

"Mr. Harry Potter is at the other room to see the accused, Mr. Severus Snape." the Auror simply said.

It stopped Draco from asking questions.

He stared as the man nodded at him and they left the room, dragging Snape behind with Draco standing alone in the room in complete awe and utter confusion in his head on what has just transpired.


	34. Chapter 34

_**Author's Notes:**_

 _ **According to the other page where I post this, this was posted roughly a day after my graduation recital so that will be maybe May 14, 2017, the day right after.**_

 _ **Today, it's more like Happy Easter!**_

 _ **How was your Lent or rather your Easter holidays? Do let me know.**_

 _ **Here's a toast and a chapter for everyone.**_

 _ **Thank you, thank you for all those who drop by and leave their lovely comments.**_

 _ **Hope you like this chapter and do let me know what you think.**_

 _ **Lots of love from my end of the world.**_

 _ **xx**_

 _ **Chapter Thirty Four**_

 _ **The Unbreakable Vow**_

 _"_ _Are you alright?"_

 _Snape turned around and saw Narcissa enter the study of the Malfoys._

 _"_ _You don't look well." Snape commented seeing her pale face. "Have you been taking the potions I've given you?"_

 _Narcissa stared up at Snape's genuinely concerned look._

 _He moved to her and moved his hand towards her but she shoved his hands away from her face._

 _"_ _Don't change the topic." Narcissa snapped at him as she moved away. "What happened?"_

 _"_ _What happened about what?" Snape asked staring at her back._

 _Narcissa shook her head holding back her irritation at his answer._

 _"_ _I heard the Dark Lord.. questioned your – rather – tardiness at today's meeting."_

 _"_ _Oh that." Snape softly said. "It was.. nothing. I already explained it to him."_

 _"_ _Care to explain to me too?" Narcissa asked with a raised brow._

 _Snape knew that tone too well._

 _He moved from her as she faced him._

 _"_ _Where have you been?" Narcissa asked him with a sharp tone. "Where have you been, Severus?"_

 _"_ _Nowhere." Snape answered firmly. "I just had to return to Hogwarts."_

 _"_ _Really?" Narcissa asked him. "A few hours after the ambush and you had to return to Hogwarts?"_

 _Snape didn't say anything._

 _"_ _What did you do at Hogwarts then?" she asked. "Grade some papers? Put some students in detention?"_

 _"_ _I needed to secure my position. I needed to remain intact with the school and all information within. They couldn't suspect me."_

 _But Narcissa stared at him as if she was the one suspecting him of something._

 _"_ _School has not yet resumed." Narcissa pointed out._

 _"_ _The teachers are there ahead of time." Snape said. "I usually return a week later than the rest. I just needed to ensure that things are as we expect in the school."_

 _"_ _So sweet of you to be concerned of the school in these times, Severus. You should get some sort of academic award for your services at Hogwarts."_

 _"_ _I don't have time for this."_

 _"_ _Neither do I."_

 _Snape stared at her and could see the genuine anger growing in her face._

 _He looked slightly apologetic._

 _"_ _The Dark Lord did not expect to get Potter last night." Narcissa slowly began changing the topic._

 _"_ _Not when everyone else was there to die for the boy."_

 _"_ _But he is pleased with the results." Narcissa continued as she stared and touched the black marble chess pieces display at the end of the large Malfoy office room._

 _"_ _He should be." Snape said with a quirked brow. "The ambush didn't go as we had planned but we were able to cope and at the least, eliminate a few of them."_

 _"_ _I heard an Auror died." Narcissa said. "Is that true?"_

 _"_ _I didn't identify who." Snape answered. "I also heard. I'd have to do my way into finding who it was. A Weasley got injured."_

 _"_ _Potter's friend?" asked Narcissa._

 _Snape shook his head._

 _He was sure that it wasn't that bane in his ass Ron Weasley - the Weasley that he has injured._

 _It was an accident, per se._

 _But he didn't have a choice._

 _He was aiming for the fucking Death Eater near the boy but the Death Eater had dodged – which he didn't really account for – when he aimed the spell forward._

 _"_ _The girl." Narcissa suddenly said claiming Snape's attention back at her. "Do you know what happened to her?"_

 _"_ _Girl?" Snape asked._

 _"_ _Yes." Narcissa quietly answered looking closely at him. "Bella told me that she had hit the girl with a spell."_

 _Snape didn't answer._

 _He wasn't sure what to say._

 _Narcissa heavily sighed as she watched him clench his fists._

 _"_ _Bella told me that the other got confused when they saw that everyone else was riding with someone who looked like Potter."_

 _"_ _Yes, it was a clever plan." Snape said with an utmost irritation in his voice._

 _That was something they did not expect._

 _It was something he also didn't account for._

 _Whoever suggested that from the Order was really clever to do that._

 _Three guesses who it was._

 _"_ _So Bella hit the girl?" Snape slowly asked trying to sound as casual as possible._

 _Narcissa nodded._

 _"_ _That's what my dear sister bragged about but I'm not quite sure. She was so pissed that she didn't really see what happened. She only saw that her spell did hit one of the pairs riding and was swearing that it was the Mud-" she paused upon remembering that Snape despised the word._

 _Snape didn't say anything._

 _He knew what she was about to say._

 _He only carefully and continuously listened to her._

 _"_ _The Muggle-born." Narcissa corrected herself in front of Snape. "Potter's friend."_

 _"_ _So Bella hit the spell?"_

 _"_ _I think so. I'm not sure. I would have to ask her."_

 _"_ _What did she say again?"_

 _"_ _She said she was able to hit one of the pairs riding. She thinks she saw that the pair she's attacked is the Muggle-Born with Potter. She was aiming it at the boy. I do think it was really Potter for the way she described the flying skills of the pair she went after. The boy did a kind of swerve and well, it hit the girl instead. I don't think he was still able to measure the way they were flying. He bagged on his speed and not the way he was flying it."_

 _Snape didn't say anything_

 _It didn't really make sense._

 _The target was the boy and everyone else was secondary._

 _Was Bella that desperate?_

 _No, not desperate._

 _Only crazy._

 _"_ _I'd find out." Snape said. "We'll know if they bring anyone at St. Mungo's."_

 _Narcissa stared closely at him._

 _She couldn't help what she was feeling or rather sensing._

 _Something was amiss about him – something was different but she couldn't put her finger on it._

 _"_ _Are you staying for the night?" she asked him after a while._

 _"_ _No." Snape answered with such certainly in his tone. "I will also leave in a while."_

 _"_ _I've asked them to prepare some meal for us. Eat before you leave."_

 _"_ _I'm not hungry."_

 _"_ _I asked you to eat with me." Narcissa said in a different tone._

 _Snape looked up at her and noticed the sharpness in her tone._

 _"_ _Is something wrong?" he asked her._

 _"_ _None." Narcissa said folding her arms as she stood tall. "I just want to eat with you."_

 _Snape looked reluctant._

 _He looked like he was calculating something._

 _"_ _I can't stay long." Snape said. "There are things I must finish."_

 _"_ _And places to be?" she asked him with a raised brow._

 _Snape sighed heavily._

 _"_ _I'll eat with you, Cissy." he said with business in his tone. "And then I'll leave."_

 _"_ _Good enough for me." Narcissa said and without another word, she left him in the room._

"I would need to speak to Hermione." Lupin said staring around the room.

It was very late already and most of them were up in the kitchens of the Weasleys.

Draco was at the point of desperation.

The moment his godfather was taken from the room and was led to another for which he wasn't allowed to, he had quickly gone to the Weasley's.

He wasn't sure if he was going to be welcome there but he was sure of one thing: they will help him.

The moment he arrived, the protection at the grounds alarmed its owner and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley came out of the house in the very early hours of the morning.

They were perplexed upon seeing the Malfoy heir but all the same, they welcomed him inside their home and listened to what he had to say.

He told them about Hermione's present whereabouts and why it has come to it.

Mrs. Weasley quickly asked her husband to send a Patronus to Lupin.

Soon enough, the room was filled with the rest of the Weasleys and Lupin.

They listened to what Draco Malfoy had to tell them.

They had to.

His stories were Hermione's.

Despite that he didn't have a vital evidence or proof of any sort other than Hermione's stories for which his words are all they could possibly take – he had to tell them whether they believe in him or not.

Lupin was the first to react.

He did believe Draco and he did look like he couldn't believe that he had missed all these from Harry.

The sudden changes in his mood, his reluctance to be around them or have Hermione around them, his temperament in front of others and notably in front of the Minister of Magic himself and other things that he had ignored and taken for granted.

His fists clenched over his lap as he listened to Draco's stories.

How could he have missed what his bestfriend's son was turning into?

How could he have overlooked all the dangerous changes in him that was transforming him into some obsessive lover?

"Hermione is alright." Draco assured him. "She stays safe at the manor with me."

"She prefers your company at the moment?" Ginny asked as she entered the room.

Draco turned to face her and they stared at one another.

He knew that he couldn't really convince all of them of his good intentions nor does he beg for their trust.

But he was there and he was telling the truth, in stories through Hermione's eyes – and it was up to them to listen or ignore Hermione's cries for help.

"Yes." Draco earnestly answered her. "Hermione prefers to stay with me at the moment."

Ginny's brows creased but she didn't say anything.

"It's possible for me to visit her at the manor?" Lupin slowly asked.

Draco quickly nodded at him.

"I prefer you see her as soon – before the next trial."

"Hermione needs to be tended to accordingly." Mr. Weasley advised as she turned to Molly.

"I'd like to go with Remus if that is alright."

Draco nodded at her.

"I think that's a good idea. She trusts you." Draco said pointing at Lupin. "And she thinks your some sort of mother to her."

Molly nodded at his reference to him.

"It's settled then." Draco said. "Tomorrow would be a good time. At my place."

"Around lunch would be good." Lupin offered.

"Good enough." Draco said with a smile at him.

Lupin walked forward and shook hands with Draco.

"Help her." Draco said almost pleadingly. "Please. She's already suffered for ten years. Don't let it happen again."

 _"_ _Protego!" Hermione screamed pointing her wand behind her._

 _A powerful charm protected them as Harry swerved the broom in a downward spiral direction._

 _Jets of sparks flew everywhere._

 _Screamed of spells and of confusion were heard from all directions._

 _The sky was filled with nothing but terror as the Death Eaters raced behind the Order to transfer Harry in a safer location._

 _One was already down from the Order and two Death Eaters._

 _"_ _Hold tight." Harry whispered holding Hermione's other hand that was tight around his waist as her other hand continued to send out spells around them._

 _The cold breeze of the night swept past their faces as blurred visions after another passed them._

 _They could not see clearly who were Order members and who were Death Eaters but they could tell that they were at the losing side but the rate of what was going on._

 _"_ _Harry, look out!" Hermione screamed as another spell flew towards them._

 _Harry yelled a spell and swerved the broomstick into another rollercoaster like move._

 _Hermione's hands slipped from around his waist but he managed put it back around his waist._

 _Hermione screamed and held his waist tightly as she sent another spell from their recover from the previous spell._

 _Harry turned the broom to the side as Hermione directed because they saw a pair of Death Eaters chasing the broom of Bill and Fleur._

 _The spell quickly reached the two Death Eaters who quickly backed away and immediately looked around for the pair that attacked them._

 _"_ _They're too many." Hermione breathlessly whispered against the nape of Harry's neck._

 _"_ _We're going to go through this." Harry said gritting his teeth._

 _He actually found his own words unconvincing._

 _It would take a miracle for all of them to survive this night._

 _"_ _Damn it." Harry cursed as he flew the broom to one direction and dived it again at another direction._

 _"_ _What?" Hermione worriedly asked as she sent two more spells at their sides._

 _"_ _That pair has been consistently following us." Harry said nodding behind them._

 _A pair of Death Eaters at the rear had indeed been consistently following them – as if they knew that the pair they were following was the one with the real Harry Potter in it._

 _"_ _Do the thing." Hermione whispered. "That swirl you did before at a Quidditch Match."_

 _"_ _Which?" Harry yelled back. "Protego!" he yelled as a spell came pelting towards them front the front._

 _"_ _The one which McGonagall put you in detention for after that practice match with Slytherin."_

 _Harry's eyes narrowed._

 _That was a good move and he was placed in detention for it._

 _But it was a dangerous one._

 _If he does not calculate that move properly, there was a chance for Hermione to slide off the broomstick behind him._

 _"_ _No." Harry stubbornly said as he held his free hand tightly over hers around his waist. "That's too dangerous."_

 _"_ _That's the only way we can have them miss us, Harry." Hermione said edging herself closer behind him._

 _"_ _No, Hermione." Harry said although he could tell that she was right. "This isn't Quidditch. I can't make a mistake."_

 _"_ _You're not going to." Hermione said looking tightening his hold around him. "I trust you, Harry."_

 _"_ _It's too dangerous, Hermione." Harry said as they swerved sideways to miss another spell._

 _"_ _Harry, please." Hermione begged him. "If we don't try it, they'll catch up on us."_

 _Harry swerved sideways again then another downward and sudden upward direction to miss the spells and the Death Eaters coming their way._

 _"_ _Hermione, it's too dangerous!"_

 _"_ _I trust you." Hermione whispered settling herself behind him. "Come on, you can do it, Harry. I trust you."_

 _Harry angrily growled knowing he had no choice._

 _He looked sideways first then at their rear then back at front and made a quick calculation inside his head._

 _This wasn't Quidditch._

 _There was no room for mistake._

 _"_ _Hold still, Hermione." Harry whispered and he felt her tighten both her hands around his waist._

 _"_ _You can do it." Hermione whispered against him. "I trust you, Harry. I love you."_

 _Harry sighed heavily and focused._

 _He did a short mental countdown inside his head._

 _And then just like he did in the Quidditch practice, he did a dangerous move of gliding the broom forward in a very fast pace, calculated to turn upside down and swerved several ways and direction before settling back into the normal pace and direction._

 _Hermione closed her eyes and at the fast and free-falling sensation she felt._

 _They were going to make it through._

 _They were going to survive the night._

 _And suddenly, she heard Harry yell a spell._

 _They were in the midst of the move in an almost complete attempt to finish it when out of nowhere it was interrupted by a sudden jolt, a sudden movement and a sudden attack they did not account for._

 _She heard him call her name as she deafened to hear her voice call his._

 _Their hands held one another as tight as they could possibly keep them._

 _Another sharp jolt._

 _She felt her hands slowly slip away from Harry's grasp._

 _Sooner than they both expected, they were both falling down the London sky without control, without direction and without the ability to hold on and protect one another from the fast and dangerous fall they were heading to._

"Do you need anything to help you sleep?" Draco asked entering the library at the West Wing.

It was nearly one in the morning.

One day to go for the next trial.

"I'm fine." Hermione replied staring at the book in her hand.

She had been spending her hours there but Draco could tell that she was barely reading.

She was thinking, still thinking what will happen sooner or later.

She wanted to see Snape but the arrangements that had to be made were quite a long-shot.

He knew how important it was for the two of them to see one another incase the turn of events wouldn't be on their side.

"Your mother was an intelligent woman." Hermione said with a smile as Draco walked forward and sat across him.

The library was the most extravagant next to Hogwarts that Hermione has ever seen.

The selections were beyond her imagination and the time she spent there, she was never going to forget.

For a moment in her life, she learned to forget all troubles one more time.

"She bought most of the books in here." Draco revealed picking up one book from the long coffee table between their couch.

Hermione nodded.

"Most of the selections are rare – she had them bought in from other countries."

"I could tell. Some are Latin."

"Snape always like staying in this library. Mother always had him meet her here. She always knew what he wanted."

"Yes.." Hermione responded. "Yes, she always did."

"He was her favourite Slytherin." Draco said with an almost sarcastic tone in his voice.

"He was the bright one, wasn't he?" she said with a smile.

Draco nodded and slowly walked forward her.

He sat quietly next to her and reached out for her hand.

Hermione was reluctant but she didn't withdraw her hand from him.

"Too bright for his own good, in fact." Draco said with a playful smirk over his face.

They sat quietly holding one another's hands.

There was some comfort in that little gesture for the both of them.

The silence was relaxing until Hermione spoke again.

"Draco, help him." Hermione whispered slowly turning to him.

Draco nodded and looked up.

Hermione was crying again.

Suddenly, she placed both her hands around him.

"He only tried to save my life." Hermione cried tightly embracing him. "He only wanted to do what was right. Everything that happened next were not of his fault."

Draco didn't know how to react or what to say.

He reluctantly placed his hands around her and gently patted her back.

"I'll do everything I can." Draco whispered hoping this would comfort her. "Everything I can, Hermione."

"Please." Hermione begged him. "He's innocent. He only tried to save anyone he could. The circumstances after for which we were placed are nothing he should be accounted for. Please, he's an innocent man. Please help Severus."

 _Hermione's whole body was screaming for her to run._

 _Run as fast as she could._

 _But she didn't._

 _She couldn't._

 _She knelt by the fireplace in the cottage holding Snape's hand._

 _They stared at one another._

 _He closely stared at her as if warning her not to do anything stupid and at the same time, telling her that he was there and everything would be alright._

 _"_ _Breathe." Snape silently mouthed towards her when he noticed that she was shaking in nervousness._

 _Hermione heavily breathed keeping her eyes on Snape to keep her relaxed and calm._

 _Narcissa was walking around the two of them with her wand out._

 _There was something about the Malfoy woman with her wand at hand and walking around them like some vulture watching over her victims that made Hermione extremely nervous._

 _She did not like the idea that she was somewhat armed and she wasn't._

 _Despite that she was somehow a little less scary than Bellatrix, she was still a Black and the very sister of the crazy woman she despised so much._

 _"_ _You may begin." Snape gently instructed Narcissa._

 _Her eyes were focused on Hermione – as if watching her and ready to attack her should she do anything stupid against this plan of hers._

 _"_ _Very well." Narcissa said halting from her slow pace around them._

 _Hermione's fingers slightly moved around Snape's but he held them closely to ensure she wouldn't let go._

 _He nodded at her._

 _His black eyes were comforting her and keeping her still and steady._

 _Narcissa eyes them both before uttering a few spells first._

 _Hermione felt a tinge of magic draw out from her wand and around her and Snape's hands as she began the ceremony as the Bonder._

 _"_ _Will you, Hermione Jean Granger keep the secrets withheld within this cottage at Beltane for which you are bound to Severus Snape for the coming years?"_

 _"_ _Y-yes, I will." Hermione answered._

 _Her eyes widened as a jet of spark emitted from her wand and engulfed their hands like a small serpent tying their hands together._

 _"_ _Will you, Hermione Jean Granger keep in secret that it was Severus Snape that saved Harry Potter's life by creating a potion and evoking a spell to awaken him from the state for which he has been left with after the attack?"_

 _"_ _I will." Hermione answered a little louder than she had meant to._

 _Another jet of spark engulfed them._

 _"_ _Will you, Hermione Jean Granger, stay with Severus Snape here at the cottage for the remaining years that you would have to in order to protect the outside world and yourself from the harm that the Urduja Curse has bestowed upon you?"_

 _Hermione looked reluctant but Snape nodded at her._

 _"_ _I-I will." Hermione answered and tears were threatening to fall from her eyes._

 _There was a relief over Narcissa's face but she still looked slightly worried but she didn't say anything._

 _"_ _Will you, Hermione Jean Granger, in no circumstance tell a soul the true intentions of Severus Snape upon keeping you here at the cottage and saving your life to save the lives of many especially that of Harry James Potter?"_

 _"_ _I will." Hermione answered in a determined tone._

 _"_ _Will you, Hermione Jean Granger keep in secret that it was I, Narcissa Black Malfoy, who helped you and knew of everything about your and Severus Snape's whereabouts and the secrets kept within this grounds?"_

 _Hermione didn't answer._

 _She wasn't sure why she couldn't promise that._

 _She felt Snape's fingers move around hers as if calling back her attention._

 _They looked at one another and Snape stared back at her as if begging her._

 _"_ _Yes, I will." Hermione quietly answered._

 _She looked up and saw Narcissa's stern expression slowly relaxed._

 _There was almost a grateful look over her eyes that completely vanished as she continued._

 _"_ _Will you, Hermione Jean Granger, entrust your whole being and your whole life to Severus Snape and do everything in your power – whatever it takes – to follow all of his orders and will for the both of you to accomplish the seven years needed in order for the Urduja Curse to die within you to keep everyone safe from the effects of the dark curse?"_

 _"_ _I will." Hermione answered with an almost bitterness in her tone._

 _She hated Bellatrix Lestrange more than anything or anyone in the world._

 _Narcissa and Snape quietly stared at one another._

 _Snape nodded at her._

 _"_ _And will you, Hermione Jean Granger, protect all secrets within this cottage no matter the circumstance – even if it places Severus Snape's life in danger - so long as to have you, Harry James Potter and every other person you love that is involve to be protected?"_

 _This time Hermione really did stare back at Snape._

 _He was asking her to protect everyone else that she loved but him._

 _That would mean that if the circumstance or day and time would come that she would need to choose to protect – she will be able to do so for the rest but not for him?_

 _Not for the man who has saved her life and sacrificed everything he has for her._

 _Snape pressed her hands again._

 _He looked at her with that gentle stare that he rarely ever had._

 _Hermione shook her head._

 _Snape pressed her fingers and nodded._

 _She looked up at Narcissa who was waiting for her to answer to seal the spell._

 _Her heart was beating fast._

 _What was she going to do?_

 _Snape stared at her and mouthed that he loves her – and that things would be alright as long as she follows what he was asking of her._

 _Without much of a choice, Hermione looked back at Narcissa and slowly turned her eyes back at their entangled hands._

 _"_ _Yes." Hermione answered despite her reluctance and her worry at that last vow. "Yes, I will."_

 _Narcissa's whole body relaxed._

 _She breathed as the final spark shot out from her wand._

 _The spell took its final turn, sealed and accomplished what was needed to be kept in secret for the years that were to come._

"This is getting out of hand." Draco said that morning.

He stared across the table where his godfather was tending over a large mark over his face.

He looked like he had been beaten to death the whole night.

"There's nothing you can do." Snape muttered placing the warm compress that Draco procured for him.

Draco only stared.

There really was nothing he could do.

Times has changed and tables have been turned.

Harry James Potter was the most powerful or rather influential wizard in the world after his defeat of the Dark Lord.

There was no way they could protect Snape from that kind of man right now who had the world at his feet.

"The trial is tomorrow. Can you attend?"

"I'm alive." Snape said quietly. "I'm not invalid."

"Hermione wants to see you." Draco said staring closely at him.

Snape didn't say anything.

He didn't show any expression.

"It's not a good idea." Snape said after a while. "Tell her that she shouldn't. That there is no use for it."  
"She's emotionally suffering. She needs to see you."

Truth was that he wanted so bad to see her.

But if he sees her for a moment knowing he'd lose her forever anyway, he rather not.

He feared that seeing her would only bring back their memories together and bring him in a further unwanted emotional disposition.

"She does want to see you. She needs to see you."

"I know that." Snape answered. "But she must understand that it would do us both no good. Take good care of her, Draco."

Draco didn't say anything.

He hated it when he spoke this way.

It was as if he was bidding them goodbye.

"I need you to know that I'm doing my best to help you. You have got to hold on."

"I believe you." Snape answered him. "I believe you more than you know and I appreciate all of these more than you know."

Draco nodded and slowly stood up.

He had so many things he had to finish and accomplish in order to help Snape.

"I've told the Order about what's been going on. They will try to help Harry out of this demented situation his is in."

"You can't help him if he does not understand." Snape said as he also slowly stood up.

Draco stared at his godfather's literary broken figure.

He had a fracture around the ribs and his eyes were swollen from being beaten up.

Not an Auror flinched at the sight of his beaten figure.

Harry had indeed had the world at his feet.

"I will help you." Draco said as Snape only nodded with the compress in his hand.

Snape slowly turned from him and limped away from the table.

Draco's heart slightly hurt at the sight of his godfather limping towards the door in heavy and pained strides.

"I will help you out of this, I promise you."

Snape didn't say anything.

He only waved back at Draco as he turned away and walked out of the door without turning back, without another word.

"I want the verdict by the next court trial." Harry demanded.

He stood at the atrium of the trial room where he requested a secluded and special meeting with the Wizengamot.

This was an unusual request but he was Harry Potter and he was given privileges that others wouldn't have in any day.

These things went through Ministry officials and offices and to be approved by the Minister of Magic himself.

But as Harry Potter, the Chosen One and savior of the Wizarding World for twice in a row, he would only send out word and have the full Wizengamot at his feet.

The Wizengamot read through the requests and documents he has presented them.

They all looked passive as they read through but Harry could tell that their approval in the first place of this special meeting request, told him that he had the upperhand in the case and the situation.

"Mr. Potter, let us review this."

"I want this soon." Harry said unable to stop himself. "I want a verdict by the next trial."

Despite his demands, he forced his tone to be as gentle and as respectful as possible.

He was still after all, standing in a room filled with wizards wiser and older than him.

"Your request is of utmost peculiarity but we understand its importance as anyway, all evidences are against the accused."

"It is very – extremely dangerous – if he gets out of prison. You must understand that up to now, my fiancé Miss Granger is not very stable and is terribly traumatized of the situation that has happened to her."

"We've heard of it." said one of the members. "We are sorry to hear she is quite unwell at the moment."

Harry only nodded quietly.

He looked up at the oldest member of the Wizengamot who would have the final say about it.

"Let us review this today, Mr. Potter. I do understand your predicament."

"The longer Miss Granger is exposed to this, the longer she sees the accused, she couldn't possibly recover completely. Please understand that I only want her to get back and be better not just because of our wedding, but because I love her and I want her to be better."

The Wizengamot nodded and Harry couldn't help but think that they were seeing sense in his words.

"We will take this matter into serious consideration." the oldest member assured Harry with a curt nod at him.

Harry nodded at them as he was given permission to leave.

As Harry walked out of the hall he knew that things were coming together in his hands.

He was heading to the Ministry department that took care of marriages.

He would have to take care of that next.

He would have his way with it as well.

Papers were to be overlooked and certain steps were to be jumped over.

Granger-Potter nuptials were going to happen as soon as possible even perhaps before the verdict was to be given.

He was willing whatever it takes, whatever it has to take in order for him to win this case against Severus Snape.

He had won more than once against him.

He wasn't going to let this one out.

He was going to have Hermione and he was going to win over everything.

He would have Snape sentenced to Azkaban for where he deserves to be and he was going to do whatever it takes for that to happen and whether Hermione likes it or not, she was going to marry him by hook or by crook.


	35. Chapter 35

_**Chapter Thirty Five**_

 _ **Trains and Trials**_

 _Hermione was vaguely woken in her sleep by Snape who walked around their room as if looking for something._

 _"_ _What is it?" she muttered from their bed as she pulled covers around her naked body due to the temperature in the room._

 _"_ _It's still early." Snape answered as he crossed the clothing littered carpeted end of their bed._

 _"_ _Early?"_

 _"_ _Go back to sleep." Snape gently said as he bent over and picked up something and threw over a bag._

 _Hermione brushed her eyes and tried to clear her visions._

 _She was too sleepy but the movements he was making in the room was somewhat bothering her sleep._

 _He could see his silhouette in their darkened room moving back and forth as he looked for one object after anther and threw to a bag at the other end of the room._

 _"_ _Are you leaving?" Hermione asked slightly alarmed and suddenly feeling awake._

 _"_ _Just for a few hours." Snape answered her. "I'll be back right after lunch."_

 _Hermione's eyes narrowed._

 _He was going to go away again._

 _She was sure that he was going to some sort of 'out of town' business again that she wasn't supposed to ask more questions about._

 _"_ _The cupboards are filled with things you can prepare for your meal."_

 _Oh, he was prepared as Hermione thought so._

 _This very short trip was quite planned._

 _The pantry was usually only filled with ready to make meals or snacks because he usually cooked everything fresh._

 _But to have 'meals' prepared and kept in their storage meant that he had been planning this ahead of time._

 _"_ _Don't go." Hermione softly said from the bed as she sat up. "Just stay."_

 _Snape ignored her as he continued to pack._

 _He needed to be away for several hours._

 _Narcissa had sent him message that she was terribly not feeling well and he knew that he needed to tend to her as soon as possible._

 _She has noted that she has sent Draco for two days on a business trip with lies that he was to make a deal with a Russian investor._

 _In truth, there was a Russian investor – who was more than willing to visit London for the business transaction._

 _But Narcissa had been feeling ill for weeks now and it was her only chance to have Snape see her and Draco was getting in the way of it._

 _He couldn't miss the chance of seeing Narcissa while she had the chance to send Draco away_

 _He couldn't just neglect Narcissa._

 _He clung to her for many things more than one since their Hogwarts days._

 _It was his time to repay all those debts to the lady Malfoy._

 _But most importantly she was the only friend he had at the moment._

 _The only one who knew of this secret he had been keeping for six years now._

 _She was the only woman who could help them and who could help Hermione should something unwanted happen to him._

 _He needed Narcissa Malfoy more than she could possibly ever need him._

 _"_ _Why don't you calm down?"_

 _Snape halted his movements._

 _A pair of warm hands embraced him from behind._

 _Hermione stood behind him with nothing but the blanket from the bed._

 _She slowly moved both her arms from behind him and gently traced his abdominal area, his the sides of his arms and settled them over the tie of his bath robes._

 _He closed his eyes and sighed heavily trying to take control over himself._

 _Each moment that passed that she touched him, the evidence of her power over him was clearer by the second._

 _"_ _Hermione." Snape said as he slowly took hold of both of her wrists to stop her from untying his bathrobes._

 _"_ _Don't go." Hermione whispered placing gentle kisses over the silk bathrobe he had over himself._

 _"_ _Hermione, this isn't the time for this." Snape said although he continued to let her kiss him._

 _He sighed as her hands moved over his biceps, gently tracing the silk cloth and enticing him with her touches._

 _"_ _Tell me where you're going." Hermione softly said. "If this is too important then tell me where you're going."_

 _"_ _Business." Snape managed to mutter beneath his body that he was beginning to lose control over._

 _"_ _We still have food, you don't have to go." Hermione said as she moved his hands away from the tie of his robes._

 _"_ _That's not how business go, Hermione."_

 _"_ _In your rules." Hermione said almost bitterly. "Right? Your rules?"_

 _"_ _Yes." Snape muttered. "My fucking rules."_

 _Hermione gasped._

 _Snape suddenly taken hold of her and pulled her up to his front._

 _She gave no sign of fear as she stood before him with a defiant stance._

 _"_ _What?" she asked with a raised brow. "Where are you going?"_

 _"_ _Somewhere you have no concern over." Snape told her._

 _Hermione looked angered but she didn't say anything._

 _She moved his hands from her and shook her head._

 _"_ _Rough years has passed and still anything you do is none of my business, isn't it?" she asked._

 _"_ _You know why there are things you can't meddle with."_

 _"_ _Am I meddling?" Hermione snapped at him. "I'm only asking."_

 _"_ _Hermione, it does not concern you so there's no need-"_

 _"_ _No need to ask if it does not concern me. But even if it concerns me, I can't ask, can I?"_

 _Snape didn't say anything._

 _She had a very obvious point._

 _"_ _Don't you trust me?" she asked almost at the verge of tears. "Do you know how frustrating this is?"_

 _"_ _Frustrating?" Snape asked her in an annoyed tone._

 _How could she ask her such things when he was the one frustrated over the years of what has become of him and his plans._

 _"_ _Yes. Frustrating, Severus. Fucking frustrating. You've kept me here and still you don't trust me."_

 _"_ _I kept you here for a reason." Snape said his tone getting louder. "I did not keep you here for nothing."_

 _"_ _Oh, I'm sure." Hermione spat at him as she moved away and crossed the room._

 _"_ _What did you say?" Snape asked as he followed her back at the other end of the room._

 _"_ _It's nothing. Go as you wish." Hermione said._

 _Snape reached her and grabbed her arm painfully._

 _He made her face him as she looked back at him with those angry eyes he had seen only on several occasions._

 _The fire in her has not died completely._

 _He wasn't sure if it was something he should be happy about._

 _"_ _Hermione-"_

 _"_ _I said, go as you wish!" she said struggling as Snape painfully held her by the arm._

 _She tugged and tugged but he wouldn't let her go._

 _"_ _My arm-"_

 _"_ _Hermione, I'm not going to leave with you like this again-"_

 _"_ _Me like this again?" Hermione repeated. "It's me, again?"_

 _"_ _Hermione-"_

 _"_ _Just fucking go!"_

 _"_ _Why can't we talk about it?"_

 _"_ _Because we never talk!" Hermione angrily screamed at him with eyes wide in anger._

 _Snape stopped in mid-action and stared down at her tearful eyes._

 _"_ _Hermione-"_

 _"_ _No, we never talk! We never really do!" she screamed at him._

 _Suddenly, her anger seemed to be coming somewhere else and from some other reason or occasion that she had kept for so long._

 _"_ _Hermione."_

 _"_ _You don't talk to me about things. You don't trust me."_

 _"_ _Ofcourse I trust you."_

 _"_ _Sometimes I ask myself what's even going on between us.." Hermione said tears now evident in her eyes._

 _"_ _I don't understand-"_

 _"_ _What do you?" Hermione asked him. "What do you know about relationships?"_

 _"_ _Hermione-"_

 _"_ _You know that?" she asked trying to stop her tears. "I ask myself what I really am to you."_

 _"_ _You don't need to ask that."_

 _"_ _Because you also don't know?" she asked him with a challenged gaze. "You don't know what I am to you, do you?"_

 _He opened his mouth but no words came out._

 _Hermione's eyes glinted._

 _He clenched his fists._

 _"_ _Are we not in a relationship here?" Hermione asked him straight._

 _He opened his mouth again in an attempt to answer this question which she had already asked on a few other occasions._

 _"_ _Well?" she asked him waiting._

 _It was so obvious that she had been waiting for a very long time to really ask him this question._

 _And Snape was nowhere prepared for this situation._

 _He knew it would be inevitable but he had never come into terms to himself to see what things really were._

 _"_ _Answer me!"_

 _There was definite anger in her tone now._

 _"_ _Hermione, please don't talk this way-"_

 _"_ _No, I need to know!" she demanded. "I know we've been put into this situation together – but – but the years – did they not change what was? What we were? Are we not somewhere else?"_

 _Ofcourse they were somewhere else and there was no question to that._

 _Ofcourse six years ago she was his student and today that was no longer._

 _He slept with her, kissed her, caressed her and did everything he could do to show how passionate he was about her._

 _How crazy he was about her._

 _Ofcourse things has changed._

 _"_ _You're a coward, you know that right?" Hermione's voice suddenly came._

 _Anger came rising inside of him at those words._

 _"_ _What did you say?"_

 _"_ _I said, you're a coward. You couldn't even utter what we are." Hermione said obviously hurt._

 _She pushed him aside as she crossed the room to go to the bathroom but Snape grabbed her by the waist._

 _"_ _I'm not a coward."_

 _"_ _Let me go."_

 _"_ _I said, I'm not a coward!"_

 _"_ _And I said, let me go!"_

 _"_ _Hermione-"_

 _"_ _If you trust me, if we're in a relationship, we'd be equal – you'd treat me equally and you'd tell me everything-"_

 _"_ _I need to keep things from you to protect you-"_

 _"_ _Protect my arse!" Hermione furiously yelled at him. "Harry would never have done this to me!"_

 _Snape blinked and stared._

 _Hermione also stopped and stared._

 _It was like she realized that she had reached her limit._

 _It was like it was some sort of taboo to speak of Harry or even his mere name before Snape._

 _She had always been extremely careful into brining him up or mentioning him in any sort of way._

 _She had seen in occasions more than once how he reacted upon hearing the boy's name._

 _"_ _We're going there, really?" Snape asked after what felt like an eternity before he recovered from her words._

 _Hermione bit her lower lip._

 _She now looked hesitant to open her mouth incase it would make another mistake of mentioning the boy._

 _He was of their past. Of her past as far as the both of them were concerned._

 _"_ _You really want to go there, Hermione?" he asked her angrily._

 _"_ _No." Hermione quickly said. "Severus, all I'm trying to say is that-"_

 _But her words no longer mattered._

 _Snape had angrily grabbed her and pushed her roughly back on the bed._

 _Hermione struggled for a moment but he hovered over her and roughly kissed her._

 _His hands moved and scratched her skin in his fiery passion for her._

 _Hermione was torn if she was going to hurt him back and free herself from him or completely surrender at the attention he was giving her and had been longing just a while ago._

 _Hermione moaned and screamed as he touched her and kissed her almost savagely._

 _Clothes and time completely forgotten, Snape had Hermione completely naked within seconds as he pushed himself inside of her._

 _Her fingers painfully dug over at the sides of his arms as he spread her legs wide and placed them over his shoulders as he pushed in and out of her in a fast, painful and very deep pace._

 _He tried his best to keep his eyes open to see her pleasured yet agonized expression._

 _Her eyes were tightly shut and her mouth opened and closed in between gasps, scream of pleasure and breathless utter of his name._

 _'_ _Severus.'_

 _It was so beautiful when his name came out of her mouth._

 _And just as she had forgotten about their argument, Snape had lost himself inside of her completely knowing that as the weeks, months and years passed by, he knew that their relationship was beyond what it could be called._

 _He had lost control of himself and had lost control of the plans he originally had in mind._

 _And despite all his power, influence and dominance over her, he feared her._

 _He feared of her knowing all he kept from her to the point that if one day when she finds out, she would eventually realize what he really was and she would finally decide to truly leave him._

 _And he knew that he was going to die if ever that happens._

Lupin was more than confused upon hearing from Harry that he immediately had to see him.

He sent note to the Weasleys about Harry's request in case it was something of importance that was related to Hermione.

But upon arriving at the coffee shop that Harry requested him to meet, Lupin wasn't sure if sending notice to the Weasleys was the right course.

Harry sat by a large area in the coffee shop with several shopping bags all over the chairs and two tables.

"Order something to eat, I'll pay for it. We might take long." Harry said as he enlisted a couple of the things from the bags.

Lupin stared at the boy.

He did not look bothered by the upcoming trial nor did he look that like the monster that Hermione feared he was becoming.

"What's going on?" he asked him as he sat opposite Harry.

"I went shopping." Harry simply replied listing a couple more things. "For the wedding and our honeymoon."

Lupin's brows raised.

As far as he knows, there was no wedding in Hermione's opinion.

"Wedding?" he asked.

"Yes." Harry said matter-of-factly. "My wedding."

Lupin stared.

Was Harry this far out from reality?

How could he have not seen it?

How could he have neglected the boy's emotional and mental needs?

"I need your opinion over these clothes." Harry said handing over a large paper bag.

Lupin took it without question.

He opened it and stare at the contents.

"Winter clothes?" he asked him.

Harry only nodded as he finished a check list and went over the next.

"I've checked a place at either Denmark or New Zealand where we'd stay right after the wedding. I'd like your opinion if these clothes would be suitable for the place. I'm not sure how cold it is there."

Lupin was lost for words.

Harry was planning to marry her and then bring her far and away from everyone for who knows how long.

"I'm not quite sure, Harry." Lupin honestly said as he quietly observed the other bags around them.

Harry's brows furrowed but he didn't say anything.

"Well fine then." Harry said almost irritably. "Can you just check if this list is the complete list of guest I should invite or did I miss anyone?"

Lupin took the planner he had been writing on.

Lupin pretended to be reading as Harry rearranged the clothes in the paper bags around them.

He kept talking about the clothes and about the possible sights to bring Hermione and the food he has read about the two countries he had been considering.

Lupin opened the notebook then and read through.

He had invited the WEasleys as well as other important Auror friends and Hogwarts friends.

Professors at Hogwarts were also invited just as head of departments at the Ministry of Magic.

Judging by Harry's list, it seems like he wanted the entire Wizarding world to be witness at their wedding.

Money wasn't a question in how much was to be spent on this wedding for he knew that Harry had more than enough money.

But the question was the time.

A wedding as grand as the one he seemed to be planning - by himself – would take weeks and months.

Did they have enough time to help Hermione?

"Is there a wedding date already?" Lupin slowly asked him, fishing.

Harry didn't answer him.

"Harry?"

"Soon." Harry answered almost irritably as he folded several of the clothes. "You'd be my best man, yes?" he asked him as he looked up at him.

It was the first time that Harry looked straight at him since he had arrived.

Something was innocent, hopeful and yet deeply scary in those emerald eyes that he had never noticed before.

"Yes." Lupin answered him. "Yes, ofcourse Harry."

Harry nodded happily at him and tapped his shoulders.

There seemed to be a momentarily relief over his face.

"Boy, I tell you wedding plans are not easy-"

"Why don't you plan it with Hermione?" he slowly asked.

A dark glint passed Harry's eyes but it quickly vanished.

"She's already so stressed out with the trial. She shouldn't be stressed with this any longer."

"But it's also her wedding." Lupin gently reminded him as his ordered coffee arrived.

"Yeah, but as I said, I can handle this."

"If you're getting stressed or it's too much for her to handle at the moment, why don't you delay it a little?" he suggested.

"What?" Harry suddenly said.

There was change in his tone and facial expression.

"What did you say?"

Lupin stared and nodded at him.

"I only meant that you should delay it if it's both stressing you out. You can finish the trial first then together you can enjoy planning it together."

"Do I look like I'm not enjoying it?" Harry asked him.

"That's not what I meant." Lupoin answered matching his gaze.

Harry stared at him and knew that above everyone else, it was Lupin he wouldn't be able to intimidate on matter the situation.

Harry blinked and looked away.

"I only want things to be perfect and I don't want to stress Hermione out."

"I understand." Lupin said as he continued to observe him. "But when is this? You have to let me know because I need to organize my schedule. Being a best man is a big part of the-"

"You would know when you need to know." Harry cut him short. "And at the moment, there's nothing else you need to know."

"Harry-"

"I said I'll tell you when it's time to tell you."

Lupin didn't say anything.

Harry's tone was as indifferent as his expression.

There was a glint in his eyes that told Lupin that there was no monster growing in Harry.

But instead, the monster had already grown in its full glory without any of them noticing and getting the better of it.

 _Hermione quietly sat by the table in the coffee shop._

 _She had only been here once in her entire life several years ago._

 _That felt like just yesterday and yet it has been years._

 _It also oddly felt like a lifetime ago._

 _But the chance and circumstance of that was far different from what it was years later – what it was today._

 _Her brown eyes settled upon the breakfast in front of her._

 _Orange juice, a platter of scrambled eggs and sausages with mashed potato with herbs on the side and some toasts._

 _A hearty and healthy breakfast just for her._

 _"_ _Thank you." Hermione said as the waited settled the plan dark coffee over the opposite side of the table._

 _What was taking Severus quite long in the luggage counter?_

 _He had checked in her baggage and told her that he was just going to buy something in the small shop near the station's cashier area._

 _Did he abandon her?_

 _She could only laugh at the prospect of that._

 _No, he wasn't about to do that._

 _He could have done that years ago._

 _He could have abandoned her seven years ago._

 _Seven years._

 _It was finally over._

 _The Urduja Curse was finally out of her system._

 _They had victory over Bellatrix's spell and they had successfully killed the curse inside of her._

 _She was finally free._

 _She was finally going back to Harry and the others._

 _But did she really want to go back to them?_

 _Did she not live a new life, a life far and different from what was seven years earlier?_

 _"_ _Everything alright?" Snape asked her as he came to their table._

 _Hermione blinked and looked up upon seeing him._

 _He looked stressed as usual with dark circles around his eyes._

 _But he looked like he had been preparing himself for this day._

 _"_ _Train leaves in an hour." Snape told her with a curt smile as he handed across the table a small envelope and card._

 _Her train ticket._

 _Her freedom._

 _"_ _The train will lead straight at the London station. From there, I've arrange a service for you to be taken at a hotel under a different name so that you could rest." Snape casually told her as he grabbed his coffee from the table and gently stirred it._

 _Hermione glared quietly at him as he explained the agenda and route she was to follow._

 _He was so casual and business-like about it at the same time._

 _Did he not have any emotion about this?_

 _"_ _From the hotel, I believe you already know what to do next."_

 _"_ _Are you not coming with me yet?" Hermione slowly asked him._

 _He didn't answer._

 _In fact, he avoided her gaze._

 _"_ _Severus?" she repeated looking closely at him._

 _"_ _I have arrangements to be settled, Hermione." Snape answered._

 _He finished stirring and he stared up at her half-annoyed expression._

 _"_ _Really?" she asked him with a quirked brow._

 _"_ _Really." Snape answered. "We've already settled the plans upon arriving, Hermione."_

 _"_ _Yes, as usual." Hermione said "Your plans."_

 _Snape sat back in his chair and stared at her._

 _"_ _We're really going to do this now?" he asked her._

 _Hermione looked slightly guilty._

 _No, she didn't want to fight now._

 _She didn't want to fight ever again._

 _But how can she possibly convince him to come with him?_

 _"_ _Severus-" Hermione gently said reaching across the table for his hand._

 _He didn't move it when she placed it over his but neither did he touch her._

 _He was avoiding all possible contact from her may it be physical or just eye._

 _"_ _We already talked about this, Hermione." Snape said as he gently removed his hand from beneath hers._

 _"_ _Yeah." Hermione answered sarcastically. "So you're just going to dump me off like that, won't you?"_

 _Snape stared up at her as she sat back on her chair and folded her arms._

 _Her facial expression told him that this conversation was far from over._

 _"_ _I'm not dumping you off like some garbage, Hermione."_

 _"_ _Oh, yeah right. You're bringing me into the train."_

 _Snape didn't want to cause a scene in the small and quiet coffee shop._

 _"_ _This isn't any easier for me, Hermione."_

 _"_ _There are things we can do but you try so hard to avoid."_

 _He sighed heavily and sat back on the chair._

 _"_ _We already agreed about this. We already talked and agreed about the agenda to be done. Please do not make this harder for the two of us."_

 _Hermione didn't say anything._

 _She wasn't sure how she could convince him to come with her._

 _If he does not come with her, she wasn't even sure she was ever going to see him again._

 _Her expression changed._

 _She tried to reach for his hand with both of hers._

 _Snape reluctantly withdrew his hand but she held them tight._

 _"_ _Hermione-"_

 _"_ _Sev." Hermione gently said. "Please trust me when I tell you that we can do this together."_

 _"_ _Finish your breakfast." Snape only replied to her._

 _Hermione looked defiant._

 _"_ _I'm not a child, Severus." Hermione said. "I'm not a child."_

 _Snape looked back at her almost smiling at what she had said._

 _"_ _No." Snape whispered at her. "I know you're not. You had grown into something far more than a beautiful woman."_

 _He looked up at her and wanted to cry for some stupid reason._

 _He trusted her – he trusted her with all of the morsel in his body._

 _He trusted her beyond he has trusted anyone._

 _He has given her as much as she had given him._

 _But she wasn't his and she will never be his._

 _The curse was over._

 _His duty over her was over._

 _It was time for him to bring her back to where she really belonged._

 _Snape sighed heavily and gently moved his hands over hers instead._

 _He bent forward and kissed her hands in his._

 _He tried so hard to keep the tears from his eyes from leaking._

 _"_ _Severus." Hermione gently said with a small and forced smile._

 _Worry and fear were evident over her facial features._

 _"_ _I love you." Hermione said. "I really do love you, Severus."_

 _Snape smiled at her – something he rarely ever did._

 _Hermione pressed her hands over his._

 _"_ _Don't you love me too?" she softly asked him with a hopeful glimmer in her eyes._

 _Snape sighed at her in resignation._

 _He gently touched the back of her hand before slowly letting it go._

 _"_ _The train leaves in an hour, Hermione." Snape softly said. "Finish your breakfast so we can leave soon. I'd just go to buy you some snacks for your journey. We don't want you late on your way back home."_

 _And before Hermione could even say or do anything at all, he had left the table without another word._

 _"_ _Just think about it." Hermione's soft voice muttered. "Don't you want it?"_

 _Snape sighed heavily._

 _Actually, he couldn't think of anything else at the moment._

 _"_ _Can't.." Snape mumbled. "Think.. now.."_

 _"_ _I only asked you if you could think about seriously considering a child, Severus."_

 _Hermione's lips moved and kissed his lips, the side of his chin, his neckline, the scars along his chest area and his abdomen._

 _She settled herself between his legs and were planting soft kisses along his abdominal area._

 _Her tongue also gently flickered at certain areas she knew he was greatly affected._

 _The little chit knew where it would affect him and how exactly to touch those spots._

 _"_ _Hermione." Snape managed to growl her name as her lips nipped the part along his waist that was just right above the boundary that would lead her to his southern parts._

 _"_ _Yes?" she purred as her tongue flickered and licked this part of him._

 _Snape's fingers lost control and flew right over her soft chestnut tresses._

 _Hermione smirked at the sensation of his fingers grinding over her scalp._

 _She knew when he was exactly losing control and usually, it was the time she could ask him certain requests._

 _"_ _Hermione, I can't.." he breathed out as Hermione gentl settled herself closer beween his legs._

 _He felt her soft hair move around at the side of his laps._

 _"_ _Fuck." Snape said out loud as she felt Hermione reach for his long and hard member._

 _"_ _Yes?" she asked him as her fingers gently and teasingly held his member._

 _"_ _Your mouth…" Snape breathed out heavily._

 _He tried to keep his eyes open but the sensation of her fingers drew him out of breath and held him down helplessly._

 _Her fingers had learned where and how exactly to touch him._

 _"_ _Mouth.." Snape breathed heavily. "Please.. please.."_

 _Hermione grinned further as she heard him beg._

 _She liked when he begged her._

 _It gave her the smallest amount of dominance she barely ever had._

 _Hermione looked down at his helpless and longing figure._

 _"_ _Please.." he begged her breathlessly his fingers shaking in anticipation._

 _Hermione smirked and looked down._

 _She gently moved her head closer and lowered it the moment it was between his legs._

 _He was already severely leaking even before she did anything at all._

 _She gently opened her mouth and licked the tips of his member._

 _Snape growled out her name louder._

 _He was shuddering at the first contact of her tongue over the leaking tip of his member._

 _Hermione slightly groaned in pain as Snape pulled her hair up with his tight grasp and edged her to begin._

 _She opened her mouth again and kissed its tip and licked the side of his long shaft._

 _She was mercilessly teasing him._

 _Wherever she learned to do these things?_

 _Snape quietly cursed himself._

 _Ofcourse from him._

 _He only taught her a handful of things and her brilliant little mind worked its way up and ahead of him._

 _He felt like he was going to pass out._

 _Soon, he felt her hot mouth open up and she took his leaking shaft inside her mouth._

 _Her head began to bob up and down as she tried to take all of him inside her mouth._

 _He could hear the sounds she was making as her head moved back and forth to accommodate his very long and large member._

 _It left him breathless._

 _He straddled her form between his legs and edged her closer._

 _He held her hair to control her speed and he could hear her gag in her mouth at the speed he wanted._

 _But he didn't really care about that._

 _He knew that she was enjoying herself down there just as he was as he had proven several times already._

 _He shuddered, moaned and growled loudly like some animal as Hermione gave him pleasure like he has never had from anyone before._

 _He could feel himself bursting any minute now._

 _At the thought of it, he held her hair tighter and moved her head faster._

 _He could almost hear her choking but she didn't struggle against him._

 _Hermione was breathless._

 _She sucked and sucked and felt his large member_ [K1] _move in and out of her mouth in a manner that only Snape could control._

 _It was always this way._

 _It had always been this way._

 _Tears streaked down from her eyes at the manner and pace that Snape usually had for her._

 _As pleasurable as it was, it was almost merciless of him._

 _She felt herself gag and choke momentarily._

 _And then she felt him tighten his grasp over her head._

 _He was coming closer and closer._

 _She closed her eyes tightly._

 _She knew that she couldn't draw back and Snape wouldn't allow that either._

 _Despite that she didn't like the idea of it, she willingly gave him oral sex just because he enjoyed it._

 _What she didn't like was the idea of him coming into her mouth._

 _But it seemed to her through the years that it was the part he actually anticipated and enjoyed the most._

 _The moment his fingers tightened around her head she knew that he was about to come._

 _She only sob at the idea of it as she knew there wasn't she could do._

 _She choked again as he pulled her head in a faster pace that she should catch up with._

 _Sooner, she heard him grown in relief and before she knew it, he came all the way right into her mouth._

 _Her head automatically backed away but Snape held it in place._

 _She had no choice._

 _She swallowed and swallowed hard._

 _It felt like he had a lot more to give than it always seemed._

 _"_ _Swallow." Hermione heard Snape gently command. "Swallow."_

 _Hermione nodded as she cried and swallowed._

 _It took a moment for Snape to recover from it._

 _He gently then moved himself from her as she was left there with all his cum around at the side of her face, the chin and around her lips._

 _Her eyes were streaked with tears as she pulled and forced herself to curl into a ball._

 _Snape knew how much she hated that but there was something that felt so good when he came into her mouth._

 _It made him feel in control of everything._

 _It made him feel like he was in control of everything once more after her dominance over him._

 _Snape opened his eyes and heavily breath as he lay at the other end of the bed._

 _He could hear her sobs._

 _"_ _Sweetheart?" he gently called out reaching for her hand._

 _She withdrew it away from him._

 _"_ _I told you.." Hermione sobbed unable to finish her words._

 _Snape cursed himself quietly._

 _She already told him many times that she didn't like that._

 _"_ _I'm sorry, sweetheart." Snape said, recovering and slowly moving closer to her on the bed._

 _She curled over and turned away from him._

 _Despite the mess around her face, he quietly grinned at the sight of it._

 _He gently moved to her and with his hand, he slowly cleaned the side of her face._

 _"_ _Sweetheart,, come here." Snape said edging her to him._

 _Hermione didn't move and looked away from him._

 _"_ _Sweetheart?" he softly said tracing her legs that was also filled with his dried cum from earlier._

 _"_ _You wouldn't have a child but you would do just about everything you want to do with me."_

 _Snape looked up and heard the hurt in her tone._

 _She just didn't understand the complexity of her request._

 _No matter how long it had been, they couldn't and shouldn't have a child._

 _He had been extremely careful all these years and he wasn't going to just be crazy and miserable and all out on that._

 _He still had to be careful about everything._

 _Hermione gently cried._

 _She felt his lips move from her shoulder blades, the side of her arms and then her neckline._

 _"_ _I love you." Snape muttered along her neckline and gently pulling up the blankets over them._

 _"_ _Sev.."_

 _"_ _I love you and that should be enough should it not?" he asked turning her to him._

 _Hermione stared at his black eyes._

 _There was still something secretive and shallow in them._

 _Something she just couldn't break through no matter what._

 _"_ _Don't you love me?" he slowly asked her._

 _Hermione looked up at him and guilt was evident over her face._

 _"_ _Don't you?"_

 _"_ _I love you." Hermione answered as she slowly turned to him and welcome him in her arms._

 _Snape smiled at her and caressed her face._

 _He placed gentle kisses over her forehead and pulled her closer to him._

 _He knew how much she wanted those small gestures._

 _Snape pulled the blankets over them and kept her still in his arms with his hand gently running along her tresses._

 _They lay there quietly and Snape knew that sooner or later Hermione would soon fall asleep._

 _Five years._

 _Five years it has been._

 _The changes were stunning._

 _Despite her resolution to accept things and to offer herself and love for him wholeheartedly he still didn't feel better about things._

 _He still knew that he had to bring her back._

 _He still knew that he had to take her back to them once the seven years were over._

 _And he felt that it would be the hardest thing he would ever have to do._

 _But it must be done._

 _She couldn't stay with him._

 _No, she couldn't._

 _She had to succumb to the rule she had placed no matter if she didn't understand them._

 _He had reason for all these rules he gave her._

 _For soon after they had both accomplished what should be, he would bring her back._

 _She was not his no matter the years that has passed and the feelings that has changed._

 _He was hers until the curse was over._

 _He was hers until he kills the curse inside of her._

 _But once everything was done, he had to take her back no matter what._

 _He may be a murderer, a rapist, a Death Eater and many other despicable things._

 _But he was a man loyal to his word._

 _He would bring her back when the time was up._

 _Snape looked down at her now sleeping form._

 _He kissed her forehead gently._

 _How innocent she was in the life that had been thrown at them._

 _How undeserving she was of the life bestowed upon her._

 _Snape closed his eyes and sighed heavily._

 _She was his as long as he has not accomplished what has to be accomplished._

 _He loved her. He loves her._

 _But she wasn't his and he was willing to bring her back to them to give her the life she truly deserves to live._

 _But until then, she was his beloved._

 _Hermione Granger was his until that time comes._

 _Snape closed his eyes and sighed and begged for some sleep._

 _He would soon fall asleep as well._

 _He begged to fall asleep even for the smallest amount of time before the curse takes its course upon him._

 _For later, he was to be woken by the pain that the curse would bring as what was due to happen every single time that he takes her._

"Are you alright?" Draco asked.

Hermione quietly nodded.

The elevators at the Ministry moved two more floors.

There was still about three more before they reach their destination.

Hermione had been quiet the entire journey to the Ministry of Magic.

It was another trial day and this time around, she wasn't with Harry.

She was going to be with Draco – the Defense Council of the accused.

It was surely going to be some sort of scandal.

But Draco was prepared to raise the fact and evidences that Hermione was being battered by Harry.

They had prepared for that one incase it was brought up which was likely going to happen.

Hermione was silent as she watched Draco nervously straighten out his robes.

He looked very professional and intelligent at the way he held himself.

Hermione almost grinned at the idea of it.

Who would have thought that they would be in this position years later after their Hogwarts days.

Soon, the elevator doors opened and they've reached their destined floor.

"Ready?" he asked turning to her.

Hermione stared at the outside of the elevator where the darkened hallway leading to the atrium of the court house led.

Draco was straightening out his hair when he felt her slowly grasp his hand.

"Ready." Hermione quietly said with her eyes straight ahead.

She didn't say anything else.

Neither did he.


	36. Chapter 36

_**Chapter Thirty Six**_

 _ **Opus Contrarium**_

 _"_ _Harry, this is extra credit too." Hermione pointed out as she finished Harry's assignment for Defense Against the Dark Arts._

 _"_ _Yeah. Well, whatever. It's not like he'd be fair in giving me grades." Harry said as he played with the Snitch he snuck out from practice earlier._

 _It was a quiet Saturday afternoon at the grounds._

 _Students were studying around the lake and in different sights at the grounds of Hogwarts._

 _The sky wasn't too hot nor did it look like it was going to rain._

 _It was a good weather to be outside._

 _"_ _Are we going to Hogsmeade tomorrow?" Harry asked turning over his stomach and staring up at Hermione who sat by the tree and continuously wrote._

 _"_ _If I finish this on time so stop touching my legs." Hermione mindlessly answered him._

 _Harry laughed at her as he continuously caressed her lower thigh._

 _He knew how much she wanted being touched there and he always wanted to tease her just to see how much control she could put over herself._

 _"_ _Harry!" Hermione finally yelped at him as she threw a thin book right at him._

 _"_ _What?" Harry laughed letting her legs go and climbing nearer her._

 _She rolled her eyes and went back to her writing._

 _"_ _Come on, let's go to Hogsmeade tomorrow." Harry said with a charming smile._

 _Hermione rolled her eyes at him again._

 _She didn't want to go to Hogsmeade because they had so much work to do at the moment at school._

 _But half of her wanted to go as well._

 _She wanted to somehow relax from all the stress from their school work._

 _"_ _Yes?" Harry asked her._

 _"_ _Yes what?" Hermione said snapping out of her thoughts._

 _"_ _I asked you if you'd like to go to Hogsmeade tomorrow. Ron is bringing Lavender."_

 _"_ _I'm not sure. We have all these assignment."_

 _"_ _Let's do this, 'Mione." Harry said sitting up straight._

 _Hermione frowned and raised her brow at him._

 _"_ _You're going to give up your rest-night-Saturday-night?" she asked._

 _Harry nodded at her._

 _Hermione looked disbelieving but she also looked like it was a deal to her._

 _"_ _Yes?" Harry asked standing up and holding his hand out to her._

 _Hermione thought for a moment but it seemed like she wanted to finish everything and have a day's rest the following day._

 _"_ _Fine." Hermione said smiling and taking his head._

 _Harry took her back on her feet and then bent forward and started picking up their school stuff._

 _Hermione helped him and couldn't help but grin at the sight of him._

 _He was willing to work tonight and give up his usual 'rest night' so that they could spend time together at Hogsmeade the following day._

 _Soon enough, Hermione found herself walking back inside the castle while Harry verbally noted what they had to do and finish._

 _"_ _I think I saw some reference book in the library for our Herbology assignment. Mind if I go back for it?"_

 _Harry took the books in her hands so that she only had her bag with her._

 _"_ _Go." Harry said nodding back as they were already halfway up the main staircase. "I'll meet you at the Common Room."_

 _Hermione smiled and kissed him on the cheek._

 _"_ _I'll be right back." Hermione called back as she ran down the stairs. "I'll be fast. Meet you there!"_

 _Harry nodded and walked his way back to the Common Room bringing with him twice the amount of books he had earlier._

 _Hermione excitedly ran back to the library with the thought in mind of going to the kitchens first before heading straight to their Common Room to get some snacks for Harry for their long study-night._

 _It took Hermione a couple of minutes to find what she was looking for and the moment she did, she hurriedly grabbed it and was off to Madam Pince to check it out when she accidentally bumped into someone._

 _A few books fell onto the floor with a couple of parchments._

 _"_ _I'm sorry!" Hermione said quickly bending down to gather the fallen parchments and book within her reach._

 _She saw a pair of hands grabbed the other books on the floor._

 _"_ _I'm sorry." Hermione said straightening out the parchments in her hand. "Here."_

 _Hermione's eyes widened._

 _It was Draco she had ran into._

 _He quietly picked up the last book from the floor and stared up at her._

 _His eyes were slightly wide at the sight of her._

 _He looked just as shock as she was._

 _It even took a moment for Draco to realize that it was Hermione who he had ran into and was holding the parchments he had written on earlier._

 _"_ _Here-" Hermione said handing over the parchments and the two books in her hands._

 _Draco blinked and stared at the objects she was handing over._

 _"_ _Don't need your help." Draco snapped grabbing everything from her._

 _Hermione stared at him and she wanted to throw the books right at his face._

 _She felt annoyed for a moment until she realized that Draco didn't look well._

 _In fact, he looked like he was sick or had lost sleep for days._

 _"_ _Are – are you alright?" she asked quietly unable to stop herself._

 _Draco didn't answer as he picked up the last of the fallen parchments._

 _She noticed how harassed and haggard he looked._

 _His eyes were sunken and dark circles were very obvious around them._

 _She wondered if the schoolwork were catching up on him._

 _If it was to her, what more to Draco who was usually neglecting his responsibilities as a student._

 _"_ _Malfoy?"_

 _"_ _I'm fine." Draco angrily said taking his bag from the floor. "I don't need your concern."_

 _Hermione's brows raised._

 _She opened her mouth to say something when someone else walked into the scene._

 _It was Snape._

 _He turned to the same corner of the library and upon seeing the two of them, he swiftly walked forward._

 _Snape stared at their questionable state._

 _They both looked surprised and irate at the same time._

 _Hermione looked like she was just about to say something morbid to Draco while Draco as harassed looking as Hermione was at the moment, looked like he was ready to hex her._

 _"_ _What's going on here?" he asked them both although he settled his eyes on Draco._

 _Draco stared at him only for a brief moment before looking away._

 _Hermione didn't miss the fact that Draco seemed to be avoiding Snape's gaze._

 _She wasn't sure why, but she felt like there was tension between the two of them._

 _"_ _Well?" Snape asked as he waited. "Will neither of you explain yourselves?"_

 _Neither of them looked ready to explain._

 _And Hermione was surprised that Draco seemed unprepared or more so, uncaring and uninterested to say something that will bring her to her doom._

 _"_ _Should I just give you both detention?" he asked them in a laced tone._

 _Hermione slightly panicked and opened her mouth to say something when Draco spoke._

 _"_ _Detention for what?" he asked coldly looking up at him._

 _Snape raised his eyebrow at him._

 _Hermione looked as surprised as Snape was at Draco's tone._

 _"_ _Detention for what?" he asked again straightening up. "For staying in the library? For borrowing books from the library and studying for the weekend?" he asked him._

 _They stared at one another._

 _Hermione wasn't sure if there was something going in around there but she felt the tension getting higher by the moment._

 _They stared at one another in such a way that Hermione had never seen before._

 _There was that look in Draco's eyes that resembled something like hatred._

 _But why would that be?_

 _Snape was his most favourite person in all of the universe other than his father._

 _And right now, Snape does not even seem like the slightest bit of a godfather to him._

 _Snape stared back at the boy however with what looked like warning in his eyes._

 _Warning for what exactly Hermione wasn't quite sure._

 _"_ _Mr. Malfoy, you seem to be-"_

 _"_ _We were just heading out of the library, professor." Hermione said. "I just didn't see him on my way out and-"_

 _"_ _Silence, Miss Granger." Snape said eyeing her venomously._

 _Hermione quickly kept quiet and stared at Draco's unfazed form._

 _He stood straight and took a step forward Snape as if to state that he wasn't intimidated but his appearance there or being an authority per se._

 _Hermione wasn't sure if it was a step forward Snape or a step in front of her to somewhat defend her from Snape's verbal attacks._

 _She shook her head and bit her lower lip._

 _Why on earth would Draco do the latter if that was the case?_

 _"_ _You asked and she's answering." Draco spat bitterly. "Sometimes I wonder if you do understand what you're saying or you simply want to scare people off because personally, I'm not intimidated by you.."_

 _Snape's eyes flashed and he looked livid._

 _Hermione noticed the same look in Draco's eyes._

 _"_ _To my office, Mr. Malfoy." Snape simply said._

 _Hermione opened her mouth to say something but Draco had already turned away and Snape soon followed him without another word or gaze back at her._

 _She felt abandoned at that corner of the library._

 _She was lost in thought for a moment._

 _As she made her way to the Gryffindor Common Room to meet Harry for their study time she couldn't help but be lost in her thoughts on what has just transpired._

 _Why was there tension and hatred in those black and blue eyes?_

 _Snape had always been Draco's favourite person and Snape seemed to favor Draco above all others no matter what he does._

 _And what had just happened proved that these statements were otherwise._

 _What could have happened to change these circumstances?_

 _She knew that Draco could possibly be devastated for having his father sent to Azkaban because of what has happened a few months ago at the Ministry of Magic._

 _But was he blaming Snape?_

 _Did he find out that Snape was really part of the Order of the Phoenix and now he has all the hatred for his godfather for what he has found out?_

"What's the delay?" Hermione asked.

They were at the lobby of the court house.

People were not yet allowed to enter the atrium.

Draco walked back to her after talking to some officials.

"The trial will be moved an hour later. I don't know why but I am guessing it is upon Potter's request."

Hermione's eyes narrowed but she didn't say anything.

"Do you like to stay at the café or eat or something?" he asked her knowing they'd have to wait somewhere as they didn't have a choice.

Hermione bit her lower lip and looked around them before turning back to Draco.

"Is it possible to see him?" she asked Draco. "Where is Severus?"

Draco stared back at her and Hermione quickly sensed the stress she was causing him.

"I just thought that maybe it is possible to –"

"I'm still working on the possibility of you seeing him."

"I see." Hermione quietly said and he could read the disappointment all over her face.

"There is an order and a normal court rule that you can't see the accused until the trial is over or unless it is otherwise quite imperative for the two of you to meet."

"Is there no way for you to make something as imperative just so I could see him?" Hermione suggested hopefully.

Draco sat with her at the long benches by the lobby as he quietly thought about it.

"I will have to see." Draco answered. "In truth Hermione this won't be easy. Harry is doing everything he can to wrap this whole case up and he would ensure that little time in between – you don't get to talk to him."

"I understand."

"He knows the danger if ever the two of you meet again."

Hermione didn't say anything knowing Draco was right.

"I understand Harry but I don't get why he won't listen."

"You must see him from his place. He was so devastated to lose you – to not see you for so long, to not knowing whether you're still alive and all.."

"I know that. I know that. But Severus.. he saved my life."

"He saved it. He might have saved it, Hermione. But he still didn't have the right to take you just like that."

There was silence between them.

Somehow, she knew that Draco's words were true.

But he was there, by her side, comforting her and being Snape's Defense Council.

What exactly does that say about Draco?

"You know it wasn't right." Draco quietly said.

Hermione's face turned at him with a blatant annoyance in them.

"Then why are you doing this?" Hermione asked with a raised brow.

Draco sighed heavily.

In truth, he wasn't sure what to tell her.

Why was he really doing it in the first place?

The moment he heard about the case while he was abroad, he had to admit that it was pure curiosity.

He was more than surprised to find that his godfather was still alive and more so, that Hermione Granger was alive and had been with him for about a decade.

It was curiosity at first, but now that he was getting deeper into the getting, that he has been weaved through it without any chance of going out, he knew he would want to see the end of it.

"He saved my mother's life. He saved my life."

"You're repaying debts?"

"Is that what it's called?" Draco asked turning at Hermione with a peculiar expression.

Hermione wasn't sure if he was kidding or not because he wasn't smiling but he also looked like he was being somewhere sarcastic and somewhere near a joke.

"Seriously, Malfoy."

"Seriously, Granger." Draco spat back at her.

They stared at one another.

Hermione almost – almost – laughed at his expression.

Draco's facial expression softened at her.

Hermione heavily sighed and sat back again folding her arms.

"You're helping him."

"Because I'm supposed to."

"Even if you know that it isn't right?" Hermione asked.

"You know it isn't right but you're here defending him." Draco quietly answered her.

Nobody spoke for a moment until Draco slowly reached up for her hand and placed his over hers.

She didn't move nor did she say anything.

"I have my reasons, Hermione." Draco answered. "Just as you have your reasons to save him."

"He just.. he tried to save everyone."

"Severus had his reasons." Draco said pursing his lips. "He has his reasons. My job is to try and save him."

"And if you can't?" Hermione asked. "If you can't, Draco? What are you going to do?"

Draco shook his head at her.

"What are we going to do?"

"I don't know Granger."

"He can't go to Azkaban." Hermione said. "He doesn't deserve Azkaban."

"And what does he deserve?" Draco asked her. "What do you think he deserves?"

Hermione opened her mouth but no words came out.

Suddenly, she wasn't sure what to answer him.

What did she really think that Snape deserves after everything that he has done?

She knew that they were right in putting him where he was but she was the one in the cottage and saw and endured everything and she knows that this just isn't the fair way to deal with the trial.

But did she really know what he deserves?

"Do you think you'll be with him?" Draco asked her. "Is that what you're hopeful of?"

"What?"

"If a miracle by heaven or hell arrives and Severus gets to get out of this eventually, what do you expect? Do you expect to be with him? Do you expect to live happily ever after as Mrs. Snape?"

Hermione stared at him and swallowed hard.

For some reason, she was both hating him and feeling curious at the words he put out to her.

She suddenly wasn't really sure what she wanted if Snape does escape this.

Did she really think that it would be easy?

That they could be just together after he gets off the trial?

Did she really think and imagine that they could get married as they had planned and live happily ever after?

What did she really think would happen should Snape escape the fate in Azkaban?

Suddenly, she felt indifferent and stupid.

She had been hoping and fighting for something so hard that eventually, she wasn't sure what future she had in her mind if ever – by the miracles of heaven and hell – they win the case over.

 _Hermione was vaguely woken by a hand trailing across her back._

 _"_ _Harry?" she murmured sleepily turning her head over at the other side. "What time is it?"_

 _"_ _Nearly eleven in the evening." answered a deep, dark voice._

 _Hermione's senses quickly went on full alert and she quickly sat up straight._

 _Snape was standing over her and looking down at her with a peculiar expression over his face._

 _"_ _Professor!" Hermione exclaimed quickly looking around for Harry._

 _The library area from where she had fallen asleep was empty._

 _It took her a moment to recall that a few hours ago, Harry had excused himself from their study-time on a Thursday evening because they had an emergency Quidditch meeting._

 _She wondered if he headed back to the Common Room or he was still at the meeting._

 _"_ _Sorry, professor." Hermione said quickly gathering her things across the table and shoving everything inside her bag._

 _Snape couldn't help but notice her hurry._

 _It was as if she was scared to be alone with him in the library._

 _"_ _Do you need something, professor?" Hermione asked looking up at him._

 _"_ _I was just looking for Potter." Snape answered her truthfully. "And was doing my nightly rounds."_

 _"_ _Sorry. We were finishing an assignment to be submitted tomorrow for professor Slughorn."_

 _"_ _I see." Snape answered staring down at her notes that were all neatly written._

 _"_ _Harry went off to an emergency Quidditch meeting. He's supposed to come back for me here. I'm not sure if he went straight to the Common Room."_

 _"_ _They're still at the meeting." Snape answered him. "They're using the common place of Quidditch players and Mr. Malfoy had to cancel his team's meeting as well tonight because the Gryffindors managed to book the place earlier. Ms. Weasley has got some good skills to maintaining the standards of their team."_

 _Hermione only nodded as she finished packing her things._

 _"_ _If I may be excused, professor." Hermione said pushing her chair back._

 _Snape stopped her but placing his hand over her shoulder._

 _Hermione looked up at him with question in her eyes._

 _"_ _In a hurry?" he gently asked her with a raised brow._

 _Hermione shook her head and slowly sat back._

 _Her mind did a very quick mental note that her wand was just within reach of her skirt's pocket incase something has to be done._

 _She didn't know why, but she somewhat didn't feel that comfortable being alone with Snape at that hour even though it was at the library._

 _Even though she knew that he was part of the Order and was on their side._

 _There was just something in his eyes or aura at the moment that she completely didn't trust._

 _Despite that she always defended his loyalty to when she was arguing with Harry and Ron on the subject, she suddenly felt unsure._

 _"_ _You need something from me, p-professor?" she asked trying to sound casual._

 _Snape looked down at her and noticed the fear creeping upon her._

 _He almost smiled._

 _He was as intimidating as ever like she was some eleven-year old first year._

 _"_ _Professor Snape?" her voice called out again._

 _"_ _Potter." Snape said. "Give word to him that the headmaster will not be able to meet him at their original designated date and time that he has told him."_

 _Hermione looked up at him and wondered where if Snape knew as much as she did on where Harry and the headmaster goes._

 _"_ _Yes, I will let him know professor." Hermione said with a curt nod. "Is there anything else?"_

 _"_ _Are you in a hurry?" he asked her._

 _"_ _No." Hermione answered. "Just wondering if there's anything else you need because I'm going back to our Common Room."_

 _"_ _I'll escort you back, Miss Granger." Snape said. "It's already hours beyond curfew."_

 _"_ _Then I should be at some sort of detention?" she asked him._

 _Snape didn't really think about that._

 _But before he could say anything else, they both heard hurried footsteps and a reckless voice coming up to them._

 _"_ _Everything alright, 'Mione?"_

 _They both turned and found Harry standing a few aisles of books from them._

 _He walked forward and step in between Snape and Hermione._

 _"_ _What's going on?" he asked staring at her then at Snape then back at her._

 _Snape stared at Harry's harassed form._

 _He was still in his Quidditch robes and he looked and smelled like he needed a bath._

 _Snape raised his brow at the sight of him._

 _He was pursing his lips as if thinking of a good attack to send Harry._

 _"_ _He was giving me a message for you." Hermione answered gently taking hold of Harry's hand._

 _Harry stared at him and knew that her gesture was meant to calm him down._

 _"_ _Professor Snape was looking for you earlier." Hermione said with a small smile._

 _"_ _I was." Snape said as he took two steps backward from the pair._

 _Harry stared back at him and nodded and then back at Hermione._

 _"_ _I won't repeat what I have told Miss Granger." Snape said with an annoyed expression._

 _"_ _It's fine." Harry said as he moved across the table to get Hermione's bag with books and parchments from the table._

 _Snape watched as he heaved her things on his other shoulder while his other was already carrying his own bag with books and other things._

 _Rumors then might have been true that they were officially together._

 _He heard things and even heard about the subject being talked about at the staffroom but he never really took serious notice about the issue._

 _So what if they were together?_

 _They had been friends – bestfriends – since they were first years._

 _One way or another, the brilliant Muggle-Born was meant to end up with one of her bestfriends._

 _It wasn't really a big deal._

 _He wondered why it seemed to be a big deal to a lot of people – even teachers – at the school._

 _He wasn't even sure why it seriously annoyed him to see how dedicated of a boyfriend he was._

 _"_ _Is there anything else?" Harry's voice came that shook him out of his reverie._

 _Snape looked down at him with a sharp gleam in his black eyes as he stared at Harry's demanding stance._

 _He noticed that he was already holding Hermione's wrist and ready to leave._

 _He took a step back and let them pass._

 _"_ _Come on." Harry muttered._

 _Walking away, he heard Hermione ask Harry if he has eaten already because she had saved some food for him in her bag from dinner that he had missed._

 _Before turning a corner, he called them back._

 _Harry looked annoyed as they turned back at him while Hermione looked sleepy and confused._

 _"_ _Ten point from Gryffindor, Miss Granger." Snape silkily said._

 _"_ _What?" Harry asked him. "What for?"_

 _Snape walked towards them and gave them at utmost smirk._

 _"_ _For staying out of bed in curfew hours." Snape simply said with a cold smirk._

 _Before Harry could ask or demand him to explain it further, he had walked passed them with his black robes billowing behind him as if laughing at their state._

There was entirely no formal or legitimatize rule that the victim should seat only at the side of the audience's stand that was the opposite where the accused would be.

Neither was there a rule that the victim wasn't allowed to walk next to anyone from the accused's team or council.

So despite the shock, everybody was silent upon seeing Hermione enter the courtroom walking side-by-side the accused's Defense Council, Draco Malfoy.

The Wizengamot was silent and only stared as Draco led her back to her usual seat in the audience and he crossed the atrium to stay at the side of the accused.

The court room waited as a few minutes later, Aurors and Ministry people came about bearing Snape with them in his usual prisoner robes and magical bonds.

Hermione was sure all eyes were on her upon seeing her questionable entrance at the court house.

She was so occupied with the thought of it that she didn't notice that Harry arrived a few minutes later than she actually did.

He was usually early – when she was with him.

But today – not that he was tardy – but he was actually not as early as she expected him to be.

She saw him enter and talk to a couple of Ministry officials.

He took time and shook hands with two Wizengamot wizards and waved a few times around the room to people who called his name.

He walked up the steps and soon reached the line of chair from where Draco had lead her.

Hermione only calmed down upon seeing him reach her place when she saw that Lupin was actually behind him.

He looked like he lacked sleep but nevertheless, he smiled at the sight of her.

Lupin always appeared at the trials but somehow, his presence today seemed to matter to her.

It made her feel safe – from Harry.

Harry only glanced at her once since they met in the courtroom and she noticed that he seemed to be trying his best to focus on something.

It slightly bothered her for she knew that look.

It was the look that he usually wore before an important Quidditch match aka a match against Slytherins that he always badly wanted to win.

Another time she saw that look was at the time where she was helping him win the TriWizard tournament many years ago.

And most importantly, the last time she's seen that look was at the night of the transfer where the look of evident determination was all over his face as he knew the danger they would have to face to cross the pathway to their transfer and how he was going to ensure the safety of his friends, of the Order and her safety above all.

And at the moment, Harry seemed to think of her as some sort of distraction that he didn't want to look at in order to focus on the case and win it no matter what it would cost him.

Hermione sighed and turned to her side not knowing really what to tell Harry.

But before she could even have a chance, a Ministry official walked over and sat instead in between her and Harry.

He took Harry's attention by the parchments he was reading and soon, Lupin was included in the conversation that was taking place.

She sat alone and unknowing on what to do next.

She looked over across the atrium and saw that Draco was talking to several people at their side of the room and was seriously bent over a table where Snape sat.

Hermione sat quietly around the room wondering if it was really wrong to enter the room by Draco's side.

Nobody seemed to want to talk to her or even just look at her.

They all acted like she was some sort of demented person – like she wasn't victim at all.

Well, she was a victim and she knew that she was hardly acting the part – she couldn't really blame the people.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the head of the Wizengamot gave signal that they could begin.

Hermione sat straight as the opening statements of the hearing began.

It was like some sort of monologue she's already memorized from day one.

The attendee's annoying voice came to its end as he announced Draco's name as he was called forward.

Hermione stared down from the benches to the atrium where Draco stood before the empty witness chair.

She breathed heavily and wondered what was going to happen as she thought that it was the attendee's turn today to question Snape and then question her after.

Did she miss anything that Draco had briefed her about back at the manor?

"Mr. Malfoy?" one of the Wizengamot's member asked staring down at Draco's quiet feature.

"I would like to request for something." Draco said in a hopeful tone.

The head of the council nodded at him to continue.

"I had been advised on these." the oldest member said. "That you have a special request?" he asked.

Draco nodded coherently.

He moved forward and placed parchments over the tables to showcase to the jury.

"I would like to request permission for 'Opus Contrarium' for today's court trial."

Hermione wasn't sure what it meant, but she was sure she's heard of it and the way that the people reacted in the room it was obvious that it was something important.

The jury and the audiences made faces and reactions she wasn't sure if good for them or bad but seeing that the Wizengamot seemed to be advised beforehand, Hermione tried to calm herself down.

She looked over to her side but saw no reaction from Harry at all.

Looking down, there was also no reaction from Snape at the accused's chair.

"We had been advised." the head of the jury said. "You are given permission, Mr. Malfoy."

"Thank you, sir." Draco said and he made a very obvious gesture of relief.

No matter what it was, Draco seemed unsure if he was to be given permission about it.

Hermione put her bet that it was something to gain in their side if it goes well.

Draco straightened his attire and once more wore that formal look over his façade that made Hermione think that she was staring down at another person and not the Draco Malfoy she knew of.

"By the blessing of the Wizengamot, today, I am requesting for special order for 'Opus Contrarium'-" Draco began as he walked proudly down and around the atrium.

"May we ask if you have your chosen individual or you would need to decide after the break?" asked the attendee.

Draco smiled at him and waved his hand up in the air.

"No need, sir." Draco said as he smiled around the room seemingly confident of the time given to him.

Hermione looked sideways at the room but neither Harry nor Lupin were paying attention to her.

She could tell that Harry had shifted from his seat and that Lupin seemed to be whispering words at him to keep him over his chair.

"By blessing of the jury and Wizengamot – I have requested for 'Opus Contrarium' – the special order and request that gives me authority to call out on anyone in this court room trial to be witness for the case without ahead advisory to prepare for that he or she will be called out today and will swear honesty in front of this courtroom."

Hermione's eyes whirled around at Draco and at explanation he had just given.

He was going to call out someone who was going to answer his questions – unprepared?

Who the hell was he planning to call out?

"By declaration of this and the blessing of the full jury and Wizengamot, the court today will withheld this order and therefore, I call upon Mr. Remus John Lupin to take the witness' stand."


	37. Chapter 37

_**Chapter Thirty Seven**_

 _ **48 Hours**_

Remus J. Lupin sat quietly by the witness' stand after taking the oath of truth.

Draco had summoned the order of the court that will have – any – witness to take the stand and be questioned without being prepared for by any Ministry official or council.

It was a request usually granted only once in any trial case.

And usually, the side that summons it is the one in desperate plea for justice.

Hermione wasn't sure how Snape felt at the moment but for sure, Draco had presented the idea to him or maybe he was the one who suggested it to Draco..

Furthermore, Hermione wondered how Harry was feeling at the moment.

No matter how pissed he may be, he had taken the court decision quietly and was only staring up at Lupin with that gaze in his eyes.

He was hoping that Lupin would be for his cause.

 _He trusted the man more than anyone else at the moment._

He knew that Lupin wouldn't let him down no matter.

So why then, would Draco put Snape's _fate_ in Lupin's hands?

Hermione glared but Harry's face was quite passive.

He was showing no emotion no matter how surprised or pissed he may be.

Who wouldn't be?

She was just as surprised as hell and couldn't quite contain her gasp and her expression upon Draco's statement.

It seemed that only Harry looked unaffected by this.

Was he this cold these days?

Did he somehow know?

But no, because if he did know, only Lupin would tell him.

And by the look at Lupin's face as he was called forward, he was just as surprised as Hermione.

 _Only Snape and Draco knew then._

Hermione watched in silence like the rest of the people in the room as Draco stood before Lupin.

He was holding a few parchments in his hands and he nodded coherently at his old professor.

Hermione thought that he looked both brilliant and confident at the way he stood before the court.

He even looked like some handsome gentleman and very well-dressed in her opinion.

Draco Malfoy.

She couldn't quite describe him properly.

"Mr. Remus John Lupin?" he asked with a small smile.

"Yes." Lupin answered nodding at him. "That is me."

"May we ask your relation to both the accused and the victim?" Draco politely asked.

"I knew them both from Hogwarts." Lupin answered honestly. "Mr. Severus Snape was a schoolmate and colleague when I worked at the school years back. We also worked together as members of the Order of the Phoenix." Lupin stated this fact and knew that it raised a couple of brows at the process.

Nobody trusted the man any more no matter his history of being part of the league that was supposed to destroy the Dark Lord.

Draco nodded and urged him to continue his statement.

"Miss Hermione Granger had been my student and was also a colleague when she became – although not legally due to their age at the time – part of the Order of The Phoenix."

The room continued to listen in his statements that were both publicly known anyway.

"You had known Mr. Snape longer then?" he asked Lupin.

"Yes." Lupin answered. "We went to Hogwarts as students on the same year. When I worked at Hogwarts years ago, he was already teaching a post at the school. He was the Potions Master while I took the Defense Against the Dark Arts post for a year."

"And how was he as you've known him in both areas?" Draco asked slowly.

Lupin stared at him and wondered for a moment where this was going.

But going through it, there seemed to be nothing harmful he may give.

Up to that point anyway, he wasn't sure if the information he'd be providing was for Snape's or Harry's cause.

"As a student, Severus was an intellectual and brilliant one. He was one of the best and top students of Hogwarts in our time. And so, he became what may be called a good teacher – a great teacher – for the post he had been assigned. Professional and is a brilliant man."

"And how is this brilliant man to you?" Draco asked. "Your relationship with him? Are you friends? Professionals? Formal?"

Lupin's eyes flickered at Draco.

Draco knew that they – or rather his friends – bullied Snape back at school.

"We weren't really bestfriends at school." Lupin explained. "But he was a quiet one who spent time with himself and never really bothered anyone. As a colleague, he was the same. He isn't friendly as to what you supposed is normal. He is a man who keeps to himself. He isn't the type of person who stays at the staffroom the whole day and talk by the fireplace with the other teachers. But that does not make him unkind in any way."

"So he is kind?"

"In his own pace and terms."

"How is this possible?"

Lupin stared and was unsure how to rely it in his own words.

But he couldn't look at Harry for some reason.

"He wouldn't harm anyone for the sake of it." Lupin explained as he sat straighter on his chair. "He wasn't the one to start as I've known him both at school and as a colleague. He was never really the one to raise wands first."

There was silence in the room.

Lupin could see the way Harry was staring closely at him as if calculating, measuring each of his words.

"So you are not friends with him in both of those times you've known him but you can tell that he is neither unkind?"

"He is a professional person." Lupin said. "He comes to terms when the reasons are there. He does and accomplishes the works or tasks asked of him within the span of time needed of him. He does not delay. He is responsible in aspects more than one. I may not know him deeply and personally, but he is a man of his word."

There was silence around the room – a tension that was growing.

"Can you please emphasize an instance this is true?"

Lupin glared momentarily at Harry's direction then at Hermione's.

Both were giving him hopeful gazes.

"There was a time.." Lupin heavily breathed. "There was a time when the old headmaster Albus Dumbledore asked me to work at Hogwarts. I was reluctant to take the post because of.. health reasons."

There were slight murmurs.

Everyone _knows_ what those health reasons are.

Everyone knew of him and his secret thanks a few years back to the same person being accused in the court room.

"In exchange for me to work at Hogwarts, professor Albus Dumbledore made arrangements and terms I agreed. He had Severus – " he motioned towards Snape – "create and provide my special needs accordingly. Snape agreed to these terms and sufficed what I needed to tend correctly to my health needs. It was Severus who provided and secured these needs by the headmaster's request to him. Again, he is responsible to the work asked of him. He tends to these tasks no matter the consequences."

Hermione remembered how Snape patiently brewed the Wolfbane Potion for him all those times despite of their history as students, despite of the post given to Lupin that he had been after for years.

"No matter the consequences?" Draco asked with a raised brow. "Can you emphasize or rephrase?"

"Severus and I were not bestfriends back at school." Lupin said. "But you could hardly call us serious enemies. But.." he paused momentarily remembering the unfortunate days for which James and Sirius tortured the wits out of Snape just because they can.

"But?"

"But there were those things at school.. " Lupin said. He looked carefully at Draco as if personally talking to him. "Things and scars that never heal. And yet, he was true to his word – he was professional enough to suffice my needs despite – our history at school."

Another silence.

It took a moment for Draco to ask him again.

It seemed like he was taking in everything that Lupin had just said.

"And Miss Granger?" Draco asked. "How was she as a student and as a person you know of?"

"Miss Hermione Granger was the only one top among her classes. She excelled beyond anyone I know of.. Efficient and responsible. She always exceeded expectations of the teachers."

"And you have known her outside school?"

"Yes." Lupin said. "We are in a closer knit circle – like that of a family – outside school."

Everyone knew of Hermione and Lupin's closeness to the Weasleys.

"Can you describe Miss Granger in your own words?" Draco asked.

"Brilliant. Loyal. Kind." Lupin answered. "She is as docile and as responsible when needed to. She is kind and loving. She submits to where she should but she does have her brilliance that help her decide upon things."

"Was she a good student?" he asked.

"She was brilliant and docile as I've described. She is more than a good student."

"Exceeds expectations?"

"Exceeds expectations." Lupin said. "She knew of my condition when I taught at Hogwarts and yet she trusted me and didn't quickly judge me for what I was back then."

Some people made a few reactions but Lupin only ignored them as he knew these were irrelevant at the moment.

"She trusted people easily?"

"She trusts whom she think she can and who think deserves it. Miss Granger is trusting. But she is also intelligent – very intelligent. She is not gullible."

"And can you describe Mr. Snape in your own words?" Draco asked again.

"Brilliant. Responsible. Hardworking."

"Are you telling us he is neither loyal nor kind?" Draco asked curiously.

Lupin's eyes and position on the chair shifted towards Draco.

"I cannot tell precisely where his loyalty lies or what might have changed through time.." Lupin emphasized the last two words. "But I'm not saying that he is unkind. Like I said earlier, when asked to, he does things even if it is against his will because he is a professional. He is as hardworking and responsible as to what I've known him. He may not be called what is most akin to kind, but he does what he is asked of and he has his own temperament and ways of showing kindness."

A long silence followed this statement.

Hermione still couldn't read Harry's expression.

Snape was also passive.

She could only try and read Draco but there wasn't much to read from the boy's features.

"And how was he towards his students?" Draco's voice returned. "As a teacher to his students?"

"He was responsible." Lupin said. "He may sometimes have questionable decisions upon taking off points from students at school, but he would never punish any student without clear nor valid reason as to why he is imposing the punishment."

"So you're saying he is kind towards his students?"

"I'm stating he is a good teacher and he knows all the responsibilities that come along with his title."

Something flickered in Draco's eyes.

"Responsibilities?"

"Yes." Lupin answered him. "The ties that come along to being a teacher."

"These are?"

"Tasks at hand. Teaching and guiding the students. Enlightening them in the right ways and paths. Ensuring a good future for them."

"Ensuring a good future for them?"

"Yes, Mr. Defense Council." Lupin said in a determined voice. "By teaching, guiding and protecting them and their minds from what is wrong or corrupt and securing them and their minds to what is right and good."

"You believe as a teacher yourself you have attained all these qualities?"

"Yes." Lupin answered indignantly. "No matter of my condition, I have accomplished all these things dutifully."

"You believe that you were able to enlighten, secure and protect the mind and the students that you have taught within your time at Hogwarts?"

"Yes."

"You believe that you were responsible enough and has managed to attain the all the possible measures you could to ensure their safety within or outside school as a teacher of these students?"

"Yes."

"Would you do the same thing to and for them even if you're no longer teaching at Hogwarts or even if you see these graduated students of yours?"

"Yes." Lupin answered truthfully. "Once a teacher will always be a teacher to these students."

"Is that so?" Draco asked almost mockingly.

Lupin's face turned and a gleam in his eyes appeared.

He felt momentarily mocked by Draco.

"Many may take little of what we do for this profession but we have been sworn to teach, guide and protect them with all we can – past or present students of Hogwarts or any school thereof – no matter of their age and the time that has passed that we have taught them."

"Then do you think as a teacher himself, Mr. Severus Snape has managed to attain all these standards, accomplish all responsibilities mentioned and has dutifully and fully complied to all the responsibilities sworn and taken under the profession stated above? Do you think he had been an efficient, responsible and accomplished teacher in all aspects there could be under his oath at this profession?"

"Yes." Lupin answered without hesitation. "Yes, I believe he was."

"Then given these statements, do you believe the possibility that all those ten years that he has taken Miss Hermione Granger in the Island of Beltane, he could be doing it – at his own terms, temperament and reasons – because he was trying to protect Miss Hermione Jean Granger from some sort of shaded mystery that still encompasses this case and not because he was some vile man who has merely chosen to abduct someone for his own cause and purposes?"

There was silence in the room.

"Do you believe that Miss Granger entrusted her life to her professor, Mr. Severus Snape?" he added the question.

They waited for Lupin's answer.

Lupin was still as his eyes was directed at Draco's.

He wanted to avoid Harry's and Hermione's.

He neither wanted to look at Snape's form.

Draco stared at him, awaiting his answer with a nudging yet patient look over his face.

"Mr. Lupin? Should I repeat the question for you?" he gently asked knowing that the more he sounded patient and calm, the more Lupin panicked instead.

He couldn't hurt Harry.

Nor could he hurt Hermione.

But he also couldn't lie as he was under the oath.

"Mr. Lupin?" Draco's voice came ringing before him. "Mr. Lupin, please answer the question."

Lupin opened his mouth but no words came out.

He was clutching his hands before his knees under the table.

His heart was beating fast.

He knew there was only one answer to that.

"Mr. Remus Lupin?" Draco's voice came again. "Please answer the question I have just asked. You have known the two of them for years and have stated your relationship to them and how close or distant you were with them. I asked you, by judging of how you knew the both of them – of how you described the two of them, especially the accused Mr. Severus Snape - do you or do you not believe that Mr. Severus Snape might have just been protecting Ms. Hermione Granger all these years?"

Harry was staring closely at Lupin with all hopes inside of him at the edge already.

"Mr. Remus Lupin." It was the voice of the eldest member of the Wizengamot. "Please answer the question of the Defense Council."

Lupin was quiet and still.

He opened his mouth once but no words came out.

Draco slightly bent over a bit more so that he could visually close in.

"Professor Lupin?" he quietly asked thinking that he might respond if the call of his profession and title was called for.

Lupin blinked.

He looked at Draco with a fazed look over his face and then he nodded.

A serious look spread across his face after what seemed like an eternity for him to decide to answer.

"Yes." Lupin finally answered. "Yes, I believe that Hermione trusted him."

"And do you believe at the smallest of possibilities that the accused may have been protecting her all these years?"

Lupin heavily breathed.

But he closed his eyes and nodded.

"Yes." he answered clear enough for the whole room to hear. "I do believe in that possibility that Severus might have been trying to protect Hermione from something all these years."

Great tension mounted across the large court room hall.

The audience and the jury both looked scandalized.

Reactions were heard at every direction.

Lupin kept his eyes upon Draco and kept himself still despite the growing desire to flee from where he sat.

Even the Wizengamot stared down at Lupin in awe.

Hermione was at the verge of tears.

Snape's eyes flickered momentarily up at Lupin then at Draco whose eyes were still down at Snape.

Harry's gaze and form were unmoving from where he sat.

Draco sighed heavily and nodded.

He almost verbally thank Lupin right then and there.

He took two step backwards and a final direct gaze at Lupin's eyes before looking up at the Wizengamot.

"I have no further question, your honorable Wizengamot and jury."

Draco took his steps back and avoided Lupin's or anyone else's gaze this time.

Even Hermione's.

Hermione stared at him and knew that he was trying to keep a passive face despite that the look in his eyes told her that he was smirking deep down.

He sat in silence back at his Defense Council chair and waited as the attendee stood up to make an announcement for a fifteen minute break before commencing once more whereas Hermione Granger was to take the witness stand again.

People started leaving the room for the court break.

Draco sat across the room and found Snape being taken out by the Aurors for the break.

But before leaving he could almost swear, as their eyes met, that he had seen the first ever glimmer of hope in his black eyes and a gratitude that he has never seen from him like ever before.

 _"_ _He cares for me, he cares for me, he cares for me." Hermione thought miserably as she lie on the large four-poster bed in Snape's room._

 _Her whole boy was aching so hard from their previous encounter._

 _It was five in the morning and he had left her about an hour ago._

 _Snape said that he had to go somewhere very important at that hour._

 _She couldn't do anything about it as she could barely move her legs then._

 _Her southern part hurt so much to what he has done to her and her legs were barely able to move an inch from the pretzel-like position Snape had taken her in._

 _He took her like there was no tomorrow._

 _He took her for hours._

 _He took her the whole night giving up only when he realized that she needed to rest from his monstrous advances._

 _The days and the weeks had gone on._

 _It has been months since their first time in bed together._

 _It had been a very awkward time from the week it has happened and the next and so on._

 _But sooner or later, the caresses at the couches, the goodnight kisses and the touching of the hands became more regular._

 _Before either of them could really call it anything, they had been taking time with one another on a nightly – or rather – regular basis._

 _Hermione tried her best to remind herself that she was sane and that this was particularly normal especially she had no one to turn to and Snape – well, he has his needs as a man._

 _Was it wrong to want to be with him?_

 _It felt so good to be in his arms._

 _She felt so safe in his tender caresses and gentle touches._

 _She felt very much loved and take care of in his loving kisses._

 _Was it wrong to feel this way towards him?_

 _Was she betraying her relationship with Harry?_

 _Harry felt like a lifetime ago._

 _Harry._

 _How was Harry?_

 _How was the others?_

 _The Order of the Phoenix? The Aurors? Her friends?_

 _What has become of all these people?_

 _Snape barely brought her home any news about them and she was having doubts whether he was going to keep his word about telling her about the outside world should there be anything she should be concerned about._

 _She was worried._

 _She was dead worried but there was absolutely nothing she could do about their situation._

 _She wasn't allowed to go out and there was a chance of endangering herself and the others if she would do so._

 _She couldn't do anything about it – she was as helpless as helpless could be._

 _But Snape kept her and took care of her._

 _He tended to her needs – food, clothes and even the luxury of books at this pressing times._

 _He made sure that she was safe and had everything she would need or want in that cottage._

 _She even felt guilty upon the idea that she was living this luxurious life while out there – people she loves – might be losing their lives because of the battle._

 _'_ _You need to be protected and taken good care of. That was what I promised the headmaster – to protect anyone I could no matter the cause. I am protecting you for your safety – so you can go back to that boy.'_

 _Those were his words._

 _His words that he had promised her._

 _Has he forgotten?_

 _Most importantly, has she forgotten?_

 _Did it make sense that she still wanted to go back to her loved ones – to Harry – and yet here she was, guilty as hell because she was enjoying her time beneath Snape's tender touches and caresses?_

 _It was a salacious situation._

 _She knew it wasn't right for her to submit or rather to even desire Snape in the first place._

 _He was her professor and he was her protector._

 _And what was she doing exactly?_

 _Harry was waiting for her – he was fighting and possibly dying in a battle for her – and what was she doing exactly?_

 _But Snape._

 _He felt so right._

 _He felt so good._

 _He tasted good against her._

 _He showed her his reluctance to her gestures and earlier advances._

 _He tried to avoid her – he tried his best to avoid her._

 _She was the one to be blamed in their present situation._

 _He was just supposed to protect her and that was it._

 _She had brought them down into this awkward situation._

 _Why didn't she keep her mouth shut or why did she have to give in to her luscious taste?_

 _It was a crush before perhaps._

 _Some innocent, intellectual teacher-crush she had on him and his intelligence._

 _How could she take it very seriously and pull him to hell with her?_

 _What was she going to do now?_

 _She felt so devastated that she knew she deserved the casted pain upon her._

 _"_ _Harry.." Hermione cried turning to the other side of the bed – the side that did not smell of Snape's mint-like scent._

 _She curled into a ball, fisting the blankets and shoving it into her mouth to keep from hearing her howls and cries of despair and pain._

 _"_ _Harry.." she miserably thought, desperately wishing that where he was at that moment – he would still remember her._

 _"_ _I'm here." Hermione cried and cried. "I'm still alive.. I'm still here.."_

"He can't get in here." Draco's voice came as he poured tea onto a cup for Lupin. "This is a witness' room. He won't be able to get to you here and punch you."

Lupin gave a small smile showing he wasn't entirely worried even if Harry did get inside the room.

He wasn't sure what to tell Harry once the trial today was over.

He had no choice – he had to tell the truth – he was under an oath.

And even if he wasn't under an oath, he was a righteous man and he would be honest with the questions asked of him.

"Here." Draco said handing it over. "Professor."

Lupin looked up at the title he added for him.

He never really called him 'professor' – no, Draco had little respect for his kind.

But today, he called him that twice already.

He wondered if the boy has really changed and if he has, Hermione was then safe in his custody while the case was being sorted out.

"Where's Hermione?" he asked taking the cup and taking a sip.

"At the other room." Draco answered. "She has a separate room from the rest."

Lupin nodded.

"Will I be able to see her?" Lupin asked him.

"Yes ofcourse. But I think that would be after the trial. We only have ten minutes left."

"She prefers to be alone?" he asked him.

Draco shook his head.

"She asked me to go here and see if you are alright."

"I see."

There was silence between them.

"Potter will not be pleased." Draco said. "But I am glad for your honesty."

"I never thought you would summon that order." Lupin said kindly. "I think this is this bad more than we thought, right?"

Draco nodded at him.

"I am no longer sure what to do. I know that Snape has his reasons and his rights but I know he has done wrong. But I also understand Potter." Draco explained as he sat at the couch opposite him.

Lupin looked up at him at his admittance that he was aware of Snape's wrongdoings.

"I understand where Potter is coming from. That's why I needed someone honest and just." Draco said. "I no longer know what to do and how to give justice to the both of them."

Lupin only nodded at him.

"I am sorry to have you to be the one I summon for the request. I thought you were the right man to take that stand today because you've always been righteous and just. Like you've always taught us."

"Us?" Lupin repeated.

Draco smirked at him.

"You were also my teacher. I was your student at my third year, were you not?" Draco smiled at him.

Lupin nodded at him and patted him on the shoulder as he stood up.

"I should return to the room." Lupin smiled at him and extended his hand. "Thank you, Draco. I hope that this case is solved soon."

"I hope the same thing too." Draco said. "I'm sorry that Hermione wouldn't want to go back with any of you at the moment."

"She's safe." Lupin said. "I know she's safe with you."

"How do you know that?" Draco asked with another smirk.

Lupin smirked and nodded as he headed for the door.

He waved his hand and gave a gentle smile as he opened the door for himself.

Draco stared as smiled as he turned back at him.

"I just know." Lupin replied. "You were my student when you were third year at Hogwarts, were you not?"

And with that, Lupin nodded and left Draco in the room with his wits and thoughts and stress at the commencement of the trial.

Hermione was to take the stand again.

Both the attendee and himself would be questioning her and he wasn't sure if he really wanted to question her any further.

 _"_ _A penny for your thoughts?" came a sweet voice._

 _Snape turned around and found Hermione entering his work station._

 _She wasn't usually allowed there but from time to time, he did allow it._

 _"_ _It's nothing." Snape said as he waved his wand to clear the table off the litter of the potion he had made a few days ago._

 _The potion for which he would no longer have the need to create ever again._

 _"_ _What do you want?" Hermione asked coyly._

 _It was half past eleven in the evening._

 _She was wearing his crisp white long-sleeved that he usually wore when going downtown to sell a couple of his creations._

 _"_ _Noting." Snape mindlessly answered as he continued to clear the table. "There's nothing."_

 _He wasn't sure what he wanted._

 _Nope, unsure of what he would be doing with the rough estimate of seventy thousand galleons that Narcissa Black Malfoy had just left him a few days ago._

 _A few days ago, she had blessed him with something extravagant and great to fund their needs._

 _Three days ago, Narcissa passed away._

 _The lady of Malfoy Manor.. forever gone._

 _He wasn't sure how he was going to deal with that reality._

 _The only true friend he has ever had was gone now._

 _There was nothing he could do._

 _Her time has arrived and she was taken severely yet quietly by her illness._

 _He couldn't save her._

 _None of his brilliance and prodigious skills in potion-making could save her life._

 _It was bound to happen and it did happen._

 _Now he was left with the thought of her and her memory only._

 _There was nobody for him anymore._

 _Gone was the only remaining being who knew of his whereabouts – of their whereabouts._

 _Would he survive without her emotional and moral help for him?_

 _Yes, she had the gratitude to leave him an amount of money – something more than enough for him and Hermione to endure the years and enjoy._

 _But that wasn't enough._

 _He had lost a friend – a dear and beloved friend._

 _The only one friend he has ever had in the most difficult time of his life._

 _"_ _Darling, is everything alright?" Hermione asked walking beside him and watching him closely._

 _She has noticed the water that was swimming at the lids of his eyes._

 _She touched the back of his hands that were clearing away a couple of empty jars._

 _Snape didn't halt his movements._

 _He tried to ignore her._

 _But Hermione was always insistent when she wanted his attention._

 _She gently touched him and when her hands weren't enough, she moved to the side and placed herself closer and closer him._

 _Snape sighed heavily and placed down any objects within his reach._

 _He looked down at Hermione's vanilla-scented figure and curious eyes._

 _"_ _What's wrong?" she asked him gently placing her hands over his chest and pushing her body against him._

 _"_ _Nothing." Snape passively answered._

 _Hermione looked up at him knowing he was lying._

 _"_ _If you can't tell me then will you let me ease your stress?" she softly asked as she traced her fingers along his chin and the side of his neck._

 _Hermione made him look at her despite that he was obviously avoiding her gaze._

 _His eyes were filled with sadness that she has never seen from him before._

 _Her eyes narrowed at him._

 _"_ _Severus, what's wrong?" she asked with evident seriousness in her tone._

 _Something was terribly wrong and she could sense it._

 _"_ _Severus?"_

 _"_ _It's nothing, Hermione." Snape said slowly taking hold of her hand and moving away from her._

 _It was the first time she read that kind of mournful look over his face._

 _It was also the first time he didn't show any sort of physical interest or contact towards her._

 _She wondered if she's said anything offensive recently._

 _She shook her brain trying to recall everything she might have mentioned in the past 48 hours that might have offended him._

 _No, she didn't mention anything about her freedom nor about going out._

 _She didn't ask about the Order of the Phoenix._

 _Neither did she mention anything about Harry._

 _All these thoughts were well-kept inside her head._

 _So why was he feeling and looking so upset?_

 _"_ _Severus, if there's something wrong you can tell me." Hermione said as she placed herself behind him._

 _Snape stopped moving as he felt Hermione's hands wrapped warmly around his waist from behind._

 _The feeling of her trying to comfort him was working._

 _He was easing up in the heaviness he was feeling._

 _If only she knew what was really going on._

 _He suddenly felt her face crawling up towards him._

 _They faced one another._

 _He couldn't hide the pain in his eyes and the fear in them now that he knows that he was very much alone._

 _"_ _Severus?" Hermione asked, eyes and face evidently and genuinely worried of him._

 _He felt more guilty at the sight of her._

 _She worried over him despite their living condition for the years that has been._

 _He deserved hell more than ever._

 _Her warm and soft hands slowly closed in over him where she rested them on either side of his pale cheeks._

 _He refused to look at her but she kept his face still._

 _"_ _Severus?" her voice was gentle and loving._

 _She has always been loving._

 _She has kept her kindness and loving attributes despite everything that has happened between them._

 _And despite all he has done that has scarred and marred her, she remained beautiful and innocent._

 _How could he ruin all of that?_

 _What kind of monster he was to ruin everything that was beautiful in that brilliant little child?_

 _Suddenly, he burst info full tears._

 _He couldn't help it._

 _His eyes filled with tears and all emotion overcame him._

 _Hermione caught him in her arms and let him cru down over her shoulders._

 _She might not have understood what was going on but she surely embraced him and caressed him in her arms in a very comforting way._

 _Hermione was perplexed._

 _Never, never she has seen this man cry ever before._

 _She knew his history – or atleast what he has let on to her – and knew how heavy it was already for him._

 _She also knew the drastic fate they both had to live within the past years whether they wanted it or not._

 _She knew how he was also suffering in his own ways and the burden of having her and the responsibility he has over her._

 _Life might have been unfair to her but it was nowhere near the pain and the suffering this man has ever endured compared to hers._

 _"_ _I'm here." Hermione whispered placing her arms tight around him as he quietly cried over her. "I'm here, Severus. I won't ever leave you."_

 _She wasn't sure what made her say those words but something about in her presence she knew and felt comforted Severus._

 _It might have been only a couple of years but she felt she already knew and loved the depths of him – of this man who has protected and cared for her for so long._

 _She wasn't sure until when they were going to be like this and how things were going to be and where it would lead them to but she was sure of one thing – they had and would have in the coming years – only one another._

 _"_ _You alright?" Lupin asked Harry._

 _He observed the boy who has not slept for the past 48 hours._

 _The boy had not slept and yet his body seemed to know that it should not and would not want to give him any sort of rest._

 _His eyes bore circles and he seemed to have little desire to let go of the map in his hands._

 _It was the complete map of the island that they were going to go to in T-minus twelve hours._

 _Order of the Phoenix members and Aurors alike were at the ready and awaiting signals._

 _They were going to fly through the whole island from different locations to ensure the security and that there would be no escape route for Snape should things come down to that point._

 _Lupin stared at Harry and at how armed and ready he was._

 _He has never seen him that way in any Auror mission._

 _He has never look so armed and ready to murder someone._

 _"_ _Harry our orders are defense and rescue." Lupin reminded him as he stared down at the map before Harry rolled it and secured it in inside his cloak._

 _He didn't answer him._

 _He took out his wand and pointed it towards a small spot in his office where he practiced spells._

 _A hole was at the corner most part._

 _He shot a few spells towards it and it consistently hit the perfect same spot._

 _He had years of practice of what he was going to do towards anyone he finds out that would be the cause of Hermione's disappearance._

 _"_ _Yeah. Sure." Harry only muttered without giving meaning to his words._

 _Lupin worried at the look of him._

 _Despite being his guardian for years, he knew there were parts of Harry that had become slightly or more so different the day that Hermione disappeared._

 _Lupin hoped that if they successfully rescue Hermione that day, the Harry he knew would return._

 _He quietly watched and listened as he gave a few more instructions to the Aurors coming to their team and the entrances that they would be securing._

 _Lupin walked behind Harry as they left his office and walked down the half of the Ministry of Magic._

 _People were staring._

 _A secret mission of the Aurors that was led by Harry Potter was surely something big._

 _The Chosen One was only taken or led into missions if they involved things that were of big causes._

 _As they left, Lupin gently placed his hand over Harry's shoulder._

 _Harry turned to him with a focused and determined look over his face._

 _"_ _Harry." Lupin gently spoke. "We will find her and rescue her."_

 _"_ _Ofcourse we will." Harry said with a curt nod._

 _Something in his face and eyes were different._

 _"_ _Harry, whatever happens or whatever we find out there – the law would still apply. Do you understand that?"_

 _"_ _Yes." Harry said although he didn't look interested at his words._

 _"_ _Harry, there is law that will protect her and will give justice to whatever it was that might have happened."_

 _"_ _I know the laws." Harry said. "I'm Head Auror."_

 _Lupin looked slightly displeased and worried at the same time._

 _"_ _I need to remind you."_

 _"_ _I haven't forgotten." Harry agitatedly replied to him._

 _"_ _Harry." Lupin sighed heavily. "Remember that the mission is 'defense and rescue' – please don't do anything that is beyond their orders."_

 _"_ _Their orders?" Harry repeated with a disgusted look over his face. "Whose orders? This is rescue mission for Hermione."_

 _"_ _I know that."_

 _"_ _I will do anything – whatever it takes – to rescue her-"_

 _"_ _Harry-"_

 _"_ _There will be no law today to give way to justice." Harry said as he gently removed Lupin's arm over him._

 _The look of worry grew over Lupin's face._

 _"_ _Harry-"_

 _"_ _And today, I lead this mission." Harry straightened himself up. "And that would mean that orders are all mine."_

 _And with that, Harry turned and stalked away ahead of them leaving the other Aurors perplexed at the exchanged that has taken place from two people whom they knew were more than student and mentor but that of ones who had a relationship like a father-and-son._

"Silence!" angrily said one of the members of the Wizengamot.

The people in the trial courthouse were unstoppable from making certain verbal reactions.

It has only been fifteen minutes since Hermione sat on the witness' chair and only two questioned have been vouched out towards her.

"Miss Granger." the attendee continue turning to her as the voice of the people slowly died down.

Hermione looked up at him with hatred in her eyes.

If only she had her wand with her.

If only she had the chance to kill it was this attendee whom she was going to go first.

He had been most detested since day one.

It seemed like he had some personal propaganda against Snape.

He had been asking not the right questions but the questions that will lead to Snape's doom.

It was like he was made and created to be Snape's downfall and destruction.

Hermione had tried to keep her face passive.

She wanted to lie, she almost wanted to lie.

Her answers were not giving Snape the upperhand in the situation.

She was under an oath – a magical oath and bond – that has been created to ensure that nobody lies in the Wizengamot's trial.

It was an enchantment created a few years back when trials after trials of the Dark Lord's supporters were being held to know who had been acting under the Imperius or under their own decisions.

 _"_ _What are those?" Harry asked kissing the side of Hermione's cheek as he embraced her from behind._

 _"_ _Just some random notes." Hermione happily answered looking up at him._

 _Harry smiled and took her mouth to his._

 _Hermione breathed deeply as Harry passionately kissed her, his hands slowing down around her waist._

 _"_ _Stop." Hermione muttered. "We're at the library." Hermione said pushing him gently off her._

 _Harry smiled and let her go._

 _He gently sat next to her as he took the notebook._

 _"_ _Why is my name here?" Harry asked her. "And why does it say 'Auror Potter' over the top corner?"_

 _Hermione blushed at him._

 _She reached out for the notebook and but Harry punched her cheek and moved it out of her reach._

 _"_ _You've got some explaining to do, Miss Granger." Harry said with a smile._

 _He handed her the notebook back._

 _"_ _How was Quidditch practice match?" she asked him pulling out a few sandwiches from her bag._

 _Harry hungrily took them and nodded at her._

 _"_ _Same. Malfoy's not there though." Harry said as he gobbled half of the first sandwich._

 _"_ _Malfoy? Since when did he not attend those?" Hermione asked with eyes narrowed._

 _Harry only shook his head._

 _"_ _Malfoy's been not himself lately." Harry said. "I mean, we're not close but I know there's something wrong with him."_

 _"_ _Like what?"_

 _"_ _Like he's plotting something evil."_

 _"_ _He's always been plotting something evil." Hermione lashed._

 _"_ _No." Harry said finishing the first sandwich. "I feel it's different. There's something about his father last time being taken to Azkaban that seemed to have changed him."_

 _"_ _Did we not hear rumors he's joined him?" Hermione said with a serious note over her face._

 _Harry coherently nodded._

 _"_ _Yeah." Harry said. "And I really don't want to talk about that right now."_

 _Hermione nodded and watch him gobble down the next two sandwiches on the table._

 _"_ _We should hurry in the Gryffindor Common Room after you eat. Curfew's up and I really don't want to be caught especially by professor Snape."_

 _"_ _Yeah. He seems a bit more evil these days." Harry said. "Perhaps he realized that DADA isn't an easy subject to teach." Harry said as he took the notebook again._

 _He read it through as Hermione started packing her things._

 _"_ _So I'm Auror Potter and these are laws I'm supposed to implement?" Harry asked. "Shouldn't it say Minister Potter instead?" he giggled._

 _Hermione gave him a dark look for a moment._

 _"_ _I'm only joking."_

 _"_ _No. You're not that corrupt to earn that title." Hermione said taking the notebook back._

 _"_ _Then what are those?"_

 _"_ _Laws and things you may suggest should you be head Auror someday. You are aiming for that, are you not?"_

 _"_ _Yes." Harry said. "If I do get good grades from DADA this year."_

 _Hermione could tell the bitterness in his voice._

 _"_ _Snape wouldn't tamper you grades. Everyone knows how good you are at the subject since our first year. People would question him if he does anything to destroy that good record of yours."_

 _"_ _Yeah, but it's Snape."_

 _"_ _He wouldn't do anything that he knows Dumbledore would question his loyalty."_

 _"_ _Yeah. Since when did he ever really care about loyalties?" Harry lashed back._

 _Hermione sighed heavily and closed her notebook._

 _"_ _I still believe that he's a good person. Dumbledore trusts him so should you."_

 _Harry only waved his hand up in the air._

 _"_ _So what are these random laws or things I should suggest?" Harry said interested at her notes again._

 _"_ _You being fair in a lot of people. Once you've got power and position, I'm sure you can inspire the Ministry of Magic and suggest these."_

 _"_ _Laws to protect all creatures including house-elves?" Harry began recalling what he's read from the notebook._

 _"_ _Laws that still give protection and educational rights even to those orphans and for them to be given right budgets and opportunities."_

 _"_ _I think we both know there will be a lot of that after the war. I'm only thinking ahead and being realistic."_

 _"_ _Laws that will require everyone at the future trials to submit to an enchanted oath?" Harry asked with a raised brow._

 _Hermione looked up at him._

 _"_ _Hermione-"_

 _"_ _I'm only thinking ahead." Hermione said._

 _"_ _But that's a big one. I don't think I can influence that much."_

 _"_ _Remember before when people didn't know who were lying and who were just under the Imperius Curse?" Hermione asked. "This will help sort out who's telling the truth and lying therefore justice may be served accordingly."_

 _"_ _You're all about justice, are you not?" Harry asked her as she finished packing her things._

 _"_ _Yes." Hermione answered as he took her bag from her to carry it._

 _"_ _I want to give justice to those who had been terribly abused and hurt by this war – the past and the present or whatever is to come."_

 _"_ _You can't save everyone, Hermione." Harry said. "Lupin taught me that."_

 _"_ _But we can try." Hermione said as she smiled at him and held his hand leading him out of the library. "We can try. Can't we?"_

"I can!" Hermione angrily yelled at the attendee. "I can tell you that I am telling the truth here!"

"Miss Granger, restrain yourself, if you please." The attendee said although he looked triumphant at the sight of Hermione's panicked-stricken face.

"All those years with nobody else to be witness and you outright tell the whole room – the Wizengamot – the Wizarding World - that this man has protected you?"

"Because he goddamn did!" Hermione angrily screamed standing up.

"Then produce your witness!" the attendee loudly said. "Produce a witness other than yourself, Miss Granger!"

Hermione's whole body was shaking in anger and frustration.

Ofcourse she couldn't produce a witness.

There was no witness whatsoever to all of it.

There was no one else who could prove everything she says, therefore everything that was said otherwise will be called to be the truth since those were the ones that had evident truth in them.

"No witness?" the attendee asked her. "No witness? No evidences? Any evidences to these truth you so call, Miss Granger?"

Hermione was shaking.

Her eyes at the verge of tears.

There was no one to protect her and she knew that even if Draco wanted to, he couldn't.

He was supposedly protecting Snape, not her.

Even if he wanted to.

"Any evidence Miss Granger – an object, any memory – anything – that may prove these truth you keep on stating?"

The attendee looked as evil and triumphant as he could be.

Hermione didn't know what to say.

She glanced sideways and saw that harry was staring apprehensively at her.

Snape was quiet at the corner.

He knew that there was nothing she could produce.

"I haven't got.." Hermione murmured. "I haven't.."

"What is that?" the attendee asked although he heard clearly. "What is that, Miss Granger?"

"I haven't.. got.. any.."

"Please make your statement with the consideration of letting the whole room hear you, Miss Granger."

"I haven't got any.. " Hermione began crying now. "Any physical… evidence.. or any sort.."

"You have no physical evidence of any sort!" the attendee repeated with a dramatic flair.

The jury and the Wizengamot stared at Hermione as if they were just wasting time on her.

"But I'm telling the truth!" Hermione pleaded. "Why can't my word be of justice – I was the one there – I witnessed everything!"

"Exactly the point, Miss Granger." the attendee said. "There is no one else to prove you're telling the truth. How do we know you weren't enchanted? That your memory has not been tampered with?"

"You've taken tests on me!"

"Tests that are questionable due to this man's skills and history of exploiting his victims!"

"He's a goddamn innocent man!" Hermione screamed pointing at Snape's direction. "He's a goddamn innocent man!"

"Says who!" the attendee screamed back at her as he lost his patience. "Says who, Miss Granger?! You say so! You say so?!"

"I am telling-"

"You say so! You, a woman who may be enchanted and tampered with all those years-"

"I am telling the truth!"

"But you cannot produce any evidence – not a thing, not a person – nothing Miss Granger – nothing but your empty words!"

"They are not empty words!"

"They are for you have nothing and no one to support these words of yours!"

"I am truth!"

"You are a victim!" the attendee screamed. "A victim of a murderer, a rapist – a Death Eater!"

"He isn't what you accuse him of-"

"Then goddamn produce an evidence!" the attendee screamed at her banging his fist on her table.

His eyes flared with hatred that was beyond Hermione's understanding.

She feared the look in his eyes.

It was as if he knew there was no escape from this.

It was as if he knew everything about Snape was spelled out to be death.

"Produce a goddamn evidence, Miss Granger so that you may prove the innocence of this man!"

Hermione couldn't say anything anymore.

Tears leaked from her eyes and the Wizengamot stared at her break down.

"Order in this court." the Wizengamot head stood up and stared down at Hermione's crying form.

The whole room was silent except for Hermione's struggled sobs.

"Miss Granger I think this whole court house has heard enough from you and your whims."

Hermione ignored the Wizengamot member who spoke but slowly looked up at the old and head of the Wizengamot.

She knew how patient and lenient he has been on her.

She knew that she might have reached her limit of his patience and leniency.

Hermione tried her best to stop her tears and from creating any kind of sound.

The attendee stood down from her as he was gestured to do so.

He backed away with a respectful look at the head of the court room.

Draco slowly stood up as he was also gestured to do so.

He took a sideway glance at Snape then back at Hermione.

Harry was silent in his seat, quietly observing everything.

"Today is the 11th trial out of 12 of the case of victim Miss Hermione Granger and accused Mr. Severus Snape."

The whole room quietly listened to the old man.

"I believe that all evidences that are required to make use of all the testimonies and proved certain areas and answer certain questions – the most imperative ones – have been clearly answered. Therefore.." he stared at Draco and the attendee first then at Hermione and at Snape then at the whole court house.

"As head of the Wizengamot…" he quietly continued. "I have come to the decision that within 48 hours, the jury and the full court of Wizengamot shall study and review everything that has been presented upon by both parties and therefore after those 48 ours, a decision about the case shall be placed upon."

Hermione heard the whole room gasp at the announcement.

She didn't immediately comprehend what has just happened but the look upon Draco's face made her worry.

"After the 48 hours," the wizard continued. "a decision about the case shall be read and therefore, a final decision for the accused shall be given in accordance to all evidence presented, the jury's opinion and the full Wizengamot's decision."

"No." Hermione gasped almost pleadingly turning to face the old man. "No, please.. that can't.."

"By order of law, today's trial is formally ending and will commence after the given 48 hours on the said date and time."

The attendee walked down from his aisle and Draco closed his eyes and sighed heavily.

The whole Wizengamot began standing from their chairs and the jury began leaving as well.

Hermione was left in the witness' chair unable to say anything.

Speechless and looking helpless, it took her a moment to realize that Draco was already standing in front of her.

"You alright?" he asked her although he didn't look fine himself.

Hermione shook her head.

"Let's go home." Draco quietly said taking her into his arms. "Come on, 'Mione."

Out of the corner of her eyes, Hermione saw Harry leaving the court room.

He was talking to several people that were shaking his hand.

He was already looking triumphant as he could possibly be as he left the courtroom.

Hermione softly cried and was unable to stop herself from flinging her arms against Draco's as she watched Harry leave the room with that special look in his face - an utmost victory – that was at the very tips of his fingers.

A victorious smile that she only ever saw whenever he was very close into catching the Golden Snitch.


	38. Chapter 38

_**Chapter Thirty Eight**_

 _ **Futile**_

 _"_ _Harry.." Hermione softly whispered in her sleep as she felt some soft sensation tingling between her legs._

 _She felt the slightest bit of touch in between her thighs, caressing her and alluring her senses._

 _She sighed heavily as she continued to feel the caressing sensation between her legs._

 _"_ _Harry.. stop.." Hermione sighed grinning in her sleep and pulling the sheets over herself._

 _She tugged and pulled but they were being held down from her._

 _"_ _Harry?" Hermione moaned sleepily as she tried to tug again._

 _She felt something heavy move around her bed._

 _"_ _Harry?" she repeated forcing to wake her senses up._

 _The room was dark and cold._

 _"_ _Harry-"_

 _"_ _I'm not, Harry." a deep voice whispered somewhere around her._

 _Immediately, Hermione's senses quickly worked together waking her up from her reverie._

 _Her hands automatically move around her as if fetching for her wand._

 _Her caramel eyes fully opened and she saw nothing but darkness and someone's silhouette over her._

 _It was Snape._

 _"_ _Professor.." Hermione gasped in both surprised and fear upon seeing him looming over her._

 _It took her another moment to remember and recall everything around her._

 _She had been in a very deep sleep and a really good dream with Harry._

 _She was always with Harry in her dreams._

 _But she was no longer with Harry in reality._

 _Fear became visible from her eyes as realization dawned upon her._

 _"_ _I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"_

 _"_ _To call him in your sleep?" Snape finished for her._

 _Hermione was already wringing her hands in fear from him._

 _Snape gave her a knowing glance and slowly moved away from her._

 _Hermione moved up and inched herself back from the bed._

 _She stared back at him unable to say anything in that very awkward moment._

 _It has been weeks or rather a few months._

 _Still, she couldn't remove from her system to call him 'Professor' from time to time._

 _She knew that deep down he hated it but he wasn't going to say anything about it._

 _He already talked to her about it once and it wasn't going to happen again._

 _She had been warned and she should know what to do after._

 _"_ _I'm sorry." Hermione said biting her lower lip and avoiding his gaze. "You wanted something?" she asked._

 _Ofcourse, it was a stupid question._

 _What would he be doing there in the middle of the night in a quiet stance, looming over her on the bed and his hands running between her legs._

 _Ofcourse he wanted something._

 _"_ _That's not what I meant." Hermione said looking up at him._

 _He was only quietly staring at her._

 _She couldn't tell if he was mad or offended or both._

 _It would take her a bit more time to get used to it._

 _She was so slow into adjusting into their situation._

 _It has been a few months now and they already had that silent understanding between them of having whatever they were having._

 _Sometimes she longed for it._

 _Most of the time, he was the one longing for it._

 _Either way, they both gave ways to one another's needs._

 _It was just that Hermione's weren't up to the boundaries and the desires that Snape had._

 _She had her limits._

 _Snape seemed to have no limits at all._

 _"_ _Do you need a Dreamless Draught?" he asked quietly._

 _It wasn't a question._

 _It was him suggesting something to stop her from going back to those memories in forms of dreams that she knew were bothering the both of them anyway._

 _"_ _No." Hermione quickly said._

 _She couldn't look him in the eye._

 _Deep inside, she really didn't want him to do that._

 _Providing her with that would lose her time with Harry – even just in her dreams._

 _She couldn't lose the only thing in her that kept her sane in these weeks that had passed._

 _"_ _I was just tired today." Hermione said looking away again. "It was just a slip of a tongue."_

 _"_ _Must have been some slip of the tongue to have it four nights in a row."_

 _"_ _I'm sorry." Hermione said in an ashamed tone. "I've been quiet insensitive."_

 _Insensitive?_

 _She was fucking asleep._

 _But there were no room for excuses for Snape._

 _Snape didn't say anything._

 _He knelt at the end of the bed with eyes boring into hers._

 _Hermione glanced sideways at his form._

 _He was wearing black pajamas but he was already bare in the chest._

 _He had obviously been desiring her tonight._

 _He had been away the whole day and Hermione wondered where he had been._

 _Ofcourse she wasn't allowed to ask questions._

 _"_ _Have you eaten?" she asked instead as she grabbed the blanket and slowly crept at the side of the bed._

 _"_ _No." Snape quietly answered as he watched her carefully._

 _As slowly and discreetly as possible, she tried to straighten her short silk nightdress and pull up its strap sleeves to secure the dress in place._

 _She was obviously still very uncomfortable with him despite the arrangements and their on-goings._

 _"_ _I can make you dinner." Hermione suggested quickly getting off the bed. "I'm sure there's some pasta I can make or something like-"_

 _"_ _There's nothing in the kitchens that I want."_

 _Hermione couldn't move as she felt his hand grasp her wrist._

 _It wasn't a painful grasp but it was firm enough like a warning to keep her in place._

 _She looked up at him and noticed their close proximity._

 _She heavily breathe at the sight of him._

 _She inhaled sharply and her eyebrows quirked up at him._

 _"_ _Are you drunk?" Hermione asked already knowing the answer._

 _Snape didn't answer her immediately._

 _His eyes were on her soft lips._

 _Hermione tugged her hand away but Snape held it in place._

 _There was no way in hell she was sleeping with him tonight if he was drunk._

 _The last time he had taken her and he was drunk, the following morning left her whole body sore as hell._

 _He was almost reckless in bed whenever he takes her in a drunken state._

 _Fear became visible again in her eyes upon the realization of his state._

 _She backed away against the headboard and Snape took two movements forward._

 _He advanced towards her and placed his finger over the bridge of her chest._

 _"_ _P-Professor.." Hermione gently said trying to sink away from him._

 _Snape ignored her._

 _It even seemed that he didn't hear her._

 _He was obviously very drunk._

 _Hermione noticed that look in his eyes and the smell from him became stronger by the moment._

 _Why did she not notice it earlier on?_

 _"_ _Severus." Snape said as he gently pushed her back down the bed. "Did you not call me that before?"_

 _"_ _I- I did.." Hermione stuttered as he laid her back down on the bed. "You.. Severus.. please.."_

 _Snape ignored her still._

 _He gently laid her down before him and continued to caress her legs._

 _His long fingers gently ran up and down at the side then slowly creeping up along the inner of her thighs._

 _He did short work of it and in minutes, Hermione was already wet in her knickers._

 _"_ _Remove them." Snape gently instructed as he knelt back on his position and began untying his pants._

 _Hermione looked up at him and feared the look in his eyes as he waited._

 _No, he wasn't angry._

 _But there were times that he was impatient when he was drunk._

 _"_ _Hermione?" he gently repeated as he released himself from his pants leaving him completely naked in front of her._

 _Hermione swallowed hard at the sight of him._

 _He was already hard for her._

 _He did look hungry for something else at the moment._

 _Her whole body was shaking at the sight of him and her heart began to beat very fast._

 _No matter how much sexual motions were exchanged between them, Hermione still felt that she was never going to get used to it._

 _No matter the intention or the feelings – if they were called feelings – for one another, couldn't really bring herself to him without feeling the slightest tinge of fear._

 _She would always be afraid of him._

 _Despite that her southern parts were obviously wet and shaking, a large part of her did not want him tonight._

 _No, a large part of her did not really want him._

 _"_ _Hermione? Do I need to repeat my instructions?" he asked her gently as his fingers gently reached out along the thin strap of her night dress._

 _Hermione shook her head as he continuously toyed with the strap of her dress._

 _"_ _Hermione, I really do not want to repeat myself." Snape whispered leaning forward her and leaving two kisses along her shoulder._

 _Hermione groaned in both longing and displeasure._

 _She hated herself and felt she was a very dirty girl._

 _"_ _Professor.." she muttered pleadingly._

 _"_ _Hermione, please remove what I asked you to." Snape said as he moved closer and kissed her earlobe before licking it several times._

 _She looked up at him and saw the determination in his eyes to have her tonight._

 _She wasn't going to get away from him tonight._

 _Whether she likes it or not, he was going to have her._

 _With a shaking hand, she gently placed them under her nightdress and slowly pulled her damp knickers down – unwilling to even look at her own actions._

 _Snape kept their eye contact as Hermione slowly removed her own knickers._

 _She pulled them down from herself, down her thighs and tugged them around her knees before she managed to finally pull it and tug it down at her ankles._

 _She still didn't want to let them go but Snape grabbed her wrist._

 _"_ _Professor, please.. I really.."_

 _"_ _Shush.." he interrupted. "And I told you to call me Severus."_

 _Once stuck there, Snape took over._

 _He gently pulled her legs to him and gently pulled her knickers away._

 _Hermione watched him hold it for a moment before throwing it aside from the bed._

 _As they exchanged their gazes, Hermione wondered what ran inside his head._

 _Did he really desire her?_

 _Were those lustful and salacious thoughts all inside his head whenever he took her?_

 _Was there no longer any memory of her as his student that he should be protecting anyway?_

 _Was there no longer any memory of them in their real relationship with one another?_

 _Was the professor she learned from and protected her years ago really gone?_

 _"_ _S-Severus.. Can we not.." Hermione breathed as tears threatened in her eyes. "I told you earlier I have a fever."_

 _"_ _But I left you a potion to tend to it, did I not?" he asked gently._

 _Hermione nodded at him._

 _The potion ensured she was better within the hour she had taken it._

 _She had no excuse._

 _"_ _But – " Hermione pleaded. "But I just – please don't –"_

 _Snape took notice of them but he didn't say anything._

 _He discharged her off her knickers and placed his fingers around her ankles._

 _He gently pulled her to him._

 _He knelt and place her legs on either side of him, locking them in place and giving him full access to her body._

 _Hermione gasped in pleasure and misery as Snape lowered his face and pressed gentle kisses between her thighs._

 _He smiled inside of him as he knew she was enjoying it as much as she hesitated putting herself in the moment._

 _"_ _Relax." Snape whispered and reminded her every time. "Hermione, relax."_

 _But Hermione couldn't relax._

 _Despite that her mind told her otherwise and her heart screamed for him to stop, her body betrayed her every single time._

 _Snape knew where to touch, kiss and caress her._

 _He knew each place to manipulate to fuel fire in her body._

 _She felt him spread her legs wider and then his hands slowly crept up beneath her silk dress._

 _She moaned and tears leaked at the side of her face as she felt a pair of hands grasp her mound._

 _He touched them and massage them in the right places and soon they were very hard._

 _Snape touched her hardened nipples and moaned at the response of her body to his advances._

 _Within a moment, Hermione could feel his hardened member across her abdomen._

 _He gently moved up and in one swift maneuver, he was able to remove her night dress over her head and she was left completely naked before him._

 _"_ _Professor Sn-nape.." Hermione's voice pleaded as the hunger in his eyes grew._

 _"_ _Relax, Hermione."_

 _"_ _S-Severus.." she moaned in spite of herself._

 _She didn't want him._

 _She didn't want any of it but her body was betraying her._

 _Trying to deny him wasn't a good attempt._

 _Trying to escape wasn't a good idea as well._

 _Either way, any of her attempts against him would be more than futile._

 _He had a way with her and she just couldn't understand it._

 _Her wrists moved against his grasp as her reflexes tried to stop him from his advances but Snape only move them aside with a gentle touch as his lips continued to press kisses along her sweating skin._

 _His other hand swiftly moved between her thighs and began massaging her very wet clit._

 _His other hand continued to manipulate and torture her other breast while his mouth filled in over her other breast._

 _He always made sure that foreplay was more than enjoyable that will leave her completely breathless and longing for more to prepare her for what was more to come._

 _"_ _Call me." Snape mouthed out to her in between his tongue lolling around her hardened breast._

 _He licked them, kissed them._

 _"_ _Call me by my name." Snape gently commanded as he watched with satisfaction as both her breasts perked up and hardened up from his kisses._

 _Hermione tried to look away from him._

 _"_ _I'm not going to ask again." Snape whispered as he slowly sucked her breasts teasingly one after the other._

 _Hermione was leaking so bad that she knew she was close to her climax._

 _She shuddered and nailed her fingers across his arms._

 _She was shaking and was already at the peak of herself._

 _"_ _Severus.." she moaned out loud as Snape moved down and gently licked the outer part of her clitoris._

 _His fingers moved and teased the opening line of her wet core and then he lapped his tongue teasingly several times._

 _Hermione shook violently; her fingers grasping whatever it could reach as she called his name in a shivering manner as she shook over the bed._

 _Tears leaked from both her eyes as she felt both the pleasure and disgust in herself._

 _She didn't want it – she didn't want any of it and yet her body called and yearned for him._

 _"_ _Severus!" she heard herself screaming and crying as Snape continue to mercilessly lick her inner core until she came in his mouth._

 _"_ _Please stop! Professor Snape, please stop.." Hermione cried out loud as she felt herself come inside his mouth._

 _Snape smiled and then moved up to her again._

 _He placed her hands on either side and held them down by the wrists._

 _Her reflexes were trying to fight him but soon she tried to keep her body still or to whichever position Snape wanted them to remain._

 _She looked up at him as his black eyes hungry roamed all over her body as he position himself at her entrance._

 _"_ _Professor Snape-"_

 _Snape ignored her way of calling him._

 _He no longer cared._

 _He was going to have her tonight no matter what she screamed out loud._

 _"_ _Severus! Severus!" she breathlessly screamed in pleasure, pain and plea._

 _He inserted two fingers inside of her without warning._

 _Hermione screamed in pain._

 _She felt his fingers moved up and down, tingling and killing her with pleasure._

 _She was going to come again in his hand this time._

 _Snape knew that it wasn't really out of passion she was screaming his name._

 _It was out of pleasure and the pain of the reality he was causing her._

 _Soon enough when he knew she was going to come again, he painfully withdrew his two fingers from her._

 _Hermione's eyes shot wide open at the pain and before she could scream in pain he covered her mouth with his and suddenly thrusted inside her._

 _Hermione's tearful eyes looked up at him where her gaze met his black eyes._

 _His dark eyes narrowed as he stared at her._

 _The focus over his face as he thrusted in and out of her in a pace only he wanted was filled with hunger._

 _Hermione's hands shot up at the side of his arms and fervently holding them._

 _Snape felt that she was trying to push him away or rather trying to control the pace he was going._

 _But he was going to ride her and take her at the pace he wanted tonight._

 _Snape's hand shot out from her mouth and soon before he came inside her, he moved his face over hers and locked her into a deep kiss._

 _Hermione moaned the pain in his mouth as he kissed her almost violently and thrusted in and out of her in such a pace that was both deeply passionate and yet at the point of violence._

 _Snape closed his eyes and reeled the full sensation of it as he pushed harder and deeper inside of her walls._

 _Hermione was crying in his mouth as he continued to cover her cries with his lips._

 _His tongue moved in and out of her mouth and then he licked away the tears over her cheeks as he gave a final thrust._

 _He shook and trembled as he felt her insides clamped around him._

 _He felt himself come inside her and shoot out everything he had in himself._

 _Hermione cried out in pain._

 _Snape came all the way inside her and only released her the moment he released everything inside her as well._

 _He moved forward for another kiss that swallowed the sound of her cry and unable to stop himself, he bit her lower lip hard enough to make it bleed._

 _Hermione screamed the pain he had placed upon her._

 _Sweat crawled all over his body as he lay on top of her._

 _"_ _Hermione.." he gasped out loud as he fell on top of her, breathing hard._

 _He could hear her continuous cries._

 _His whole body still trembled from what he did and he was breathing hard and fast._

 _But his breathing no matter how heavy, couldn't deafen the sound of Hermione's cries of pain._

 _"_ _Hermione.." Snape whispered trying to reach for her on the bed._

 _He tried to collect her but the moment he was out of her, Hermione gave all her remaining strength to push him away from her._

 _"_ _Go away.." Hermione cried as she suffered the pain._

 _Snape in his fallen state struggled to move and reach to her._

 _Hermione in her desperate plea of freedom from him even for a moment edged herself inch by inch from all the pain._

 _"_ _Go away.. go away.." Hermione cried at him as she tried to lift her hand up in the air to stop him from getting any closer to her._

 _"_ _I'm sorry.." Snape whispered as he tried to get up from his side of the bed. "Hermione.."_

 _"_ _Go away!" Hermione cried out loud quickly pulling the bed sheet around her._

 _Snape wasn't sure what to feel at the sight of her._

 _She was suddenly so small and fragile._

 _She was crying nonstop, begging him not to come close as she fretted for the blankets over the bed and struggle to cover it around herself._

 _There was pain inside of him as she watched him shrink away from him in great fear._

 _"_ _Please.. please don't.. please.. I'm tired.. I'm in pain.. please.. " Hermione pleaded at him as she watched him in horror as he moved to her._

 _"_ _No, Hermione. Please. I'm sorry." Snape whispered as he took the blanket. "Sweetheart, please… please.."_

 _Hermione suddenly grabbed it and tugged it away from him._

 _Snape didn't let the blanket go._

 _He moved forward and tried to take her in his arms._

 _"_ _I won't harm you." Snape whispered. "I won't harm you."_

 _Hermione continued to cry as Snape pulled the sheets and properly covered them over her._

 _He tried to not listen to her growing cries._

 _She moved herself from him and faced the other direction._

 _He knew he couldn't do anything about it for a few more hours._

 _Snape breathed heavily and tried to control the sensation inside of him._

 _"_ _Hermione." Snape whispered as he tried to collect her in his arms but Hermione didn't move from her place._

 _Pain was starting to grow inside of him._

 _Usually, Hermione was left exhausted and asleep after their encounter and so bearing the pain inside of him wasn't a problem._

 _But leaving her this way sometimes left him that problem._

 _He should be away from her when the curse takes its turn on him._

 _He quickly grabbed his black fallen pants from the floor and struggled himself._

 _He almost crawled back to the bathroom as he made his way away from her._

 _Closing the door and ensuring it was lock, Snape sank back on the tiled floor._

 _The pain began to increase inside of him._

 _He placed both his hands over his mouth to keep himself from screaming from the pain that was growing inside him._

 _He crawled on the floor to reach the corner part of their bathroom and curled into a ball in pain._

 _Despite the growing excruciating pain inside of him, he could still feel a different pain inside of his chest as he relentlessly heard Hermione's growing cries at the other side of the door he had just locked away – crying out not only of pain but with one name that he despised the most._

"Sir? You asked for me?" asked a voice.

The door fully opened and the old man behind the large arm chair ushered him inside.

"Can I possibly offer you anything to drink?" asked the old man.

The boy shook his head and entered.

"Nothing." he respectfully replied. "I'm doing quite fine, uncle."

"Are you sure, Draco?"

Draco entered and looked up at the man before him.

"I'm quite sure." he replied gently as he sat by the winged armchair in the extravagant room.

The man quietly stared by the window's view and Draco was vaguely reminded of the old headmaster, Dumbledore.

"Is there anything you would like to tell me?" he asked him.

"Nothing." Draco gently replied. "Is there anything you would like to tell me?" he asked back.

The old man sighed heavily.

"You have grown to be a man of honor."

"Different from my father?"

"Very unlike your father, Draco."

Draco sighed and nodded as he moved closer to the man.

The old man looked at him as if he couldn't believe how the boy had grown through the years.

"You rarely ever visit me anymore." he told Draco with a smile. "I always thought I was your favourite far-off relative."

Draco smirked at him.

"You're very busy these days."

"No." he answered Draco. "You are very busy these days saving that man's life."

Draco didn't say anything but only gave a curt nod.

The old man stared back at him, a close and observant gaze.

"You never visited him in Azkaban."

Draco looked up at him at the memory he always tried to avoid.

"Just once." Draco said. "Not really, but I did. I just did not have the world know about it."

"But you must admit that you cannot be a private person, Draco."

Draco only nodded knowing the truth in that.

"You are a man of secrets despite of the things you were back in Hogwarts."

"Hogwarts was a very long time ago."

"Is it?" he asked the young man.

Draco caught his gaze as he looked up again.

There came silence between them.

The old man sighed heavily.

"I am proud of what you have become." he told him. "Of what you have achieved in Germany after the war. Of everything you've been even in your days at Hogwarts. You have grown to be a fine young man."

"My mother asked me to be a better man if I wasn't before." Draco honestly answered. "There was nothing I wouldn't do for her."

"I remember your mother."

"Who wouldn't?"

The old man laughed.

"She was extraordinary in her own ways."

"You mean she's not as crazy as aunt Bella." Draco pointed out.

"Narcissa was also a very beautiful person." he said. "She was my favourite of my nieces."

Draco smirked and stared up at the man's honesty.

He was a far relative of the Blacks but he treated Draco with a certain touch of favoritism as he had treated Narcissa with the same way.

The lines of Pureblood were quite a fine small one and everyone knew the next line of Pureblood to the next that followed.

His uncle, was far different however from their traditions.

He came from the same Pureblood line that the Blacks came from but he was more of what Andromeda was or perhaps a bit more far from the traditional Purebloods were.

As described by their ancestors, he could have passed to be a Muggle born with the attitude he showed his family as he grew up.

He had been disowned at seventeen and luckily for his brilliance, he found a way to tend to his academic and life needs and after getting an internship at Germany for two years, he returned to London and landed a job at the ministry.

From his small job at the ministry, he climbed his way up learning from the libraries and from people he met and worked with through the years until he reached the age and the time for which his position was one that not everyone could possibly handle.

"There is a reason you asked for me." Draco said after a while as he stirred the cup of black coffee offered to him.

"I wanted to see you." the old man said with a longing smile at him.

"You always see me." Draco pointed out as he took another of the delicious black coffee.

"I always do." the old man replied. "And you've always been handsome and smart since day one."

Draco snorted at him shaking his head.

"I needed them to take me seriously." Draco said. "You know my lineage. People will no longer take me seriously if I don't. Nobody cringe at the sound of the name Malfoy anymore."

"I would have taken you seriously." he told him. "I take you and everything you do and present seriously."

Draco sighed heavily and straightened up over his chair.

"You called me because of the trial." Draco said. "You can tell me what you think about it."

The old man stared at him for a moment before taking one sip from his cup of coffee.

He sighed heavily as if the words he was about to tell him would cost him a lot of energy.

"I know that you've been working hard over this case and I need you to know that I'm proud of all the hard work you've been doing." the old man said. "I do not take for granted all your hard work."

"I thank you for that. Mother always spoke highly of you."

The old man nodded coherently and smiled at him.

"But I need to be honest with you that winning this case has an extremely small chance of happening."

Draco stared at him for a moment.

His face was passive and it slightly worried the old man.

"I know." Draco replied after a while. "I understand and am very aware of it."

"Then you understand that no matter of the hard work you do the chances are futile?" he asked.

"Yes." Draco said. "But I want to try and give the smallest justice at both parts. I don't want Potter's influence to take over."

"Potter is a smart boy." the man said. "In his own ways maybe but he is smart. I can see how broken he was all these years."

"I know the hurt and pain he has and is enduring."

"I only fear that the judgment will be tainted because of his influence."

"I assure you that I am not influenced nor intimidate by the boy."

Draco knew he was telling the truth.

"But the jury and the rest of the Wizengamot is not you."

"They are not." he agreed with Draco. "And that is why I tell you that winning this case for your godfather is a futile attempt."

Draco only nodded at him.

The old man saw him contemplate for a moment before looking back up at him.

"Tell me Draco." the old man said. "Regardless of our situation and your relationship with me and the accused. Do you think he is guilty?" he asked him. "Or do you think he is innocent and has been a victim of fate?"

Draco stared back at him not knowing what to answer.

In truth, he had to think about his answer.

He was going to disregard certain relationships.

He was going to base his answer on the court's turnout of events and Hermione's case.

Given these facts, he had to let go of the fact that Harry was turning demented and that Hermione had told him secrets unknown to the trials.

It wasn't an easy thought to think about and answer to give away.

"He's not innocent." Draco said after a while. "But I can assure you that he had good intentions at the beginning."

"At the beginning." the old man repeated thoughtfully. "But the court cannot give judgment alone on that. We have to think through the whole ten years that has been."

"If he has to go to Azkaban.." Draco began slowly. "If you think he has to go.. can he be given a lower sentence?" he asked.

The old man looked up at him with uncertainly in his eyes as though he didn't really expect him asking him this.

"If you can present me an evidence that will balance his situation, perhaps he may be given that slightest bit of leniency."

"Years?" Draco asked hopefully.

"A lifetime of imprisonment Draco is the best leniency I can provide your godfather."

Draco's face turned slightly pale.

Was that enough leniency for him?

Was him living for the rest of his life within the walls of that godforsaken prison enough to balance the deeds for which he was guilty of and those that he wasn't?

"What do you need?"

"If you can find any sort of evidence at all that will support the idea that he has been trying to protect her too and that things might have changed in accordance to their circumstance, then perhaps – perhaps – it can put a little light that he hasn't taken her in the first place to abuse her but to protect her."

"Judgment will be given soon, Draco."

A gleam appeared in the old man's eyes.

"Trust what I ask of you first before you complain or worry." the old man said. "Think straight. Do not let fear consume you. You need to focus, Draco."

Draco nodded breathing heavily as he tried to calm himself down and try to work his mind around it.

"I have about 36 hours." Draco said.

"You have more than enough time that you need Draco."

"What do I do?" he asked almost desperately. "What do I do, uncle?"

The old man stared at him as if thinking if he was going to give him all the answers he was thinking of.

"It's not up for you to decide, Draco." the old man said. "Their fate is not entirely up to you."

"What?" Draco asked completely perplexed at his answer. "What are you saying?"

The old man sighed heavily and stared at him.

He lowered both his hands over the table and created imaginary map over it.

"I know you've been working hard." he told him. "And I know you've been doing your best to keep him out of prison but all evidences show otherwise. His history as a Death Eater is not helping the jury's opinion on all of this and Miss Granger's testimonies are as weak and fragile as I see them."

"Then what do I do?" Draco asked him. "How do I help them?"

The old man saw the desperation in Draco's face.

"I repeat, their fate is no longer in your hands."

But before Draco could even say anything a knock at the door came.

The two of them looked up and the assistant of the old man smiled at the both of them.

"I'm sorry to interrupt." the woman with beautiful black curls smiled at them.

"It's alright, Vivian. What is it?" he asked although the old man seemed to know the answer already as he slowly stood up.

"Your next court session is about to begin, sir." Vivian answered turning to him and giving Draco a small nod.

Draco nodded at the gesture and he also stood up and collected his cloak and small briefcase.

He watched as his uncle took the cloak from his assistant and asked her to tell them he was to follow in a while.

The assistant nodded and left the two of them.

Draco moved across the room and helped his uncle with his robe and cloak.

He gently tied the tie around his uncle's cloak to secure his Ministry uniform.

"Looking sharp and handsome." Draco said with a smile.

The old man nodded at him as he collected a few parchments from his desk and led Draco to the door.

"Well Draco, you have to dress the part." he chuckled at Draco. "The head of the Wizengamot cannot exactly look like some trash, could he?"

They both narrowed their eyes and made a smirk.

Draco missed the old man so much.

His father never really wanted him to spend time with the old man.

He was the one who suggested, submitted his name and helped him get and finish his studies at Germany.

He was the man who guided and gave Draco the chance to begin a new life.

Draco opened the door for the man who was straightening his Wizengamot head uniform.

As he closed the door behind them, a sudden thought came to him.

"I think I know how to help them." Draco said heading a few steps from him. "But I would need your help."

The old man looked up at him as if he already knew what he was going to ask.

He knew it.

The boy was as smart as Narcissa Black.

He was a Black and not a Malfoy.

"Anything my dear boy." the old man said. "What is it you need?"

Draco stared and hesitated for a moment as if still unsure of his request.

He couldn't quite put his words together and say it out loud.

The old man chuckled at the sight of his struggling face.

The old man smiled at him and prodded him over the shoulder.

"Tomorrow, I will see you." the old man offered as he led them down the hallway.

"Tomorrow?" Draco repeated slightly confused.

The old man nodded and gave him a serious look.

"The 48 hours ends tomorrow, Draco." he said.

"Yes, that's why I need it to happen now." Draco hurriedly said.

Draco caught up to him like a child.

They stood still at the quiet and darkened corridor at the last hallway before the lift that led to the trial court room.

Draco opened his mouth to say something but the old man pulled something from the depths of his robes.

It was a peculiar looking key.

He held it out for Draco.

Draco stared at its intricate and ancient design that gave it a peculiar look.

The size and the metal use for it was quite different from the normal keys.

"Uncle-"

"You have enough time, Draco." he told him. "Use it well."

"But how do I-" Draco asked unable to comprehend how fast the situation was occurring before him.

"If we cannot save him Draco, atleast let us give him some of the light that has kept him human."

Draco sighed heavily and weighted the situation at hand.

"How do I do this?" Draco asked.

" _How did you do it the last time_?" he asked back.

Draco looked slightly surprised.

"I know everything that happens in the Ministry, Draco." he told him with a short smile. "I, after all, am the head of the Wizengamot."

And with that, he waved him a gentle goodbye before heading down the corridor that would lead to the double doors that was the entry way of the judge – the only man that will provide Snape his freedom or doom within the short span of time they have.


	39. Chapter 39

_**Author's Notes:**_

 _ **WARNING QUITE A LONG CHAPTER. YES. VERY LONG. TOOK ABOUT 30 SOMETHING PAGES ON MY WORD FILE.**_

 _ **very long. be patient.**_

 _ **I've chosen the title as you would notice that's the sort of 'theme' of the chapter. hmm. questions are very much welcome. no violent reactions but you may react and write as loooooooong reviews as you want.**_

 _ **few chapters left.**_

 _ **Chapter Thirty Nine**_

 ** _Choices_**

 _"_ _Is everything alright, professor?" asked a small voice._

 _Snape's thoughts were thrown away at the sound of the voice._

 _His whole being became alert after a moment of silence._

 _He turned and quickly found Hermione standing a few feet from where he was._

 _"_ _Miss Granger?" he asked sharply turning to her. "What are you doing here?"_

 _"_ _I was getting some fresh air, professor." Hermione earnestly replied._

 _Snape didn't seem to quickly register what she had said._

 _He was looking as if he was still lost in his own thoughts._

 _"_ _Professor, are you-"_

 _"_ _I'm fine." Snape snapped at her as he straightened up._

 _He walked closer to her and stared down at her with utmost irritation all over his face._

 _Was there no privacy in the castle?_

 _Hermione slightly cowered at his taller and lean form staring down at her._

 _"_ _Are you aware of the curfew hours?" he asked her suddenly._

 _"_ _I still have ten minutes." Hermione replied with a straight face. "I was heading back downstairs when I thought I saw you.."_

 _Snape opened his mouth to say something but realized that there was nothing to say to that._

 _"_ _Are you following me?" he asked suspiciously._

 _Hermione's eyes narrowed._

 _She looked offended at his accusation._

 _"_ _No." Hermione said irritably._

 _Snape's eyes narrowed further._

 _"_ _I mean, no sir." Hermione quickly said. "I'm sorry. I've got here at the North Tower earlier on."_

 _Snape stared at her and noticed how she was trying to control her tone to show respect._

 _Snape raised his eyebrow at her._

 _"_ _You got here first?"_

 _"_ _Yes." Hermione said. "I've missed dinner and been here since then."_

 _"_ _Pray tell why you've missed dinner." Snape said crossing his arms._

 _In truth, he had missed dinner as well._

 _What with all the stress he had and the additional one that Draco was causing him._

 _Hermione opened her mouth to say something and realized it was a ridiculous answer._

 _"_ _Well?" he asked waiting impatiently. "Are you lying to me?"_

 _"_ _I'm not lying to you." Hermione indignantly said. "I've never done that to you."_

 _Snape stared down at her._

 _He wasn't sure why but there was something interesting in her tone._

 _"_ _So why are you here?" he asked again._

 _"_ _I've missed dinner because.." Hermione said looking away. "Because Harry and I fought."_

 _Snape controlled his expression._

 _His lips pursed at her words._

 _"_ _You fought with Potter?" he repeated slowly. "Why does he control meals at the-"_

 _"_ _We've fought because he's been acting stupid lately." Hermione blandly said._

 _Snape stared down at her with a confused look._

 _He never wanted to deal with teenage dramas._

 _The drama surrounding his life and the lives of those he had to save were more than enough for him._

 _And yet, it interested him somehow to know what she and that wretched boy had fought about._

 _"_ _And why would you two fight?" he asked curiously._

 _Hermione looked away from him again._

 _"_ _Ah." Snape sighed. "Let me guess.. lover's quarrel."_

 _Hermione's face turned red._

 _There was some truth in that._

 _"_ _No." Hermione said. "He just makes bad choices lately."_

 _Snape folded his arms and continued to stare at her._

 _So the rumors were true._

 _Potter-Granger were indeed a serious and true item._

 _Hermione didn't know what to tell him._

 _They did fight but she didn't want to tell him or anyone that the reason was because of that stupid book that Harry could barely put down._

 _She was getting worried about it._

 _She was not jealous of it._

 _Harry may have been getting ace-scores over his practical exams and a couple of assignments or potions to turn over but Hermione felt something was really wrong with the book he was using._

 _She was patiently waiting for it – not Harry – to mess up somehow and she was more than willing and ready to turn it over to the professors._

 _Today, Harry won a potion called 'Felix Felicis' from their activity at Potions class._

 _No, she wasn't jealous that Harry had won._

 _She was angry that he cheated his way to win it out._

 _She could almost sympathize with Draco that afternoon as they both watched in awe and surprise as Harry brewed the perfect potion and has earned the most-coveted Liquid Luck._

 _"_ _Well whatever it is, Miss Granger, you're not going to win it."_

 _"_ _I'm sorry?" Hermione said looking back at him. "What did you-"_

 _"_ _Potter." Snape said clearing his throat. "Whatever you two fought about, Potter is unlikely to give up on the subject. "_

 _Hermione snorted knowing he was right._

 _Harry would never in a million years give up that book he kept._

 _She had got to find out who owned that freaking book and who wrote all those perfect guides and corrections into making fine-potions._

 _Hermione looked up at Snape and opened her mouth to ask him._

 _"_ _Yes?" Snape asked her quietly._

 _Hermione didn't know why, but she somehow felt it wasn't right to ask him._

 _She closed her mouth shut and turned pale._

 _She wasn't supposed to talk to anyone about the book no matter if she and Harry fought about the said book._

 _Harry might get into a deep trouble and these were the times when he couldn't afford that anymore in his life._

 _"_ _Nothing." Hermione said. "Sorry professor, I have to go. Five minutes to curfew."_

 _Snape didn't say anything and only watched as she collected her small bag from the floor and a couple of books with her._

 _"_ _The North Tower is good when thinking." Hermione said with a smile as she slung her bag around her shoulder._

 _Snape only nodded at her._

 _He had always been doing that in his Hogwarts days._

 _Only years ago, he had a bestfriend who did it with him and at his final years, he did it by himself._

 _He has never found anyone else who thought like himself – that it was a good place to think if one wanted solace._

 _"_ _Professor, can I go to you?" Hermione suddenly asked him._

 _Snape blinked and he quickly looked back up at her._

 _He hoped that she didn't notice that his eyes had been keeping a close watch around those long legs as she bent down for her bag and books._

 _"_ _What?" he asked furious with himself for the way he acted and how she might have caught it._

 _Hermione didn't seem to notice anyway._

 _"_ _If I have a question about Potions. Can I go to you?"_

 _"_ _To me?" Snape asked but not unkindly. "You already have your new Potions-"_

 _"_ _Yeah. But he's a little.." Hermione paused not really knowing how to continue. "A little over-"_

 _"_ _The library is at your disposal, Miss Granger." Snape said as he straightened up and walked ahead of her._

 _"_ _Yes. But it's different when it comes from you." Hermione said and it made him stop._

 _He didn't say anything and Hermione felt it was alright to continue._

 _"_ _It's different when it comes from you." Hermione repeated quickly pacing after him._

 _She reached him but didn't know anymore what to say as she stared at his back._

 _Snape waited._

 _"_ _It's something special when it comes from you." Hermione said. "It's weird and all but - when the answer, the knowledge comes from you – it's quite different."_

 _He didn't turn back towards her but he didn't take another step forward either._

 _"_ _Please?" Hermione's small voice came. "Even if not always but from time to time?" she hopefully asked him._

 _Snape sighed heavily._

 _The girl was relentless and merciless when it came down to gaining knowledge._

 _"_ _If you cannot find answer at the library, perhaps I will." Snape simply said without turning back._

 _"_ _Thank you." Hermione gratefully said after a while. "It will be really nice, professor."_

 _"_ _Only if you have not found answers, Miss Granger." Snape said as he stalked away. "But these days, I can tell that Potter seems to have all answers you may want."_

 _Hermione opened her mouth to say something but Snape already stalked away from her without turning back._

 _And in truth, as Snape turned a corner, he could almost swear that he heard her mutter something like 'if that stupid 'prince' no longer have the answers for Harry is more like it' as he drew away from her - leaving her alone in the hallway that led at the Northern Tower._

Lupin was finishing the coffee he was about to serve to the others at the Weasleys' place when he heard someone arrive.

He heard talking in the living room of the Weasleys but before he could check who it was Molly had quickly gone to the living room.

She looked both perplexed and worried at the same time.

"What's wrong?" Lupin asked him.

"Harry." Molly answered with an uncertain tone "Remus I'm not sure if he's aware you're here-"

"It's alright. I'll talk to him and leave if he's not comfortable at my presence here."

Molly nodded and followed Lupin back at the living room where the commotion was.

Lupin had not seen Harry face to face since the last trial for which he had been drawn out as the sudden witness to take the stand.

He wasn't sure what Harry's reaction would be then but right now, he had to deal with it.

He was sure that he wasn't pleased but he was ready to face the boy's hatred.

"Harry. Can we talk?" he quickly said as he entered the living room.

His eyes then widened in surprise.

Everyone in the room had a mix-matched of emotions.

Some looked excited and some uncertain.

Harry was at the midst of the room with a very large box open for them.

Invitations were being opened by the Weasleys and he was drawing out a couple of suits and dresses from the other large box.

"What's going on here?" Lupin asked as he watched an excited Ginny put over a beautiful and intricately designed dress over her.

"Wedding dresses and suits for the entourage people." Harry replied as he gently drew out a formal looking suit.

Harry smiled at him and stood from his position in the living room.

Lupin eyed Molly momentarily as Harry reached him with a smile.

He stared at him as if nothing happened in their last meeting at the trial.

He had been so sure that Harry was extremely furious with his honest answers before the Wizengamot.

"I'm glad you're here." Harry said.

"Harry, listen-"

Harry smiled and Lupin stared as he handed over the formal suit.

He looked up at the boy with question in his eyes as took it from him.

"For my best man." Harry said with a glimmer of excitement over his face.

He was genuinely staring at him as he extended his hand with the suit.

Confused as he was, Lupin took the suit from him and gave a short smile.

He looked around him.

Bill was wearing his own as Fleur helped him out with the ribbon.

He smiled and looked at them but Fleur seemed displeased.

There was something in Fleur's facial expression that Lupin seemed to sense was quite different.

Looking at Ginny, it wasn't there.

It was only written over her and Molly's face.

"Gin, this is for your dad." Harry said handing a small box towards Ginny. "Just check his size later when he gets home from work and let me know if changes should be made."

"Sure thing, Harry." Ginny excitedly replied as she took the box and settled it aside.

Lupin looked around at the open invitation around the room.

Freshly made and magically designed.

 _"_ _Potter-Granger Nuptials"_

Harry chose the colours of vibrant red and gold for their wedding theme.

Gryffindor colours.

Or rather, the color of victory.

"Are you not going to check the size?" Harry's voice came up at Lupin's ear.

Lupin opened his mouth to say something when Molly re-entered the room carrying the tray of coffee that he had been planning to give everyone in the room.

"I think your guess on my size would be fine." Lupin said with a smile as he placed his suit atop a dressed in the room to ensure its safety from any possible mess around the room.

"Alright then." Harry said looking away from him.

He watched as he returned to the invitations and counted them over.

Lupin saw that he pulled out a notebook over and checked and crossed several things over.

"Harry, you've fixed the documents you needed for marriage?" Lupin curiously asked hearing from Arthur a few days ago that Harry was going to have a slightly hard time since Hermione was Muggle-Born and her records needed double checking and all sorts of arrangements that usually took time.

"Yeah." Harry mindlessly answered as he continue to tinker with the things around them.

Lupin's eyes narrowed.

It usually took about a few months for that and if Harry was already handing invitations and suits then it was either it wasn't fixed and he was bluffing or some miraculous task has been done to accomplish it.

"It usually takes time." Lupin gently reminded him. "About four months to-"

"I'm Harry Potter." Harry said looking sharply up at him. "I can have anything I want in no time."

Lupin stared at him and the glint in his eyes was visible for a moment.

It vanished as he blinked and looked away from Lupin.

Lupin sighed and stared around the room.

Fleur was the only one listening to their conversation and staring back at Lupin with that look in her eyes.

"Do you need help?" Lupin slowly asked as he sat down next to Bill who stood next to the sofa and was checking his reflection at the mirror.

"Help?" Harry asked looking up at him from across the room.

Lupin nodded at him with a small and hopeful smile.

"From you?" Harry asked slowly with that glint in his eyes again.

"Yes, Harry." Lupin answered with confidence. "I haven't got much to do. I can run certain errands for you or reservation or-"

"No, thank you." Harry said as he turned back to a box with some intricate pins and ribbons and hair accessories from which Ginny asked for.

"But I could perhaps be of good help to some choice you need to make-"

"No." Harry insistently said. "I need people who could make the right and good choices and at the moment _professor,_ that's not you."

Lupin only nodded and gave a smile.

There was something in the gleam in his eyes that he had before turning away from him and completely ignoring him that alarmed Lupin even more.

Harry was nowhere well-conditioned.

He was preparing for a wedding that wasn't going to take place and with a very unwilling bride.

He knew that he meant something else with the ' _No, thank you'_ remark that he had replied him with.

He knew that Harry was _never_ going to ever ask him any help anymore.

He tried not to have anyone notice his uncomfortable feeling he was having and it seemed to him that only Molly and Fleur felt that something really wasn't right at that very moment.

 _"_ _That's cheating." Hermione giggled as Snape nipped her neck and then opened his mouth as she playfully placed a small piece of grape in his mouth that she has dipped from a cup of chocolate._

 _They were at the middle of the bed, both stark naked and facing one another._

 _Snape's legs were on either side of her waist while hers were at the same side on Snape's part._

 _A bowl of grapes and chocolate syrup lay by their side and a small thickly folded parchment that was already stained with chocolate was in Hermione's hands._

 _They have been playing a small quiz on certain 'subject facts' for which Hermione had drawn up to do when they had nothing to do at the cottage._

 _Apparently, Snape thought of making the game little less boring by counting off their points._

 _Winner gets to be fed the fruit and be given something else in return by the loser._

 _By this time, he had already taken half the grapes from the bowl and had been able to place his mouth in certain areas of Hermione's body as the 'something for her to give up to the winner' part of the game._

 _Amidst it all, Snape had taken out a large bottle of wine for their pleasure and for which Hermione had been enjoying the entire afternoon._

 _"_ _I haven't been cheating." Snape replied as he took another kiss over her neckline and left a small mark._

 _Hermione groaned in pain and pushed his face off from her._

 _"_ _The game says to kiss."_

 _"_ _No." Snape said. "The game says to take something from the loser. It did not say to merely kiss."_

 _Hermione rolled her eyes at him and then flipped another part of the parchment to ask another question._

 _"_ _It's my turn to ask." Snape said taking the parchment from her._

 _"_ _Fine." Hermione said handing it to him. "Whatever."_

 _Snape chuckled and as he read through possible questions for her to answer his free hand ran up and down along her shoulder and down the side of her thighs._

 _He was reading through, teasing her with the possible questions but Hermione was silent._

 _He gently moved his eyes from the parchment and stare opposite him._

 _She was nibbling one of the grapes and was staring down at the bowl._

 _"_ _Are you alright?" he asked her with a gentle smile._

 _He looked at her eyes to see how drank she was._

 _No, she wasn't that drunk to be feeling that way._

 _She shook her head._

 _"_ _I'm fine." Hermione said as she turned back at him. "What's the question?" she asked._

 _Snape stared at her._

 _Something was wrong._

 _"_ _What's wrong?" he asked her moving forward her._

 _"_ _Nothing." Hermione answered irritably. "Just ask away."_

 _He stared at her and gently smiled._

 _He placed down the parchment and took a grape from the bowl._

 _He dipped it on the chocolate area and teased it over her mouth._

 _"_ _Eat it." Snape gently commanded her._

 _Hermione shook her head._

 _"_ _I lost in the game. Just ask another question so I can earn something or you'll earn something."_

 _Snape couldn't help but notice the annoyance in her tone._

 _Did he do something?_

 _"_ _Sweetheart." Snape whispered placing the chocolate filled grape across her closed lips._

 _She tightened her lips._

 _He glared at her._

 _"_ _Are you serious?" he asked her disbelievingly._

 _Hermione sighed heavily._

 _Snape placed the grape over her lips and let the chocolate smother there._

 _"_ _Please?" he asked her._

 _But Hermione refused to open her mouth._

 _Snape stared and then without warning, her threw the grape aside and placed his hands on either side of her cheeks._

 _He locked her in place and licked her closed mouth._

 _Hermione remained unmoving._

 _She remained defiant._

 _He licked the chocolate off her lips and licked again._

 _And again._

 _Hermione still refused to open her mouth._

 _"_ _What do you want?" he asked her._

 _Hermione opened her mouth to answer but Snape grabbed the chance._

 _He took her mouth to his and forced his mouth into her._

 _He forced his tongue inside her mouth and Hermione moved against him in defense._

 _A clank._

 _The bowl of grapes toppled over their bed._

 _Snape pushed her back over the bed and had begun kissing her hungry._

 _But he seemed to be the only one amused by their little game now._

 _Another clank._

 _The empty glasses of wine rolled over from the bed and down their carpeted floor._

 _"_ _Let go off me." Hermione irritably said pushing him off her._

 _Snape was in the middle of reaching out and kissing her again when Hermione pushed him roughly off her._

 _Snape looked up at her breathless form._

 _Her hair was all over her face and she looked like she had just did very bad on a quiz._

 _Was she irritated because she was losing the game?_

 _"_ _Hermione-" Snape gently said reaching for her arm and kissing it._

 _Hermione pulled her arm away from him and backed away from the bed._

 _"_ _I'm tired." Hermione muttered grabbing the fallen blanket on the floor and securely wrapping it around herself._

 _Snape stared at her with question in his eyes._

 _"_ _Did I say something wrong?" he asked her worriedly._

 _"_ _No." Hermione snapped picking up the fallen glasses and bowl and placing them over the side of the room._

 _Snape watched her and quickly followed her around the room._

 _Hermione stared at her reflection by their dresser and she began combing her hair._

 _Soon enough, Snape swept behind her and placed his hands on either side of her._

 _He slipped on hand inside the blanket groping her behind while the other hand tried to get through the blanket._

 _"_ _Tell me what I've done." Snape whispered kissing her shoulder blades. "Sweetheart, please."_

 _"_ _I'm said, I'm fucking fine." Hermione snapped at him as she threw the comb back over the desk and stared at him._

 _Snape's eyes glowered._

 _He grabbed her by the arm and made her face him._

 _"_ _I am tired." Hermione spat at him. "Can't I get tired?"_

 _"_ _You were bloody fine a while ago." Snape reasoned. "What could possibly tire you out?"_

 _"_ _Can't I get tired?" she said loudly. "Is that also not allowed now?"_

 _"_ _Hermione-"_

 _"_ _Well, you try doing the same fucking thing every day and then you'd see how it suddenly feels all tiring."_

 _Snape blinked and stared._

 _Where the hell did that come from?_

 _They were just having a good time, a great time even._

 _"_ _What's wrong?" he asked and this time it was a demand._

 _All sense of romance had vanished from the both of them._

 _"_ _Nothing." Hermione said avoiding his gaze._

 _Snape stare at her, wondering with all his might what could be wrong._

 _Ofcourse there was a thousand of reasons that could be wrong and she could be angry about him._

 _But they were just playing a game._

 _She was losing the game but it wasn't like she's never lost to him before._

 _She usually won and he was just having his luck this time._

 _She enjoyed the bowl of grapes and chocolates that she specifically requested earlier to have as a snack._

 _She was even the one who suggested to play the game that afternoon._

 _He collected her with a yes and a wine and brought her to the room to play the game with her._

 _She was even game to the new sexual rules of the game that were applied._

 _So what could be wrong at that moment?_

 _His black eyes searched her and wondered what made her feel that way and how he could cheer her up._

 _He was running out of ideas lately._

 _Three years would have anyone running out of ideas._

 _Until it hit him._

 _"_ _You're bored." Snape clearly noted at her. "You're bored, aren't you?" he asked her._

 _Hermione bit her lower lip and looked away._

 _It were enough gestures as confirmation for Snape._

 _It worried Snape._

 _"_ _Let go off me." Hermione said moving his hand away from the blanket._

 _"_ _Hermione-"_

 _"_ _I'll make us dinner." Hermione said as she moved across the room and picked up her fallen clothes from the floor._

 _"_ _I'll help you out-"_

 _"_ _No." Hermione said grabbing her clothes and walking to the bathroom. "I'll do it. It's fine."_

 _"_ _Hermione." Snape quickly followed and grabbed her wrists to him. "I know you're bored. What do you want me to do?"_

 _"_ _Nothing." Hermione tugged her arm back from him._

 _"_ _Sweetheart."_

 _"_ _Don't call me that!" she breathed out angrily._

 _Snape's eyes flashed and she seemed to have realized what she'd done._

 _"_ _I asked you what you want." Snape repeated at her. "Hermione, please."_

 _"_ _Really?" Hermione asked with glint in her eyes. "You want to ask me that?"_

 _"_ _Hermione-"_

 _"_ _You couldn't give me what I want even if I tell you." Hermione lashed at him._

 _"_ _I'm worried about-"_

 _"_ _You wouldn't even know what I'd want pro-" she bit her lip back. "I'm going in."_

 _Hermione tugged her hand back again._

 _Snape stared and didn't know what to say._

 _They were not going to cross the boundary of those issues again._

 _"_ _I just want to know what you would like." Snape said almost pleadingly. "Hermione, we were having a good time-"_

 _"_ _Yeah." Hermione snapped. "Yeah, we were. But.. it's not.." she sighed heavily. "It's not always like that."_

 _"_ _What do you mean?" Snape asked irritated at her answer._

 _Ofcourse he knew what she meant._

 _She was talking about their age gap and how he would never understand her and her wants._

 _She was just too sensitive and nice enough not to directly address it to him._

 _"_ _Hermione, tell me what you want." he insisted._

 _Hermione lost her patience._

 _She rolled her eyes and turned to him._

 _"_ _You really want to ask me that?" she angrily said. "You really want to ask that and what? Will you give it to me?"_

 _Snape didn't answer her._

 _He opened his mouth but no words came out._

 _He tried to reclaim himself but Hermione gave him an insulting smile._

 _"_ _Ofcourse you wouldn't answer nor give me that." Hermione muttered._

 _"_ _I would give it if it's reasonable."_

 _"_ _What's reasonable for you?" Hermione lashed at him. "It's never reasonable or whatever you want to call it. It's always your choice on everything so don't give me that offer like I have a choice on anything around here."_

 _She withdrew her hand from his frozen form and pushed herself inside the bathroom._

 _And before Snape could do anything, she closed the door right at his face._

 _Despite that she no longer locked the door since she wasn't really allowed to do that, he knew she was dressing up._

 _Her silence wasn't the one that worried and bothered him._

 _It was her attitude._

 _She was getting bored._

 _She was bored again._

 _He'd noticed it several times already and he had unconsciously ignored that fact._

 _Ofcourse she was bound to get bored around him._

 _She may be intellectual and mature for her age and definitely one that was fond in knowledge and books as himself – but she was still a child._

 _Not a real child per se, but she was still younger than him._

 _Her likes, dislikes and interests were completely different from him._

 _Their age difference didn't help either to give him ideas on what could possibly cheer-up her adolescent or coming of age self._

 _He knew that it was a possibility for her to feel this way towards him and he ignored that fact._

 _He thought that books alone would be enough to entertain her._

 _Or rather, he alone was enough to provide her with certain needs she's come to need at her coming of age._

 _It deeply worried him._

 _How would she take her back and her attention and find ways to give her all of her needs at the cottage?_

 _She was already showing signs of these boredom and he neglected its presence._

 _It was a terrible thought._

 _Bored people tend to do terrible things in their time if not saved from._

 _Bored people could think of terrible thoughts and ideas._

 _She was a danger to him and to herself if these boredom of hers becomes out of control and she tends to certain ways of coping through it._

 _He knew it was coming._

 _He knew that she was going to get bored with him and in the cottage sooner or later._

 _It frustrated him to think that they were just in their third year and she was at the tip of her patience already._

 _There were four more years to go._

 _Four long years he had to deal with her and everything else that he needed to._

 _It was as if fate really wanted him to suffer for the rest of his life._

"This is all my fault." Lupin said. "This is all my fault. I've chosen _not_ to follow my instinct that something could be wrong with Harry."

"He's not fine." Bill said as he stared around the empty living room. "He's fucking not fine."

"And what do you suggest we do about it?" Charlie asked as he entered the room.

The weeks of working abroad, he had come home a week or two ago when Fleur begged Bill that the family might need him.

That Harry might be needing an older brother at hand.

Bill had taken hint from Fleur and had asked if Harry could accompany them back to the dress shop at Diagon Alley to make certain arrangements for Fleur and Ginny's dress.

Ofcourse Harry wouldn't say no to anything that will add perfection for his wedding day.

"So he thinks this could be pushed through?" Charlie asked them staring over at the suit for him that Harry had bought to be made for him at last minute.

"This is ridiculous." Bill said. "It's completely insane."

Molly stared at his sons and back at Lupin who was speechless.

He deeply blamed himself for what has happened to Harry.

"I noticed things but I ignored it." Lupin sighed heavily burying his face in his hands. "What good use am I to Harry?"

"I think you shouldn't blame yourself." Bill said as he crossed the room and filled a glass with soda from the small gathering earlier.

He drained the glass and filled a new one and handed it over to Lupin.

"It's all my fault." Lupin said. "Bloody stupid."

"No." Bill said. "It's all ours. All of us. Don't take it all on your shoulder, mate."

"He's right." Charlie said sitting next to him. "We should have noticed it."

"He is family." Molly gently said as she tried to keep tears from her eyes. "He's family and we always watched over him and this time.. we failed. We've neglected him."

"Mum, what time is dad coming home?" Bill suddenly asked.

"I sent him a note that it's an emergency and he should come home." Molly said. "But I sent him a Patronus to keep it from anyone and most especially from Harry incase the note gets intercepted in any way."

"And Hermione?" Bill asked turning to Lupin.

"Draco sent me a Patronus." Lupin replied and most of them seemed surprised at his answer. "She's safe with him."

"When's the next trial?"

"Less than some hours." Lupin replied with hopelessness in his voice. "Hermione would definitely be present."

"Is there a way we can talk to that Malfoy?" Bill asked Lupin.

He shook his head.

He wasn't sure.

He didn't have a plan at hand.

All he knew was that they could be too late to save Harry and to save an unwilling bride and most of all, to save a man that could have been innocent.

No, he wasn't innocent.

He already concluded that.

But he was a hero at the beginning – _even just at the beginning._

And that still deserved the slightest bit of credit.

"I'm not sure what we can do." Lupin said looking up at them.

"Yeah." Bill said as he grabbed his black jacket from the couch. "But we can neither sit around here."

"Where are you going?" Molly asked seeing his slightly pissed features.

"Try to save a would-be bride and a would-be-mental patient." Bill replied as he walked out of the living room.

They all stared at one another.

"Call Draco." Charlie suggested as he too grabbed his cloak from the well where he hung it over. "I think we need to set aside this whole Pureblood-traitor bullshit and save whom we can save."

Lupin nodded at the next Weasley brother.

He was left with Molly in the room who looked down at him with such worry over her face.

"Did I fail?" he asked worriedly. "Did I fail James, Molly?"

"No." Molly answered him. "You only wanted what seemed and felt best for Harry at the time. We neglected him thinking he was getting happier by the days. We became happy and content for him when Hermione returned. We failed to see things as they were. But you didn't fail. You acted as to what instincts told you."

"James would not want Harry to turn out this way."

"But James would neither want to see you feeling this way."

"But what do we do, Molly?" he asked her with worry over his face. "What do I do?"

"What we always do." Molly answered.

She smiled at him.

"We become a family." Molly said. " _We become a family and try to take and save everyone and anyone we can still reach."_

 _"_ _We try to take and save everyone and anyone we can still reach."_

 _That thought haunted him down up to the last day of the seven years._

 _It was a thought that was also going to haunt him for the rest of the remaining days of his life._

 _The seven years was over._

 _Hermione Granger was free of the Urduja Curse._

 _He was free of a responsibility that was shoved right up at him._

 _She was free to go back to her friends and family._

 _He was free to go back to a few days of solace._

 _And then he was going to go to the Ministry of Magic and surrender himself._

 _This was the end point of his plans._

 _He was able to protect her fully all these years from harming anyone else and from harming herself._

 _He had successfully bounded and extinguished the curse inside of her._

 _She was finally free._

 _And despite of all those years of pain and living and loving one another, it has to come to an end._

 _An end that he had prepared himself all this time._

 _Nothing might make sense of his plans and decisions but one was for sure:_

 _Hermione has to go home._

 _"_ _You don't want me to go home." Hermione's voice suddenly came. "Just tell me that you don't want me to go home."_

 _He looked up and felt her hand over his._

 _She was smiling brightly up at him._

 _He had forgotten how beautiful her genuine smile was._

 _She has never smiled that beautifully in years._

 _He was not likely to forget that smile of hers._

 _She looked happy and healthy and vibrant._

 _She was wearing a short white dress with bright red design of a drawn up rose across the dress._

 _She looked very beautiful._

 _"_ _You have to go home." Snape said kissing her forehead. "You have to go, Hermione."_

 _Hermione's eyes narrowed with sadness._

 _She looked up at him._

 _He felt so distant from her from the past two days._

 _Did he really not want her anymore?_

 _Did he really want her gone and away?_

 _It wasn't like she didn't know this was coming._

 _She knew this day was also going to arrive but she didn't think that he'd be this way._

 _He felt so cold and distant when she thought that they should be savoring their time together._

 _Or so until he settles things down with the Ministry and then they could be together._

 _Hermione tugged his arm back to stop him from walking._

 _"_ _You'll be late for your train." Snape said as he gestured at the large cloak atop of them._

 _They were at the main train station in London._

 _Both dressed well for the occasion._

 _They had enjoyed a last morning view by their cottage and then they travelled by a small boat, by a bus and by magic from a port area where a Portkey may be used._

 _It took them several hours already and Snape felt that time was ticking quite faster than it should be._

 _He had taken her to the local café and let her enjoy her meal despite his tirades that she should eat faster because she was going to be late._

 _In truth, he just wanted to hurry things up so he could finally not see her._

 _So she could not see what he would be feeling right after._

 _"_ _Are you really so fond to get rid of me?" Hermione asked in her pursed lips and mischievous grin._

 _She was smiling but her tone was indifferent._

 _She was hurt and he knows of that feeling._

 _He wasn't going to be weak and pointless at that moment._

 _This was the moment he had been afraid of and yet he knew it would come._

 _This was something he promised her and promised himself._

 _Despite of everything that has taken place at the past seven years at that godforsaken cottage, he would – whatever it takes – bring her back to London and to the others once the seven years was over._

 _Seven cruel years it might have been for the both of them but it has come to an end._

 _Seven years of pleasure and pain for him but it has come to end._

 _Hermione was going back to her family and friends no matter the consequences._

 _Regardless of everything that has taken place and the feelings that were developed there, she was going back as he had promised._

 _"_ _Miss Granger."_

 _"_ _And now you'll call me that?" Hermione asked._

 _Tears were becoming evident at the sides of her eyes._

 _"_ _Hermione." Snape whispered taking hold of her hand. "You need to go back."_

 _"_ _Are you in such hurry to throw me back to them?" Hermione asked him. "Can't you give me a few moments to enjoy my last moments with you?" she asked him._

 _There was still that fire in her eyes._

 _It has never died._

 _It had always been there and he had always admired that._

 _He knew how much the situation had broken them both and how much damage he might have caused her, but she was always a Gryffindor through and through – brave and daring and often times, even reckless._

 _She will always be his Gryffindor girl._

 _"_ _I'm not throwing you away." he quietly said as he gently placed his arms around her and pulled her to him in an embrace._

 _They just stood there by the train station standing quietly with Hermione in his arms._

 _They watched as the people passed them – all of them oblivious to who they were and their situation._

 _Pairs of trains passed by to the next stop after another._

 _Chatters of people arriving and bidding goodbye._

 _Trolleys of snacks and of souvenirs were being pushed around._

 _The grand clock atop the station was ticking and had chimed in the hour._

 _A few minutes and Hermione's train would be arriving._

 _"_ _When will you follow?" she asked him as she slowly moved to face him. "When will you follow me back there?"_

 _"_ _When I've finished what I have to." Snape said. "When I am done, I will follow you at London."_

 _But in truth, he wasn't sure._

 _He wasn't sure how long it would take him to transfer all the rights and properties of the cottage somewhere and to someone else who could keep the transaction a secret._

 _He wasn't sure how long it would take him to find final buyers over his left creations back at the cottage._

 _He needed to find a small space to keep Hermione's books and other left belongings at the cottage for which in time he could send her back at London._

 _He wasn't sure when he'd finish covering all their traces at Beltane and then go at the Ministry to surrender himself as Death Eater who would plea guilty and who would hopefully be given a retribution or small reprieve in accordance to his previous work at Hogwarts and for the Order._

 _He knew he wasn't getting away from his past mistakes but he was willing to face them._

 _He was willing to accept a few or more years at Azkaban before being with Hermione again._

 _He wasn't sure when he was going to follow her back at London._

 _But he was sure that he has to bring her back before he goes back to Beltane and clear everything that should be._

 _He wasn't going to erase what were, he was just going to put things back to where they belong._

 _And he knew that Hermione never belonged to him._

 _"_ _And our plans?" Hermoine hopefully asked. "Should I just wait for your letter or so about me helping out at the Ministry? Should I contact people to let you back at Hogwarts and all-"_

 _"_ _Hermione." Snape quietly said placing his arms on either side of her. "Please. All you need to do is focus on your return to them. Once at main city, you prepare yourself to what is to come. I've placed enough funds on your account on an extended account and identification. It is legit and it will fund your needs. Go to Diagon Alley at the closing time of the shops and ask Ollivander for a wand. You need to be well protected before you face anyone."_

 _Hermione only nodded at him, barely comprehending what he was instructing her._

 _She was part of all these plans but now actually executing them felt so horrible and impossible at the same time._

 _"_ _Are you listening to me?" he asked her seeing he distracted features._

 _"_ _Yes." Hermione said biting her lip in uncertainty. "Yes, I am."_

 _Snape stared at her in doubt._

 _"_ _Hermione, please."_

 _"_ _I'm listening."_

 _He looked reluctant but he continued his instructions._

 _"_ _Remus Lupin is the first you should find." Snape said. "He should be found at the Ministry if not at Hogwarts. One way or another, I'm quite sure you would find him. Once you have your wand, use a Patronus if you must. A letter may be easily intercepted or may fall into the wrong hands by accident. You must be wise in your actions before you return and reveal yourself to them."_

 _"_ _What do I tell professor Lupin?" Hermione asked although she already knew what to as they've already talked and planned all of these ahead of time._

 _"_ _Lupin is a wise man." Snape said. "As much as I hate admitting this to you, he is the only one fair enough to know first what to do. Tell him I will await for his message in form of a Patronus as well."_

 _Hermione nodded at him knowing the enchantment that will lead her Patronus to help Lupin's to find Snape if time should come to that._

 _"_ _And Harry?" Hermione asked. "What do I tell Harry?"_

 _Snape's face turned passive for a moment._

 _He wasn't really ready for that one but he knew it must be faced._

 _"_ _Lupin will know what to do." Snape instructed her. "Let Lupin decide."_

 _Hermione looked up at him with another tearful gaze._

 _An announcement up ahead told them that the train was to arrive in two minutes' time._

 _"_ _Are you ready?" he asked her as he handed over the ticket that she would hand to the train's assistants and guide that will carry some of her belongings._

 _Hermione nodded at him as she clutched the ticket in her hand._

 _Snape gave her a gentle smile – one that was genuinely ever so rare of him._

 _Hermione cried._

 _"_ _Severus!" she gasped placing her arms tightly around him._

 _Snape stood still unable to do or say anything._

 _He was trying to avoid contact with her at all costs if possible._

 _If she does not leave soon, he might not have the courage and strength to let her._

 _"_ _Hermione, everything will be alright. We've waited for this. Did we not?"_

 _"_ _But I thought we'd be out there together again." Hermione cried at him as she tightened her grip around his neck._

 _"_ _We would be." Snape said placing his arms around her. "We would be. But not just at the same time."_

 _"_ _I'm scared of what will happen." Hermione cried at him. "I'm scared of the world out there and what it might.."_

 _"_ _The Dark Lord is gone, Hermione." Snape whispered as she tried to calm him down in his embrace. "And the Urduja Curse is gone. Death Eaters are gone, has fled and are in Azkaban."_

 _"_ _And they will bring you there." Hermione cried. "Please, please. Let me help you. Let me do this for you. Let us do this together."_

 _Snape closed his eyes._

 _He felt hot tears threatening to fall down._

 _"_ _There are things we could do together, Hermione." Snape whispered. "But there are things that we should and must do separately."_

 _"_ _Did you not always tell me the Order's motto?" she asked as she leaned a little away from him so she could face him._

 _"_ _Hermione-"_

 _"_ _Do you not always tell me?" Hermione asked pleadingly. "Do you not always remind me?"_

 _"_ _Hermione, this is different."_

 _"_ _It's not." Hermione said in tears. "Do you not remember, Severus?"_

 _Snape didn't say anything._

 _Hermione placed her hands on either side of his pale face._

 _"_ _Severus, we become a family and try to take and save everyone and anyone we can still reach. Is that not right?" she asked him. "Did the Order not teach us that? You've never left me… you promised never to leave me. I can't leave you."_

 _"_ _You can." Snape said. "You can and you will. You must go. Please." Snape slowly took hold of both her wrists and lowered her hands from his face._

 _Hermione looked so confused and hurt at the same time._

 _They could hear the train finally arriving as people walked passed towards the gateway that will lead to the train's door._

 _"_ _Severus."_

 _"_ _I promise I will see you again." Snape whispered avoiding her gaze. "I promise you that. But things has to go back in order first."_

 _He gently took her hands and kissed them gently._

 _He pulled her to him and kissed her forehead and embraced her tightly._

 _"_ _Go, Hermione." Snape whispered. "You must go now."_

 _Hermione opened her mouth but no words came out._

 _Only tears came falling down from her face as Snape securely placed her hand-carry bag around herself and secured her cloak in place and pulled over her hood so that nobody could easily recognize her._

 _The train had finally arrived and people started lining up to get into it._

 _The guards and guides were already calling out and announcing the passengers to line up for ticket check and entry._

 _Snape pressed her hands into his and gave her a final embrace._

 _"_ _I promise I will come back for you." Hermione cried tightly grasping him. "I promise you we'd be happy."_

 _"_ _Go." Snape said as he gently guided her near the front of the line. "Go, Hermione. Please."_

 _"_ _No – I – Severus-" Hermione cried in gentle protest as he moved and pulled her towards the line._

 _"_ _I promise, I will follow. But right now you must go." Snape insisted as he secured her in a line._

 _The guards had then placed the long rope that secured the passengers and separated them from their relatives or friends that bid them goodbye from the station._

 _Hermione held her bag mindlessly around her and clutched the ticket in her hand._

 _She still had her face turned back at Snape's direction._

 _She felt so far away from him already when the only barricade between them was the metal and the ropes._

 _He was standing there and waiting for her to board the train and for the train to leave._

 _He stood tall in his cloak and black traveling attire with his long hands inside the pocket of his cloak._

 _Hermione had suddenly realized how beautiful and tragic he looked at the same time._

 _Age seemed to finally caught up with the professor she fell in love with._

 _Tears were streaming down her face as she was pressed against the crowd with the people pushing through to get ahead or line up in the queue he had pushed her through earlier._

 _Her heart was beating faster by the moment she walked forward the train._

 _The seven years has ended before she could really let it sink inside of her._

 _All her suffering were over._

 _Snape's suffering in taking her in and protecting her were also over._

 _She was free._

 _He was also free of everything._

 _They were both free and free of one another._

 _She had never been this far from him and the feeling was reeling her into a whirlwind worse than she has ever imagined._

 _They were going to be separated for the rest of their lives and she knew it._

 _Tears streamed down her face as she walked forward and nearer the guards checking the tickets before boarding the train._

 _There was no going back once she walked forward the guard waiting at the very front of the line._

 _Once she enters the train, there was no going back on that._

 _Suddenly, her memories of Snape and with the man came flashing before her eyes._

 _Could she really leave him?_

 _Could she really leave him behind?_

 _He promised her that he would only settle things and then he would follow her back there at London._

 _He promise her that they would see one another again._

 _But how long would that take?_

 _Days? Weeks? Months? A year?_

 _Seven years?_

 _It was breaking her heart._

 _But looking up ahead of her, flashes and memories of Harry came to her._

 _Memories of her parents she could now revisit once more._

 _Memories of people from Hogwarts, her friends and her professors._

 _She could go back and in a few months' time, she could as well fix her life again and live normally._

 _She was going back to her friends and love ones._

 _No longer will be the days when she knew none about them._

 _She was finally free to know about how they were doing and how things have been._

 _Nobody would be telling her off or that she wasn't allowed to know about the outside world._

 _She even have a small copy of the latest edition of a newspaper tucked inside her hand carry bag that Snape had bought at the station._

 _She as excited to go forward that train and go back to the rest of the world._

 _But the price was leaving Snape and all those seven years behind._

 _Did she really want to go back?_

 _What about Snape and what will become of him?_

 _Were they not happy? Were things not enough for her at the cottage that she really wanted to go back?_

 _What would they say?_

 _What would Harry say?_

 _What would the others and the Orders think of her and what has taken place in the past years?_

 _Did she really have a life to go back to or was the life fate gifted her with was the one she was leaving behind?_

 _She wildly looked around, craning her neck painfully to look for him amongst the crowd that was left at the other side of the rope._

 _She could barely see him and sooner or later she knew that he'd most probably Dispparate without waiting for her to get into the train and leave._

 _She was never going to see him ever again._

 _"_ _Severus, no." Hermione cried in panicked as she was pushed forward the moving line and was pushed farther from where Snape was._

 _"_ _No wait –" Hermione said as she tried to squeeze her way back from the line but the people were getting irritated and annoyed by her that they blocked her way instead and kept pushing the line forward._

 _She looked ahead of her with her heart beating very fast._

 _She was going to leave him and no matter of his words, she felt that she was never going to see him again most especially if he plans to surrender himself to the Ministry after all these years._

 _Panicked rose further inside her._

 _She had not prepare herself for this part of their life._

 _She couldn't find herself far and away from him and she feared the world she was going to return to._

 _Yes, she did longed and prayed for this day to finally arrive and now she was unsure if she wanted to go back._

 _What if there was no more Harry waiting for her and that he has moved on with his life?_

 _What if her parents were unredeemable in certain ways?_

 _She was going to be alone._

 _What if there really was no life to return to anymore?_

 _But Snape said that they were going to be there and that she has a life to return to._

 _Snape said that she had to go back._

 _Snape said there was a life waiting for her at the other side._

 _Did he really not want her anymore?_

 _Hermione's heart palpitated as she felt herself going far and away from safety and was being forced forward into the unknown and into her fears._

 _Only seven people were now ahead of her as the lined shortened as they all took steps forward the train that was blowing off its steam in a deafening sound._

 _Did she really still want this life she was going back to?_

 _Six people._

 _Is there still a life awaiting for her at the other end of the train station?_

 _Five people._

 _Would Harry and the rest of the world out there still love and accept her as she is even if they found out certain things and stories of her seven years?_

 _Four people._

 _Was she still really not happy or content enough to just stay with Snape at the cottage since they were peacefully living there for so long and that he has given her everything?_

 _Three people._

 _Will they ever see one another?_

 _Two people._

 _Did Harry still matter to her more than anything and anyone else in the world?_

 _A last person was in front of her and she held her ticket so tight that she was making creases around it._

 _Did Snape not make her happy and proved to her the kind of sacrificia love she has never really seen nor felt before?_

 _Was Harry going to love her the way Snape had done all these years?_

 _"_ _Miss?" the guard asked, smiling at her and gesturing for her ticket._

 _Hermione blinked and stared at the guard that was asking for her ticket that she was halfway of handing over._

 _The line behind her were making a slight fuss at her slow pace of handing over the ticket._

 _She stared at the guard who looked back at her with a smile but was confused by her facial expression._

 _"_ _Miss?" the guard repeated. "Please hand over the ticket so you can board and the line may move."_

 _Hermione's heart was beating so fast as the guard gently tugged for the ticket from her._

 _In her confused thoughts, she let go of the ticket and the other guard poked its stick over her bag to check her belongings as procedure._

 _She was greeted and bid goodbye by the guards for a safe trip and she was gently pushed towards the train._

 _Her right foot stepped inside the train's ledge and the other still stuck behind her._

 _She felt that she was stuck somewhere there in the middle, literary unable to move._

 _People ahead of her stared back at her with a confuse glare and the people behind her were already talking and complaining with her annoying way of walking ahead of them._

 _But she couldn't move._

 _It was a life a head of her or the life she has lived behind her._

 _Did she really still want this life she was about to go back to?_

 _Was there a life to even return to?_

 _"_ _I told you I wouldn't answer nor give you that." Hermione sheepishly said throwing the book over his head._

 _Harry grabbed her around the waist and pulled her with him in the large and very soft couch of the Weasleys._

 _It was Christmas week and Mrs. Weasley decided that a special dinner was in order tonight since on the event itself on Christmas, some Order members would not be present in order to remain at their designated positions to protect Harry and ensure he does have a good Christmas as the headmaster's order._

 _The girls had helped Mrs. Weasley cook all the dishes whilst the boys had been busy putting final decorations around the house._

 _The table was magically expanded to accommodate all of the Weasleys and the visitors for the night and the following day and ofcourse the Weasley twins amped up everything by preparing a couple of fireworks for the night._

 _"_ _Oy, you two." Ron breathlessly said as he entered the small living room where the two were._

 _He looked slightly annoyed that the two of them were by the fireplace and enjoying one another's company._

 _Harry was sitting on the largest armchair by the fireplace with Hermione sitting over his lap and her legs hanging at the side of the arms of the sofa chair._

 _They were both giggling and red in the face when Ron entered the room._

 _"_ _Yeah?" Harry asked knowing that he was going to ask them to help out in the house._

 _"_ _Maybe you two would like to help around." Ron said eyeing Hermione._

 _Hermione rolled her eyes at him and didn't say anything._

 _Ofcourse Ron wasn't really annoyed._

 _In fact, he was fond on seeing them that way._

 _It made him feel good seeing that for once Harry wasn't completely troubled and that he seems to forget the looming problems of the Dark Lord's rise to power._

 _And the best part of it, it was Hermione he was in a relationship with._

 _"_ _We'd be there in a bit." Harry said pulling Hermione's face loser his and closely staring over some of her freckles._

 _Hermione giggled again as his other hand moved around and secured her around the waist._

 _Ron rolled his eyes off at them._

 _"_ _Fine." he said waking away. "Whatever. Mum, Harry's a little busy at the moment to help carry out the stuff in the dining you needed."_

 _They both listened at Ron's fading voice and footsteps._

 _Hermione looked up at Harry._

 _"_ _Shouldn't you be out there helping?"_

 _"_ _Shouldn't you be cooking with Fleur and Ginny?" he asked back as he pulled her and sniffed her around the neck with his hands slowly moving around certain parts of her that he wouldn't have done so in any other day or if anyone else was in the room._

 _Hermione breathed through as she felt Harry's hands slowly climbed up around her legs._

 _He was gently running it up and down between her thighs and closing his nose around her neckline and nudging his nose with hers._

 _Harry moved his face forward her and kissed her._

 _Hermione was slightly caught off guard and she looked up at him hesitantly._

 _"_ _Someone might walk in." Hermione breathed but she already shifted her position in accordance to what was comfortable for Harry._

 _He laid her closer to her and had moved his other hand secured around her waist and the other brushing along her thighs and then up and down her arms._

 _"_ _Who will walk in?" Harry breathed to her mouth._

 _He moved closer and pressed a soft kiss over her mouth._

 _Hermione bit her lower lip and stared at him._

 _He moved and she caught his lips this time and kissed._

 _Harry moaned and pulled her hand to stay over his lap while he placed his hands around her face and pulled her into a deep kiss._

 _They were both moving and moaning, kissing one another deeply and almost uncaring to whoever might walk in to them._

 _"_ _Harry, they might-"_

 _"_ _They wouldn't care." Harry breathlessly said in between their kisses. "They already know what we have-"_

 _"_ _Yeah, but it might-"_

 _"_ _Shush, 'Mione." Harry said as he held her tighter and closer him. "I love you. Just stay with me here okay.."_

 _"_ _Alright." Hermione whispered back longing for his kisses and embrace since they didn't really get to be this close at Hogwarts as they weren't that kind of couple who paraded what they had._

 _Harry's hold of her became tighter and with great need and his kisses became deeper with longing and passion._

 _He began unbuttoning the upper buttons of her dress as he held her closer and had began touching her under the dress._

 _Hermione closed her eyes and surrendered herself at his touches and the feel of Harry's hand inside her fully-clothed form._

 _His kisses stifled her moans of his name._

 _"_ _Forever, 'Mione, yes?" he whispered as he paused from moving his hands around her._

 _Hermione looked up at him with a nod._

 _Brown eyes met emerald ones._

 _They gazed at one another as if there was no more tomorrow._

 _Harry carefully brushed his fingertips along her red and swollen lips._

 _"_ _I love you." Harry whispered staring at her with such love. "I love you, 'Mione and we'll survive this war together."_

 _"_ _I love you too." Hermione whispered back with tears in her eyes. "I will always do. Forever, Harry." Hermione promised him as she touched the side of his face with her soft fingers._

 _"_ _Forever." Harry said moving his face closer to her again. "I will always choose you no matter what. I promise that I will protect you and fight for you."_

 _"_ _I will do the same for you."_

 _"_ _I will protect you, Hermione." Harry promised. "I would kill for you if I have to."_

 _Hermione moved her face to him and nodded._

 _"_ _I would love you forever." Hermione whispered back inching her face close to him again for another kiss._

 _Harry smiled at him and then he inched another inch closer to her face and continued to kiss her regardless of the place they were in and the people who might walk into them to see them in the open living room._

"What the fuck does this open?" Draco asked himself for the nth time.

He was back in his office at the Malfoy Manor and had been staring at the key that his uncle had given him.

It wasn't something he could think of as familiar in any way.

It wasn't intricately designed to be associated to anything that was Slytherin or even anything that desperately reminded him of a Death Eater nor of the Dark Lord.

The key was different in itself.

He had first thought that it was a key to Azkaban prison – perhaps, something to open his godfather's cell.

But then again he realized that keys didn't really open the cellular doors of the prison wards at Azkaban.

It was nowhere a Hogwarts key as well.

And even more crazy, it wasn't any key to open any door at the Malfoy Manor.

So what the fuck was the key for?

He stared closely at its old-looking design and had even wasted an hour of his precious 31 hours in the library to check if there was any reference to it in the books there.

He had found nothing.

He promised himself that if he does not figure it out on his own within half an hour, he would go directly to Hermione and ask her if she was familiar with the key.

Ofcourse he didn't want to do that immediately as he didn't want to alarm her any further or stress her any more over the things that were happening.

In his desperate thoughts, he even went to his mother's old bedroom and tried the key around.

Her old dresser, her old wardrobe areas, some shelves and so and so on but it did not open anything in her bedroom.

Definitely, it wasn't something that was associated to her mother either.

His clock was ticking and he wasn't getting any closer to any answer that the key was supposedly to give him.

He stared closely at it.

The obvious was that it was nowhere associated to Slytherin and the Malfoys.

It wasn't a very large key to tell him that it opened only doors but it was neither too small to open certain drawers.

 _What other choices did he still have for the key?_

It might be something like a lock to some vault.

But a vault?

Would Gringotts be answer?

But no.

Snape had nowhere been associated with Gringotts since he had been gone for years.

Gringotts wasn't an answer.

But a vault perhaps may be.

A vault?

But what vault could it open?

And if indeed it was a key to a vault, what could it possibly be keeping inside it that may help Snape's life.

If it was a vault, where could he find this vault that should be some sort of answer he could come up with to all the questions and problems they were facing within the span of 30 hours?

What key can it possibly hold that could be answers to saving Snape's life?

 _She was gone._

 _She was gone forever, Snape thought miserably._

 _He went back to the café to gather an umbrella he left behind earlier and for the small book Hermione left him earlier._

 _She said it would be her some kind of souvenir._

 _Snape sight heavily and stood over the table for which they stayed for quite some time earlier._

 _The café was full of people so nobody really noticed that he was having some sort of sentimental moment over the coffee table they used earlier on._

 _He looked around him with a sense of loss in him._

 _She was gone forever._

 _He was going to face life alone from now on._

 _Warm tears were threating around his eye lids._

 _No._

 _He wasn't going to cry._

 _He already told himself that he wasn't going to cry._

 _She was meant to go back._

 _She wasn't meant to stay._

 _She wasn't his to begin with._

 _Snape sighed heavily and knew that he had to return to the cottage to fix and organize things._

 _Maybe stay there for a day or two just to feel everything and mourn about everything else._

 _Maybe a day or two to prepare himself to what was to come._

 _He had to surrender to the Ministry of Magic to give up his freedom._

 _His life no longer mattered._

 _He had done his precious piece of job for the Order._

 _He had saved Hermione and the others' lives by containing the Urduja Curse._

 _He had managed to save Narcissa and her will for Draco._

 _He was a man who had accomplished what he had to._

 _Now he had to pay for all the debts that he had taken no matter what it caused him._

 _Snape sighed heavily and stared down at the book that Hermione had left._

 _He had bought it for her a few years back and she enjoyed reading it._

 _It was obviously one of her favourites and she left it behind for him telling him that it would and should remind him of her at the time being that they were not together._

 _How innocent she was still seven years later._

 _She was still very naïve and beautiful inside and out at the same time._

 _She still believed that he could be redeemed._

 _Hermione was the only one who believed that he could be redeemed._

 _She was the only one who believed in the goodness in him that he had believed himself to be gone a very long time ago._

 _Despite of everything that he had done and had done to her, she still believed that his soul could be redeemable._

 _She believed in the smallest spark of goodness in him._

 _She had love him unconditionally._

 _He had to give the favor back and bring her back to where she really belonged no matter how painful it was._

 _Snape sighed at the memory of her that he was going to miss for the rest of his life._

 _He picked up the book and kissed it._

 _He was going to break his heart in a daily basis for what he has done but that didn't matter to him._

 _His job for the Order was accomplished thoroughly._

 _His job as her protector had also been accomplished astoundingly._

 _And most of all, his job as her beloved has been done accordingly._

 _He had accomplished it all fully._

 _Hermione Granger was to be happy once more even if that meant that he wasn't included in that happiness._

 _He had loved her so deeply that he didn't even recognize it fully until the moment he knew he had to decide to let her go._

 _He gently took the scarf on the table that she also left for him._

 _Sighing heavily, he took both the book and the scarf from the table and decided to go home._

 _It started raining again._

 _He looked up by the window and stared at the beautiful and sparkling droplets of rain high above._

 _The sky was mourning with him._

 _His black eyes were blankly staring around the window until he thought he saw something._

 _He blinked several times and moved closer to the window to have a clearer view of what he thought he saw._

 _No._

 _It couldn't be._

 _His heart pierced painfully and it started beating very fast._

 _It just couldn't be._

 _Without another thought, Snape grabbed his things and ran towards the door._

 _He bumped across several people along the way as he dashed to the door and pushed himself outside and ran the other side of the coffee shop._

 _The rain had started to come down heavier from the sky._

 _It was no longer mourning for him – it felt more like a blessing for that split of a moment._

 _It couldn't be._

 _"_ _Hermione." Snape breathed out heavily trying to strain the water from his eyes._

 _There, standing visibly clear a few feet from her was a drenched looking woman he had come to protect, care and love for the past years._

 _Before he could move towards her, she had come running from across the street towards him._

 _She looked up at him with a pair of eyes that had obviously been crying._

 _She was drenched in the rain but she seemed uncaring of their present situation._

 _"_ _What are you doing?" Snape managed to ask her as they stood at the sidewalk under the rain._

 _"_ _I don't know." Hermione cried through the rain as she moved herself closer to him. "I don't know, Severus."_

 _"_ _What are you doing here?" he asked hoarsely. "You shouldn't be here - please, you shouldn't be – you should go back-"_

 _"_ _Please don't throw me away." Hermione begged him. "Severus, please – don't throw me away –"_

 _"_ _I'm not throwing you away." Snape answered firmly. "But please, Hermione. You should go back."_

 _Hermione miserably shook her head at him._

 _Snape stared back at her with tears already at the sides of his own black eyes._

 _"_ _You should go back where you belong."_

 _Hermione sniffed and shook her head._

 _"_ _You have my scarf." Hermione commented staring at her now drenched scarf in his hand._

 _Snape nodded and held it tightly._

 _"_ _It must stay with me wherever I go." Snape told her moving closer. "But you have to go back."_

 _"_ _I am back." Hermione whispered unable to stop her tears as she moved towards him._

 _"_ _Hermione, you need to-"_

 _"_ _I'm back." Hermione said shaking her face and staring at him. "I'm back for you. I told you that I'd come back for you."_

 _"_ _This isn't right-" Snape said under the rain as his heart palpitated faster at the sight of her. "You shouldn't have returned-"_

 _"_ _I love you." Hermione cried placing both her hands around him. "I love you, Severus. And that's all I know in this world."_

 _Snape stared down at her._

 _The umbrella and scarf in his hands had fallen as Hermione held him._

 _His heart was beating so fast he felt it was going to burst out._

 _"_ _Hermione, you need to go back to your life."_

 _"_ _You are my life." Hermione said pulling his face to him. "You are now my life. Not there, not anywhere else."_

 _"_ _I have nothing to give." Snape said. "I have nothing to give you."_

 _"_ _Are you not enough?" Hermione asked him as she moved her lips closer to him. "Can we not live this way?"_

 _Snape stared at her and knew that he should not get this close to her._

 _He didn't even want to touch her nor be touched by her._

 _He feared that he wasn't going to be able to let her go anymore once he touches her once more._

 _"_ _Hermione." Snape breathed out heavily trying to restrain himself as she pushed herself to him._

 _"_ _Please tell me you don't love me and I would leave you." Hermione said as she stared at the black eyes._

 _Snape remained still, unknowing of what to do nor say._

 _"_ _I'm here." Hermione whispered drawing his face to her. "I'm here, Severus. That's all I know. I know not what is right or wrong anymore because with you, everything just feels so right-"_

 _"_ _You have to go back-"_

 _"_ _I don't want to go back." Hermione admitted. "I don't want to go back anymore. This is the life I'm choosing, Severus. I've chosen this. I've chosen us."_

 _"_ _Hermione-"_

 _"_ _I've chosen you." Hermione cried at him. "Please. I've chosen you."_

 _"_ _I can't give you the life and freedom that you would want."_

 _"_ _I don't want any of those." Hermione said moving her lips inches from him. "I don't want anything nor anyone else anymore but you."_

 _"_ _You have to-"_

 _"_ _I don't have to do anything. I'm choosing this." Hermione whispered moving her lips over him._

 _Snape stared at her unable to breath properly with the unbelievable gift that the heavens were pushing in his hands._

 _"_ _I have nothing to give you." Snape whispered taking hold of her and moving her securely to him._

 _"_ _I have no want for anything else." Hermione shook her head in tears._

 _"_ _Hermione, I've given you your freedom."_

 _"_ _I don't need my freedom if you can't be in it."_

 _Snape didn't know what to say anymore to her._

 _Ofcourse he didn't want her to leave him._

 _But this way her life and that he promised he would give it back to her once the seven years were over._

 _"_ _I choose you." Hermione whispered back. "No matter what happens, I've chosen you. Please don't let me go." Hermione cried at him to the point of begging._

 _Snape stared down at her not knowing what to say nor do._

 _"_ _If you stay with me you may never see them again." Snape said not wanting to hear her answer and yet wanting to hear the truth in her words._

 _"_ _Please. I just want to stay with you." Hermione said. "I don't think I have a life to return to-"_

 _"_ _Potter would be waiting for you-"_

 _"_ _I don't want to go back. Please, I don't want to go back."_

 _Snape didn't understand it but neither did he want to understand it._

 _He wanted to put a blind eye and feelings on this possible hallucination he was seeing at the moment._

 _"_ _If you stay with me you can never go back, Hermione. You would have to live with me and the life that we had."_

 _"_ _I don't want to go back." Hermione cried at him. "I'm here and I've come back just for you."_

 _Snape stared at her._

 _His thoughts began to swirl at the possibility of a life – a beautiful life – with her._

 _It was almost unreal to hear these words._

 _But there she was, solid and visible as she could possibly be in his arms._

 _She wanted to stay._

 _She wanted to stay with him._

 _Someone wanted to love him for the rest of his life._

 _"_ _This is my choice." Hermione whispered to him clinging tightly to him. "You had given me my choice and I've chosen now."_

 _"_ _Hermione, you have a life to live and that's not with me." Snape whispered back at her._

 _She could see the longing and pain in his eyes that she understood above anything else._

 _"_ _I love you." Hermione whispered at him gazing straights at his black eyes with deep assurance and certainty. "I love you, Severus Snape."_

 _Snape stared at her with great longing._

 _Words were not enough to match as an answer to her._

 _And though without warning, he gently closed his arms around her and moved his face to her and captured her lips to him – kissing her as deep and as passionate as he could as he wrapped his arms around her until moments passed and Hermione didn't really feel the sensation and magic as he had Disapparated them from the train station in London and back to the life they had lived together for seven years._


	40. Chapter 40

_**Author's Notes:**_

 _ **This chapter was posted at another website at a time last year that was just a day before my graduation so that was a Sunday, June 4, 2017. Can you believe how time flies? This time last year, I was at the end of my wits and toes as I come closer to my graduation recital audition that I've been preparing for more than a year and should I have failed that audition, all would have been for nothing and I wouldn't have graduated. Hahaha!**_

 _ **Lots of love**_

 _ **Enjoy your Friday!**_

 _ **xx**_

 **Chapter Forty**

 ** _For Draco_**

"I thought I'd find you here." Draco said with a smile.

Hermione looked up from the book she was reading in the vast Malfoy library.

The selections were just undeniably strong to her desires and despite all her problems, it became her sanctuary at the moment.

Reading selections after another of the most precious or rare versions and editions, Hermione found herself back in Hogwarts where her knowledge were being given more than enough information she needed and wanted.

"Have you eaten?" she asked closing the book and staring up at him from the long table where she sat.

"I'm not very hungry." Draco said looking slightly exhausted as he sat a few chairs form her.

Hermione's brows quirked at him.

Hermione looked over at the bell that he gave her that one she rings through a servant of sorts would come and serve them.

"No, I'm alright." Draco said shoving his hand up in the air. "Maybe I'll get some sleep later. Have you gotten any good sleep or nap?" he asked her.

He knew how restless and sleepless she had been since her returned to the community.

"From time to time." Hermione said. "Just enough to give me rest."

"But not enough to make you be well-rested?" Draco suggested.

Hermione gave him a nod.

She gestured for him that he could sit nearer her.

Draco smiled and stood up.

He took a few steps and walked towards the nearest chair to her and sat next to her.

"I really love your library." Hermione said staring at the vast ceiling and the over the top shelves of books.

"Mother was usually here." Draco said. "She bought all these books. Father asked her to buy a couple but he's never really read them."

"Your mother seems like brilliant woman." Hermione suggested.

"You have no idea." Draco muttered shaking his head.

He looked up at her and without knowing why, Draco reached out and took hold of her hand.

Hermione was too surprised or too emotionless to take urgent notice of it.

It took her a while to realize that Draco was holding her hand over her lap.

She looked up at him with question in her eyes.

"Draco." Hermione whispered reluctant but she didn't withdrew her hand from him.

"I need you to understand that no matter what happens, I am here for you." Draco said seriously.

Something in his tone slightly scared and alarmed Hermione.

"Did something happen?" she urgently asked him. "Did something go bad?"

"No." Draco said. "But I need you to know I'm doing everything to give you justice and at the same time, give him what is ought and nothing more."

Hermione moved her palm up to him and took hold of his hand with both of his.

Draco looked up, surprised.

"Hermione."

"I trust you." Hermione said seriously sitting straight and moving closer to him. "I trust you, Draco."

"I can't save him from Azkaban." Draco quietly told her as he firmly held her han. "But I can try and save him from the Dementor's Kiss."

Hermione didn't say anything.

She was staring quietly back at him while her fingers moved gently over his hand.

She looked uncomfortable at the thought of what he had said but at the same time there was that reeling feeling of comfort of Draco's hand over hers.

"Do what you can." Hermione said after a while. "Do what you can just to keep him alive." Hermione begged him as he held his hand in hers.

"He isn't innocent Hermione, I hope you know that." Draco said looking at her.

She didn't say anything.

She's heard that fact a billion of times.

And she wasn't going to hear the end of it – even from Draco.

But there was something in the way that Draco says it that made her feel less humiliated or guilty of the feeling that she'd been saying he's innocent when deep down her, she knew that he completely wasn't.

He made her feel that Snape's misdoings truly made him guilty but that there was nothing to be ashamed about it because he was just human.

He was just a man who had needs and who fell into a trap by fate.

He did his best to take care of her and to protect her but he was till a man who had his own misgivings in life.

He wasn't perfect.

He is guilty.

He isn't innocent.

But he was just human to make these mistakes and that's what she wanted them to understand – that he may have done all that could be pointed as wrong but not because he was naturally evil but because he was just human and a constant victim of fate.

"He isn't always right." Hermione slowly said. "But he doesn't deserve to die that way."

Draco's eyes lit up.

It was the first time that he has ever heard her truly say that Snape wasn't innocent of all the things.

Not that he was surprised of all her claims but because it was the first time that Hermione seemed to understand and accept the situation they were in.

It was the first time he's ever really heard her acknowledge his wrongdoings.

Time was running out.

"Time!" Draco suddenly gasped remembering the time frame he had put in himself.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked as he quickly let her hand go and placed it inside his robes.

"I've almost forgotten." Draco said as he fidgeted inside his elegant robes. "I need to show you something."

"What is it?" she asked back as she stared at his slightly stricken face.

Hermione waited as he pulled something out from his pocket then drew her hand to him.

"This." Draco said placing something over her hand "Have you ever seen this in the cottage?"

Hermione stared at him then back at the object he had placed over her hand.

It was a key.

An intricately designed key.

She looked up at him with a narrowed gaze as she took it and took a closer look around it.

"Where did you get this?" she slowly asked him as she continued to take a look over its design.

"Doesn't really matter." Draco lied knowing that Hermione should not really find out at the moment where he got it. "But I want to know if you've seen or if in any case it is familiar to you."

"Why is it that important?" Hermione asked back as he held the key.

Draco stared at her and observed her reaction towards the key.

"Hermione, you need to tell me the truth on this. Because if this is what is what it should do, it does not only open locks – but it could also open the way to Severus' way out of the Dementor's Kiss."

 _"_ _Are you kidding me?" Narcissa asked as she stared over the table across Snape._

 _Snape looked as annoyed as he could be but he didn't have a choice_

 _Narcissa sat across her in the private part of the restaurant she had paid for the whole night and was looking slightly amused and pissed at him._

 _"_ _Please, Cissy. I know this is as trivial as it could be. But if she keeps this stupid thing, she may later have more ideas and that couldn't be."_

 _"_ _She'll look for this."_

 _"_ _She's already done so." Snape said as he stared over a black notebook over the table. "And she's been furious and we already had a row about it."_

 _"_ _It's just a journal, Severus." Narcissa told him. "It's a stupid girl's diary. Why bother taking it away from her? It occupies her mind. She may just have it and keep it so she does not put her head onto other ideas."_

 _"_ _No." Snape firmly said. "She's too intelligent for her own good. You give her a pen and a paper and I tell you, she will get out of that place in no time."_

 _"_ _A diary is a place to divulge one's feelings. Your little girl is just being melodramatic over your situation and just wants a little bit of a hobby that would-"_

 _"_ _I SAID NO!" Snape angrily said banging his fist over the table as he stood up._

 _Narcissa's face turned up at him in shock._

 _It was turning red in her fury at his attitude._

 _He was breathing hard and fast and he picked up the diary and threw it aside._

 _Narcissa swiftly swished her wand and in no time the diary was back in her hand over the table._

 _"_ _Sit down." Narcissa said as she stood tall before him. "We're going to deal with this like adults."_

 _Snape was still breathing hard but he didn't have a choice._

 _He slowly sat down and looked away from her._

 _He looked as humiliated and as apologetic as he could be._

 _"_ _Tell me what the fuck is wrong with the journal." Narcissa quietly said. "And don't you dare yell at me again."_

 _Snape didn't say anything._

 _Her tone was low but he knew that tone too well – it was that tone she rarely ever used on anyone._

 _He was testing her patience that was at the edge already._

 _"_ _You're not going to tell me?" Narcissa slowly asked him._

 _Snape still didn't say anything._

 _He kept on fisting his hands._

 _"_ _Very well." Narcissa said as she took the journal from the table and started flipping through the pages in random without taking her eyes off Snape._

 _Snape was silent as she flipped through the pages with her long and delicate fingers tracing along every page she turned._

 _It took her a moment before she stopped on a certain page and read through._

 _Her eyes narrowed for a moment._

 _Then her face turned up to Snape again with a laced smile over her lips._

 _"_ _My, my, Severus." Narcissa slowly said. "Is this the reason why you wanted to get rid of this diary?" she asked slowly._

 _Snape was unmoving._

 _"_ _Is this the reason why you want to get rid of it?"_

 _Snape took a momentary glanced._

 _Her finger was over a middle part of a certain page._

 _A name that was very visible from vicious scrawls was still very legible:_

 _"_ _Harry." It says._

 _"_ _So." Narcissa slowly said. "Potter."_

 _Snape kept his gaze on the floor._

 _"_ _So you want me to keep this because you can't stand her writing about him?" she asked in a mocking tone._

 _She looked furious at Snape._

 _"_ _Are you bloody kidding me?" Narcissa asked obviously angry. "Are you bloody kidding me, Severus?!"_

 _She was almost yelling._

 _Snape didn't say anything._

 _She stood up and threw the diary on the floor instead._

 _Snape looked up at her._

 _She has never looked so irate at him in such a long time._

 _"_ _You want me to keep something as trivial and stupid as that because your feelings are being hurt over some childish writings?"_

 _"_ _That's not what-"_

 _"_ _No." Narcissa furiously said. "These pages are littered with his name. Littered with words of him. Littered with words of them. Ofcourse she bloody fucking misses him!" Narcissa yelled at him._

 _"_ _Cissy, please."_

 _"_ _No!" Narcissa snapped. "You must wake up. Ofcourse the girl loves him. What do you expect?"_

 _Snape didn't answer._

 _"_ _You want me to keep this because you're jealous?" she accused him. "That's it, isn't it? Because you're bloody fucking jealous and you want me to keep this so you won't be?"_

 _Snape still didn't say anything._

 _"_ _Can't you bloody control your feelings?" she asked._

 _Her eyes were widening in anger as Snape remained silent._

 _Silence means yes._

 _Yes to everything she was accusing him of._

 _"_ _You bloody hell want me to keep some stupid girl's diary because you can't get over the fact that she's still having petty little drama over her first love."_

 _"_ _Please stop." Snape whispered._

 _"_ _No." Narcissa said in defiance. "Stop this. This is pathetic. Why don't you just freaking throw this away then?"_

 _Snape didn't answer again._

 _Narcissa made a noise that was worse than a snort and a click of her tongue._

 _"_ _You don't want to throw it away because she owns this. This is still her – this is a part of her."_

 _She moved across the table and placed both her hands nearer the edge of the table at his side._

 _"_ _You're obsessed you piece of fuck." Narcissa angrily said. "Look at me." she angrily demanded._

 _He didn't move._

 _"_ _I said, look at me."_

 _He remained still._

 _"_ _I said, look at me!" Narcissa angrily yelled at him._

 _He slowly looked up at her but halfway through he felt a hot-gash of pain across his cheek._

 _Narcissa had slapped his face so hard he felt like his jaw had moved in the wrong direction._

 _He looked up at her and met her furious gaze._

 _Her eyes locked with his._

 _"_ _. ." Narcissa dangerously whispered at him. "You are going to die if you let your feelings get in the way!"_

 _They gazed at one another for a moment before Narcissa turned away from him breathing hard._

 _She was breathing hard and fast and had placed her hand over her chest._

 _Snape stared at her in worry but she seemed to have quickly recovered from it._

 _"_ _Please." he begged her. "I thought we're talking like adults here."_

 _Narcissa casted a cruel laugh at him._

 _She slowly turned and faced him._

 _"_ _Yes. I thought so too." Narcissa mocked him with her tone. "I thought I was talking to an adult."_

 _Snape watched as she gathered her things and left money over the table as payment for their dinner and reservation for the whole place._

 _"_ _Cissy."_

 _"_ _Talk to me when you've already gathered yourself and realized that these feelings you're having will not help your mission for the girl."_

 _"_ _It's not like that." Snape said standing up. "It's not as what you think it to be."_

 _But Narcissa wasn't listening._

 _She headed towards the double glass doors of the restaurant._

 _Snape called her back and she halted just halfway through opening the doors._

 _"_ _Please." Snape incredulously begged her. "You're the only one I have. You're - you're the only one who – who understands. Cissy – we need you – I need you- "_

 _He gazed at her back hopefully, desperately._

 _She stood still and he wasn't sure if she's even hearing him._

 _And then after a moment, she sighed heavily and waved her hand back in the room._

 _The black journal flew back into her hand._

 _"_ _Thank you, Cissy. I will be-"_

 _"_ _I am not tolerating this." Narcissa quietly said._

 _She seemed to have finally calmed herself down._

 _"_ _Cissy-"_

 _"_ _This is to ensure that your mind does not go all over the place and you accomplish what you have to. This is for Draco, Severus." Narcissa woefully and firmly said "For Draco."_

27 hours.

27 bloody hours.

Draco stared back at Hermione over their meal.

She was silent as she always was but he knew that she was bothered.

No, she was thinking hard.

She has told him that she has never seen the key in the cottage or anywhere else.

He told her that it wasn't anything Malfoy nor Slytherin related but that it was a key to whatever it was they needed to free the man in question.

Draco asked her to try and recall as it may be one of the things that it might have been tampered insie her head.

Although she told him that she would try she knew that it wasn't.

The things tampered insie her head usually made her feel something – like a different kind of sensation that was there inside of her but that she just couldn't recall.

The key didn't bring her any of those sensations.

But she needed to try and remember – it might just save Snape's life.

"Were there no doors at the cottage?" Draco curiously asked her.

Hermione shook her head as she nibbled over the toast of her pasta.

"There were locks but none that I would seem to think that would fit that key." Hermione nodded over the key across them both on the table.

Draco stared at her in a desperate way.

"And besides, he always used magic in the cottage." Hermione added. "He was always using magic in locking and opening doors. There were knobs and keyholes but none I could access and I don't think this would have accessed them."

"How many doors were there?"

Hermione bit her lip and recounted.

"I think there were a couple.." Hermione counted off over her fingers.

"Four? Five?" Draco asked remembering to note this.

He was going to request a report on the cottage as he realized he didn't have a full report and information of the structure or blueprint of the cottage or the scene of crime.

"There was the main door and then there was a swinging door towards the kitchen." Hermione told him. "There was a door in our room and one in the bathroom inside our room. There was also a door at the back – it's found near the kitchen as the backdoor but I've never really been allowed there and he seem to have completely blocked it with furniture and then there was a door at the basement."

"Basement?" Draco repeated.

Hermione nodded.

"The one he used as his potions laboratory. The one where I've stayed for some time."

Draco nodded and tried to imagine.

There were only a handful of main doors in the cottage.

Surely one of those fitted the key.

But if Hermione says that there was no part of the house where the key would have fit, what was it for?

What exactly did it open?

He needed to request for a blueprint of the cottage.

"How about a vault?" Draco suddenly asked her. "Did he keep a vault?"

"A vault?" Hermione repeated. "A vault? Like you mean a place to keep things?"

"Yeah." Draco said. "Something like that."

Hermione narrowed her eyes again as she tried to recall.

She shook her head.

"None." Hermione answered. "We had wardrobes and he had a few shelves and cabinets for potions and potion ingredients. There were shelves for the books and an end table with drawers but that didn't have a key hole."

"Are you sure there's no vault?" Draco asked. "Or maybe something he's hidden from you?"

"No." Hermione assured him. "When we were..when we were better off, I was allowed a bit more time in his laboratory at the basement and there isn't a vault in there."

Draco sighed heavily.

He was getting bothered and bothered by the key.

Guessing and assuming from his uncle's words, he also didn't know what the key was for.

But he said that when the place was raided, the key had been found.

It was then stashed amongst a collection of small pieces of evidences found littered all over the cottage and the grounds.

He had taken note of all the evidences in the boxes and had recorded each of them.

The key was the only one that looked both random and insignificant and according to reports, it seemed to have been a misplaced object in the place – _like it didn't belong there._

But where did it belong?

His uncle mentioned that he kept all these collection of small evidences as procedure during the trial and that should any of it be raised, he would be the one – as head of the Wizengamot – to present the evidence upon the trial.

"Why do you think it opens a vault?" Hermione's voice caught his attention back.

"Sorry, what?" Draco asked realizing what she's asked.

"The key." Hermione said pointing across the table. "What makes you think it opens a vault?"

"Because it fits nowhere." Draco said. "It does not fit a keyhole of a door and there were no chests to be opened in the cottage as I've read in the initial report of objects found. And the intricacy of its design."

Draco held up the key and pointed at certain areas of the key.

"It's not very old looking but you can tell it's used in an ancient object but there is a slightly bit of modern touch on it."

Hermione grabbed the key and stared at it and whatever Draco said were true.

"Aunt Bella taught me about keys." Draco said. "And picking locks."

Hermione looked sharply up at him and threw the key back on the table.

"That revolting woman."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to mention her." Draco said sounding truly apologetic.

Hermione shook her head and waved her hand in the air.

"Anyway, so what do we do?" she asked him.

"Well we have roughly 24 hours or so." Draco said. "And I have no idea what the fuck this fucking key opens."

"Maybe it's neither a door nor a vault it opens." Hermione suggested. " _Maybe it opens something else."_

 _"_ _What are you doing here?" he asked as he entered the basement. "What's that in your hand?"_

 _"_ _My hand?" Narcissa asked slowly turning to him and showing her hands. "What's with my hands?"_

 _Snape's eyes narrowed as he swiftly walked to her and grabbed her wrists._

 _She held her hand up to his face as he held them tightly._

 _They were clean and empty of anything._

 _"_ _Yes?" she asked with a raised brow._

 _Snape's eyes were burning at her and then he let her go._

 _"_ _You're not allowed here."_

 _"_ _Where do you supposed I hide?" she asked in a mocking tone. "At your bathroom? Inside your bedroom where you fuck her?"_

 _"_ _Not here." Snape muttered as he looked over and around the table as if looking for anything that might be missing._

 _"_ _I didn't touch anything here." Narcissa said folding her arms._

 _"_ _I'm sure you didn't." Snape spat back at her as he looked back up at her with a doubtful look._

 _"_ _Pray tell, what would I steal here." Narcissa said. "There's nothing in this place I'd want. Besides, don't I provide what you want and need instead?"_

 _"_ _Never mind." Snape said annoyed at her. "You must go. She might wake up any moment and see you here. I just gave her a draught after her tantrum again."_

 _"_ _She's not a child. And she will be immune in all these potions you're giving her to keep her down whenever she feels like it to go whine like a seven year old."_

 _"_ _Well what do you want me to do?" Snape spat back. "Leave her and let her scream all day for her freedom?"_

 _"_ _Ofcourse not." Narcissa said in an annoying tone. "But you could completely ignore her or remind you who the Alpha is in this place."_

 _Snape didn't say anything._

 _Narcissa smirked at him._

 _"_ _Is it not you?"_

 _Snape ignored her._

 _He moved around the table and waved his wand where potions ingredients of sorts went back to their rightful places._

 _"_ _You must go." Snape repeated at her. "I'm not babbling about. You must go, Cissy."_

 _Narcissa gave him a glare as she walked around the small laboratory._

 _Snape watched as she slowly prowled the room with her eyes keen upon staring at the shelves with books and ingredients for potions._

 _"_ _Are you even going to earn with all these plan of yours?" Narcissa asked him. "I could just as easily-"_

 _"_ _I'm doing well at the moment." Snape told her. "We're doing fine. She wouldn't need much. She's not very extravagant. She's as simple as she could possibly be. All her basic needs are here and a book or two becomes a reward for her from time to time."_

 _Narcissa didn't say anything anymore as Snape led her out of the laboratory, up the small staircase, past the living room and dinner area and then back to the door._

 _She was quiet and Snape knew she was still thinking about their recent conversation._

 _Narcissa spoke nothing of the words and thoughts in her head._

 _She kept her eyes around the whole house as if memorizing the intricate details of the place._

 _Through the time that has passed, Snape has made good use of the cottage._

 _He had resigned and decorated it in simplicity and what was orderly._

 _Nothing extraordinary and yet it looked very comfortable and relaxing._

 _It was like a simple vacation place to stay._

 _It looked and felt like home._

 _Snape wanted the place to be one that resembled a home – not a place that kept hold of someone who didn't belong there._

 _Snape, despite of all the obstacles and despicable task he has been assigned to, wanted to make sure that Hermione becomes comfortable and at home through all the years that passed and would pass._

 _"_ _I will see you, Severus." Narcissa said as she tightly clutched on a small box that held about three dozen of small thin and long vials._

 _Snape pointed the tip of his wand onto it to secure its lock no matter how far or long Narcissa's travel would be._

 _He nodded at her and hope that seeing her would be not too soon as it would mean that she wasn't getting any better._

 _"_ _Take good care of yourself, Cissy." Snape said kissing her hand._

 _Narcissa nodded at him and stare up at his black eyes._

 _All the anger she had earlier or annoyance to his attributes that completely defiled her had vanished._

 _She was looking at him like an elder sister who would not be seeing her little brother for a very long time._

 _"_ _I have to go." Narcissa simply said. "I need to rest. The travel is quite long."_

 _And there goes his friend._

 _They had been friends – for the longest time he could ever recall._

 _She had always been there for him at their Hogwarts days._

 _She had always looked after him even before Lily Potter abandoned him for the rest of their Hogwarts years._

 _She had always looked after him knowing that Lucius could just as easily dispatch him and have him hurt the moment he thinks that Snape would go against his whims and wills._

 _Narcissa had always been the sister who watched over him all those years._

 _He would not have survived Hogwarts without her around._

 _He would definitely not survive the years to come without her once more._

 _They were long time good friends – great friends._

 _But Narcissa Black Malfoy wasn't the woman he needed to cross right now._

 _For no matter how long they've been friends, she could as easily betray him as she could easily save him all those years._

 _It was then that Snape had realized that Narcissa Malfoy is really the only allegiance he had and there was no way in hell he could lose that because one she decides that their allegiance was over, she could as easily abandon him without the slightest bit of remorse in her heart._

"I have not seen that before." Snape said. "I have never seen it in my entire life, Draco."

The boy stared up at him with great worry in his face now.

Less than 24 hours was the time they had.

And Snape was no help himself either.

"Are you sure?" he asked for what felt like the tenth time already. "Like maybe you could have forgotten some of the details-"

"Draco." Snape said as gently placed the key on the table in front of them. "I have not seen this key."

The hours ticked by and Draco was nowhere near the answer he needed.

His uncle neither knew what the key was for and he had hoped – both of them had hoped – that Hermione and Snape might know about the key since it was found as part of the evidences scattered and gathered from the cottage at Beltane.

It was found at the very cottage they stayed in for ten years – ten year s0 how could they not know the key?

"Did he say anything else?" Snape slowly asked him.

He only stared at the key over the table and then back at him.

There was a peculiar look over his face every time he stared up at Snape.

Snape didn't miss these little details but he didn't want to go dwell on that.

The boy obviously was bearing great pity because in a few hours, the judgment for him was to be given and there was nothing he could do about it.

"No." Draco muttered unable to hide his disappointment. "He has not said anything."

Snape stared back at him and tried to think.

But he was sure that he had never seen the key in the cottage.

"Could he possibly pinpoint where in the cottage this has been seen?" he asked him.

"I don't think that's possible. The place had been littered completely and things were scattered."

Snape didn't say anything.

He really didn't want to recall the day that the Aurors had attacked them and destroyed the precious home he had created beautifully for Hermione.

"Is it possible that this evidence was then planted?" Snape suggested. "You know, to add up to the things they could accuse of me."

"They traced the magic in the key." Draco said shaking his head. "It was proven that the magic etched around the key had been in it and matched the magic surrounding the cottage."

"So the key had been there all these time." Snape said as he stared at his hands trying to think. "But I've never seen it. What did Hermione say?"

"She said that there was no door that opened the key."

"There really wouldn't be any door that will be for that key. I've enchanted the cottage to be magically etched – opened and locked – only by my magic unless enforced with stronger ones."

He only nodded that he meant the magic that was enforced by the Aurors to get inside the cottage on the day they took Hermione from him.

"There wasn't any vault?" he asked him curiously.

"None." Snape said irritably. "Why the fuck would I keep a vault? What the fuck would I keep inside a vault?"

Ofcourse it was a stupid question.

 _Then what the fuck did the key really open?_

Time was running.

Draco shook his head and stared up at the man across him from the table.

He looked like he wanted to say something and yet at the same time, he kept fidgeting over the black wrist watch over his hand that Snape only saw now.

"I think you should go." Snape said as he stood up from the table.

He was shaken out of his reverie.

He stood up and grabbed him by the arm.

"No." Draco said. "I need you to stay. Just for a few minutes." he had said.

Snape turned to him with his eyes black and sharp at him.

Something was different in his voice.

He stared back at his godson and wondered if there was anything wrong about him.

Has he been getting sick due to all the stress he was causing him?

He has been taken out of his cell the illegal way he had gone through the previous and first time that Draco had done this.

Snape wondered how powerful his godson really was and how relentless he was with the use of his name and power.

He already warned him about his being taken out of his prison door and what more that it was done right before his final trial.

But Draco seemed not himself the moment he had entered the room and he was sitting on his chair across him from the table and had asked about the key and had told him about the key.

"It's nearly three in the morning, Draco." Snape said as he gently held his wrist. "You have to go."

"Just for a few more minutes, please." Draco said and Snape couldn't help but wonder why his voice was getting smaller by the moment.

"Draco. Are you alright?" he asked completely turning to him and staring down at him.

Something was different with the boy.

He looked down at his eyes to see if he was sick.

His eyes was slowly turning another shade.

"Draco?" he whispered as panic and worry over took him.

Was he seeing things?

But before he could say anything, the boy's other hand held his arm.

"Please let me stay for a bit more of time." he had said. "We just have to wait for a few more minutes."

"What's going on?" he asked worriedly now turning to him as his colour was slightly turning a bit paler than usual.

But before he could say anything, the door of their room slowly opened.

"I think it is time." said a voice. "I've already put all the guards down. You have less than an hour. We need to leave before the hour dies away. I'll be out here guarding this door."

Snape looked up towards the doorway with a terrified and confused looked over his face as there standing in the door way was his godson, Draco Malfoy with a look over his face as he smiled gently back at him.

But if he was standing there guarding the door, who had he been talking to for the past fifteen minutes?

Snape slowly turned back and stared at the hand holding his wrist.

It was no longer Draco's long pale and muscular arm.

It was an arm with a different skin tone, thinner, smaller and elegant.

A familiar pair of hands held him.

Snape slowly looked up and his black eyes quickly melted with tears.

His voice caught up inside his throat.

As there, standing before him and holding his arm and cloaked in a man's dress robes stood a pale-faced familiar face.

The blonde hair slowly vanished and turned into a darker shade and was slowly growing long and wavy before his eyes.

And sooner than he had expected, there standing before him and holding him in a tight grasp and a gaze of those caramel eyes stood none other than Hermione Granger.

 _"_ _Everything set?" he asked her as he went back to the kitchen and forked the large scrambled egg over the table._

 _"_ _Yes!" Hermione called from the other room. "I'm just looking for some ribbons."_

 _"_ _What ribbons?" he asked as he sipped from a cup of coffee and read through a piece of paper in his hands._

 _Their last minute agendas and notes of things to remember and in his other hand, a copy of their wedding programme._

 _"_ _I found it." Hermione breathlessly said as she dashed back towards the kitchen._

 _Snape's face softened upon seeing his beautiful bride to be._

 _She was wearing a wide dress that she was going to wait in until she changes later in their 3 o'clock wedding._

 _"_ _Have you seen the dress?" she asked him._

 _"_ _I've picked it up, sweetheart." Snape said as she walked towards him. "Ofcourse I've seen it."_

 _She smiled and kissed him back and excitedly read through the notes in his hands._

 _Snape quietly watched with a smile over his face as Hermione counted and read through their tasks list before the wedding later that afternoon._

 _It was to take place at the small garden at the back of the cottage._

 _The beautiful garden he had allowed her to have a few months ago._

 _The ceremony was a very small and private one._

 _They only invited the main shop owner and his wife to whom they sell his potion-creations to be the witness to the wedding, the old couple who owned the bookstore at the end of the town for which Snape always bought Hermione's books._

 _"_ _Don't make mess over your clothing." Hermione gently warned as Snape grabbed another bit from the toast and eggs over the table she made for them earlier._

 _She stared at his black pants and the white crisp button down shirt._

 _"_ _Close this." Hermione said as she began buttoning the shirt. "Or else I wouldn't be able to wait for the wedding night."_

 _Snape gave out a laughter and Hermione giggled back at him._

 _He placed down the food he was consuming and stared at his beautiful bride._

 _Her hair had been up in a wavy and messy bun and had some ribbons around it to tie the lose ends that she was going to curl properly later on._

 _"_ _You look beautiful, 'Mione." Snape softly said taking her in his arms and closing the gap between them. "As beautiful as you have ever been."_

 _Hermione blushed but she looked heavenly as she stared up at him._

 _"_ _Can you believe I'd be Mrs. Snape in a few hours?" she asked excitedly._

 _Snape smile, sighed and embraced her tightly._

 _They were going to have a proper forever after all._

 _"_ _Yes." Snape whispered kissing her forehead and taking her in his arms. "I could almost not believe this dream."_

 _His heart was melting and pumping fast as it had always been around her._

 _She was beautiful and gentle and loving._

 _And she was going to be legally his in a few hours._

 _She was going to marry him in her own will._

 _They were going to be together forever._

 _They were, after all these years, going to have a happily ever after._

 _Snape moved his face close to hers and closed her mouth into a deep kiss._

 _Hermione let go off the papers in her hands and melted into his arms._

 _She gasped and moaned his name as they kissed passionately._

 _Her lips hungry of his as he opened his mouth to let her tongue inside his mouth and it lapped at him teasingly and excitedly._

 _"_ _I love you, Severus Snape." Hermione whispered as he held her closer, his hands running down inside her dress to touch her body and she excitedly moved up to his arms. "I love you."_

 _"_ _I love you too, sweetheart." Snape moaned back at him as he kissed her without end, their lips lavishly encountering and enjoying one another's._

 _"_ _Forever, Severus." Hermione loudly moaned n his mouth as they kissed and she immediately came in his hand that had gone straight at the depths of her within the minute that he moved his hand under and inside her dress._

 _"_ _I will always love you, 'Mione." Snape whispered back biting her lips and kissing it again and again melting in to her arms. "Always."_


	41. Chapter 41

_**Author's Notes:**_

 _ **I leave you with this chapter for the weekend. Hope all is well and will try to post another on Sunday.**_  
 _ **Lots of love!**_

 _ **xx**_

 ** _Chapter Forty One_**

 ** _Words_**

 _"_ _What are you doing here?" a soft voice asked._

 _Hermione gasped and the small bottle in her hand slipped from her fingers._

 _Snape's reflexes were quite fast that he caught the bottle just in time before it crashed to the floor._

 _He looked up and stared at the ingredient's name then his black eyes slowly went up to Hermione._

 _She was standing before him, eyes wide from shock and facial features obviously scared of his presence._

 _"_ _Miss Granger." his voice silkily whispered. "I asked you a question."_

 _Hermione stared at him and swallowed hard._

 _"_ _Professor, I was just-"_

 _"_ _Careful." Snape warned her, eyes glinting. "Potter and Weasley already lost points this week for certain aggressions. You do not want Gryffindor House losing more points."_

 _Hermione stared up at him biting her lower lip and blinking a few times._

 _She as obviously contemplating what to tell him and Snape knew that she was at the verge of lying._

 _"_ _I was just checking a potion ingredient." Hermione said. "As replacement."_

 _"_ _This one?" he asked her pointing at the bottle in his hand. "Be careful of your words, Miss Granger."_

 _Hermione nodded._

 _"_ _I was just looking for that-"_

 _"_ _Not boomslang skin?" he asked her. "Lacewing? Not brewing another of that favourite potion of yours? What is that again? Oh, Polyjuice Potion."_

 _"_ _Professor, I wasn't going to brew-"_

 _"_ _Silence!" Snape angrily said._

 _Hermione took a step back and swallowed hard._

 _He gently placed the bottle away and walked forward her with arms folded._

 _Hermione coward at his tall and darkened form before her._

 _"_ _Out after curfew hours, sneaking into the storage of your Potions Classroom, stealing from the private storage of the professor-"_

 _"_ _Professor Snape, I wasn't going to steal – I just needed to- "_

 _"_ _I have more than enough reasons to take off fifty points from your house. Give me a reason why I shouldn't."_

 _Hermione's eyes were already teary._

 _She should not have gone there tonight and should have sat in the Gryffindor Tower or the library and kept her research the legal way._

 _But why should she?_

 _When Harry was obviously illegally brewing his Potions assignments and exams?_

 _No, she wasn't jealous that he was advancing in their Potions with Slughorn and excelling in the subject like never before – she was worried, dead worried that his trust for the stupid book would lead him into greater danger in return to all the glory it was giving him at the moment._

 _"_ _Because I really need to prove something, professor." Hermione managed to say._

 _Snape's eyebrows raised at her._

 _His face was passive but Hermione could tell that he was willing to listen._

 _"_ _And that would be?" he asked her._

 _"_ _It's – it's an ingredient that-"_

 _"_ _Miss Granger, I'm personally getting bored with your lies and stutter. I will not ask again. What are you doing here – sneaking in an empty classroom, possibly stealing from the teacher's private storage, after curfew hours?"_

 _Hermione heavily breathed out._

 _Snape looked down at her and waited with the same determination she had drawn over her face._

 _Hermione sighed heavily and tried her best to look confident and tried to keep a passive face at the same time._

 _She rolled her eyes at him and sighed heavily._

 _"_ _Don't give me that look!" Snape warned her dangerously._

 _Hermione stared back at him with impatience and defiance._

 _"I need to check an ingredient." Hermione began. "Something that is written in the Potions textbook, sir, if it is somewhere or anywhere replaceable for the potion it was used for because the Potion instructions says it cannot be replaced."_

 _Snape stared at her as if trying to comprehend everything that she has just said._

 _"_ _You're trying to prove or disprove the book?" he simply asked her._

 _Hermione blinked._

 _He actually got what she was trying to say because she thought all her words came out weirdly due to her fear of him._

 _"_ _Yes." Hermione sighed again._

 _"_ _Which one?" Snape asked._

 _"_ _Oh." Hermione said. "Well, the book says to use this particular ingredient but I want to know why it may be replace by that ingredient sir when the books says it cannot."_

 _"_ _Who says it could be replaced?" Snape asked. "Who said it may be replace if the textbook did say it couldn't be?"_

 _Hermione not didn't know what to say nor answer him._

 _Her face turned slightly pale again and she avoided his gaze._

 _They were enough signs for Snape to know that she was keeping something from him._

 _He did not want to be kept in the dark at all costs._

 _"_ _Miss Granger. I will not ask-"_

 _"_ _Just a note I found, sir." Hermione quickly said. "Random. Just a note and-"_

 _"_ _Enough." Snape said extending his hand to hers. "I want to see your copy of Advance Potion Making."_

 _"_ _My what?" Hermione asked flabbergasted despite that she heard him clearly._

 _"_ _Your Potions book. I want to see it. Now." Snape demanded of her._

 _Hermione looked up at his black eyes and knew that they were seeing through her soul and thoughts._

 _Harry did mention that Snape had been able to penetrate through minds and has done so to him the previous year._

 _Hermione quickly looked away from him._

 _"_ _It's in the Gryffindor Common Room, sir." Hermione quickly said. "I don't have it-"_

 _"_ _Fine." Snape spat at her lowering her hand. "Tomorrow. After your Defense Against the Dark Arts class with me you shall hand over that Potions book of yours."_

 _"_ _But my class with professor Slughorn-"_

 _"_ _Will not happen until next week again. Tomorrow is Friday, Miss Granger. Yes?"_

 _Hermione stared up at him biting her lower lip._

 _It was of hatred and not of any emotion this time._

 _"_ _Yes." Hermione answered through gritted teeth._

 _Snape merely nodded at her but Hermione knew that he was smirking somewhere in that pale face of his._

 _He seemed quite fond upon enforcing something to her that she didn't want to do nor understood why she had to do it but had to and would do so anyway._

 _"_ _You may go." Snape simply said moving aside to make way for her._

 _Hermione nodded and quickly went for the door before Snape would change his mind._

 _Hermione was halfway when Snape called her back._

 _"_ _Yes, professor?" she asked slowly turning._

 _"_ _That bottle in your hand. Kindly put it down and leave it right there."_

 _Hermione silently cursed._

 _She had kept a small bottle of another ingredient in her other hand inside her pocket._

 _He did know how to read minds._

 _"_ _Yes, professor." Hermione quietly said avoiding his gaze and quickly putting the bottle back down._

 _Snape watched in satisfaction as she quickly went back to the door and left without another word, probably scared to her wits._

 _He could not help but grin at the sight of her as she left the room._

"I'd be guarding from the outside."

Snape barely heard Draco's voice and the sound of the closing metal door and magical seal.

But he did feel the very heavy and tight tug that came around his waist and shoulder blades.

Sooner than he had completely realized and comprehended things clearly, he could feel the side of his face damp and cold from Hermione's tears.

"Are you alright? How are they treating you here?" her voice was small and seemed to be a faraway echo from him.

It was so unreal yet it was right then and there, happening before him.

His black eyes could barely contain and comprehend what he was seeing.

Hermione was sitting next to him on the wooden bench, holding him tight and close with face full of tears.

He had seen her in the trial court rooms from the past eleven trials and but had never seen her this close nor had her holding him this tight and close ever before.

"Severus?" her voice was soft and warm and angelic.

The small of her soft hand was right at the side of his cheeks while the other held his other hand.

Snape blinked.

He had to come down to the reality facing him.

He had to come and see Hermione for the reality they were in.

Snape drew his hand back from her and drew his face away.

Hermione's hand was left in midair but she caught is hand back to hers.

She didn't let his hand go even if he tugged over her hand.

"Severus-"

"Let me go." Snape whispered looking away from her and trying to remove her hand from his.

Hermione's forehead creased together and she looked up at him in fear and confusion.

"Severus, I'm here, I'm going to-"

"I said let me go-" Snape repeated placing his hand over hers and gently removing it.

Hermione stared up at him and a flash of anger passed momentarily across her eyes.

Snape was trying to avoid her gaze but he didn't miss it.

"No, I'm here." Hermione said as tears continue to streak down her face. "I'm here, Sev, I'm going to help you. Draco and I are going to-"

"No. I said let me go-"

"NO!" Hermione angrily said grasping his hands tightly. "No, don't you dare say that!"

Snape looked back at her and saw that she was breathing hard, face red in tears and hands shaking holding his.

He had not seen her this worried, this scared and this determined all at the same time in the entire time that he had been with her.

She was looking up at him with controlled anger and eyes filled with emotions.

Snape didn't want to look at her and that was way more than obvious to Hermione.

And that made her worry even more.

Why did he not want to look at her?

"Did I do something wrong?" her small voice asked him. "Severus, I did everything I could and I'm still trying-"

"Stop it." Snape said looking away from her. "Stop whatever it is you're doing."

Hermione stared at him.

His voice had always been low and quiet, a deep and dark drawl but there was something darker in there as he spoke.

Something like a dark tunnel of hopelessness.

He was obviously giving up on the situation – on their situation.

It scared her.

In all the years they've been together, no matter their ups and downs, he had always been on his feet – he always had an answer, he always had a way to make her feel sure and secure whatever fate threw at them.

And now, hearing him giving up like this – it didn't sound right.

It didn't sound like him at all.

"No." Hermione said taking his hand again into hers. "No, Severus, I'm not going to let you be here in Azkaban – I'm not going to let you die an unlawful and cruel death that they're going to-"

"I said, you must go." Snape simply told her. "You don't belong in this place. You are not supposed to be here. You should go now."

"No." Hermione defiantly said letting his hand go. "No, you don't tell me what I should and should not do-"

"I'm telling you what you should do because you don't belong here." Snape said in an emotionless tone. "And you know that your presence here isn't right-"

"You do not tell me what is and isn't right!" Hermione angrily spat at him.

Snape looked sharply up at her, eyes wide.

Hermione was breathing hard and was staring at him with a surprised look over her face as if she couldn't understand herself why she was flaring up like that towards him.

Snape looked away and slightly inched away from her.

"No!" Hermione cried, quickly alarmed that he was losing interest in her presence there.

"No, Severus. Wait, look at me. I'm here.. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you – I was just – it's just-

"I suggest you go." Snape softly said and his voice became clearer as if regaining his usual composure and authority. "You shouldn't even be here in the first place, Miss Granger."

Snape slowly stood up and moved away from the bench.

"What did you call me?" Hermione asked, voice constricted in her throat. "What did you just call me?"

Snape didn't stop from walking away from her nor did he stop to look back.

"I asked you." Hermione's voice was shaking. "What did you just call me!"

Snape stopped walking but he didn't look back at her.

Fists were clenching at his sides as if he was restraining himself over something.

Suddenly, he felt another heavy tug as if the stone cell walls collapsed right at his back.

He felt a pair of arms embrace him tightly from the back and Hermione's face was buried right at his dirty prisoner's clothes.

He was quiet and unmoving.

The only sounds that could be heard in the room were the echoes of Hermione's dreadful cries.

"Please don't do this." Hermione said. "I came, I came here for you."

Snape remained still, silent.

He remained passive and unmoved by her tears.

"Please say something." Hermione cried tightening her embrace around his waist. "Please, Severus. I came here for you. Please tell me what to do to help you because I don't know anymore and you can't go to Azkaban."

Snape closed his eyes, wanting nothing but to be deaf at that very moment to not hear her calls of his name, her begging and crying for him.

It was a nightmare he always had since the three months he had been there at Azkaban.

He had always dreamed of her wailing, her crying.

"Severus." Hermione begged him, holding him to her body so tight and so close that he felt as if his ribs were going to break. "Please say something. Please tell me what to do, please."

"Live your life, Hermione." Snape softly whispered slowly placing his hands over hers around his waist. "Go and live your life."

He gently disentangled himself from her and lowered her hands right at the side of her body without having to turn back to her.

He was placing himself in a disposition that gave Hermione the impression that he did not only not want to look back at her but also to completely ensure that they did not have any physical contact.

"Please don't say that." Hermione cried, quickly moving to the other side to face him.

She stared at his physique.

Looking at him this close, he had not only seemed to age roughly and fast but he also looked like he had already been kissed by the Dementors by the aura he had given.

He looked thinner than she had ever recalled him, his hair dry that it had ever been, long and unkept.

His face barely shaven and his eyes deep, darker and hollow.

His hands also felt rough to touch and his clothes were obviously out of the question of how bad he looked.

Looking up at him made her guilty even more for some reason and for some weird feeling, she didn't understand why she felt like she was staring up and holding a man very different from the one she had known and had for the last ten years.

Snape looked like a completely different person than the one she was about to marry three months ago.

"Severus, please look at me." Hermione begged him, crying. "Please."

Her gentle hands moved again.

The other she placed over his chest to feel his heartbeat and the other moved up to his face and gently moved his face to her.

Black eyes met brown ones and there was some sort of understanding, some connection in there that was slowly dying away.

"Severus, please tell me what to do." Hermione whispered moving her face to him. "Please tell me what to do."

"I already told you." Snape whispered back at her.

He didn't move away from her touch nor did he let her hand away from his chest but his hands were kept at his sides.

Hermione looked up at him and in the depths of the black eyes.

She didn't understand it but she was suddenly scared.

There were no answer in those black eyes that she had been hoping and praying to see.

He always had answers but now there was none in those eyes.

"I can't let you die here." Hermione cried at him. "I won't let you die."

Hermione moved her face to him but then they both heard something loud like a bang outside the door.

They both looked up at the doorway but heard Draco call back at them.

"Everything's alright." Draco's voice echoed. "Just a guard, woke up from my spell. All is good."

Hermione's heart was beating fast as she turned back at Snape.

He was not looking at her.

And for that split moment, she saw him – the man she had lived with and loved for so long

She saw in the depths of the black eyes the man she wanted to marry.

But the look over his eyes had gone as quickly as it had come.

It seemed like it only passed the moment that Hermione's attention wasn't with him – as if the man was merely stealing a glance at her.

"No, look at me." Hermione said now placing both her hands around his neck and moving her body close against him. "Please, please, just look at me."

Snape didn't say anything but he slowly looked down upon her.

"I'm going to find a way." Hermione whispered at him. "I promise you, I will find a way to save you out of this – I will do whatever it takes, please, please just stay there and hold on – I will find a way- "

"There is no way, Hermione." Snape said moving his face closer to her. "Hermione, please, just go."

It was the first time that his voice turned into that familiar warm tone that she had known.

Slowly, she felt his hands moved up around her and had pulled her closer to him.

He didn't touch her face but he held her around the waist – not too close to kiss her but close enough to keep their proximity into an intimate range.

It felt as though he was still restraining himself to touch her and hold her very close but he was losing a very hard battle.

"I refuse that." Hermione whispered holding his face in place to ensure that he doesn't look away from her. "Please, just trust me when I tell you that I'd do anything to save your life – I promise I will, I will save you the way you saved me. Severus, please."

"Hermione, you don't understand." Snape said facing her then and making sure that their eyes made full contact. "I didn't save your life. You were just at that very circumstance and place where I was and I just had to-"

"You sacrificed your life for me." Hermione pressed on, unwilling to listen to his words, "You ensured that I was safe in all those years – you took good care of me, you made sure I had everything, you helped me out of that curse and-"

"And that's where it should have stopped." Snape said firmly. "It should have stopped right there. I should not have let you come back and should not-"

"No, that was my choice." Hermione said shaking her head. "I chose to be with you in all those years after the curse. I don't regret any of those – do you regret-"

"I don't regret it, Hermione." Snape said moving closer to her and holding her closer unable to stop himself. "I don't regret any of it but I should not have tolerated any of it."

"What?" Hermione asked, confused. "What are you talking-"

"I should not have tolerated anything in between that has happened. You were there at the ambush and I should have saved your life and it should have stayed that way. I could have done many things more than one to ensure you were safe and at the same time let the Order-"

"No, you couldn't have told them-" Hermione cried firmly holding him this time. "We both know that you couldn't have done so because that would have ensured their deaths if the curse got to them-"

"There were ways, Hermione." Snape said. "There were ways if I wanted to, but I didn't want to – I was so lost and confused and alone with you and I just didn't know what really-"

"And those are your flaws but I forgive you." Hermione said crying harder.

She held his face closer to her, placing her hands firmly at the side of his cheeks.

"Look at me, Severus." Hermione said trying to control her tears. "I forgive you, you hear me? I forgive you for everything that was and that wasn't-"

"You shouldn't." Snape said. "I've – I've taken your life and the freedom you should have – I had – I had – you shouldn't- no, you should not-"

"Please, this isn't the time for this-"

"No, this is the time for this." Snape said firmly.

He looked down at her and his expression changed.

There was something so determined in his eyes as he held her closer this time.

"Hermione, you didn't belong with me and I took the opportunity to have you, to keep you and that's all there is for you to understand-"

"No, you saved me from that curse –"

"And I should have stayed on that track. I shouldn't have prolonged that right after. Seven years had been over and I should have done what I should have –"

"No, that was my choice. You hear me?" Hermione cried at the verge of wailing at him. "That day – that day at the train station – that was – that was me – that – no, Severus! Listen to me!"

"No, you listen to me!" Snape called at her taking both her hands into him.

He held her by the wrists and Hermione was caught by the pain and surprise.

He held her tight enough to press a bit of pain to keep her attention to him but not too tight to cause her pain.

"Severus-"

"Hermione, it's over." Snape breathed out at her. "This is over. Whatever it all were, whatever you thought we had, whatever it is you think it still happening – they're all gone – it's over. You hear me? It's all over, Hermione."

Hermione's face turned red and there was that awestruck look over her face as if she had been the one put into a death sentence.

The crestfallen look over her face gave Snape the impression that he should keep her on that very trail of thought to let the reality of things sink into her.

"No, it's not – there isn't – there should be a way-"

"There isn't a way." Snape told her gripping her a bit harder. "There isn't a way, Hermione. Not this time. There's no way out of this and you should accept that. I'm not for you. This isn't for us and it's over as it should have been a long time ago-"

"Don't you love me?" she suddenly asked me. "Don't you have faith in us? Don't you believe I can get you out of here?"

Snape didn't answer her.

His eyes averted somewhere ago.

"No, look at me." Hermione demanded. "Answer me. Don't you think I can get you out of here?

Snape still didn't answer her.

"I asked you!" Hermione cried at him. "Answer me!"

Snape remained passive.

"Please." Hermione begged, shaking him. "Severus, just answer me!"

Snape didn't say anything. His eyes moved to the side again.

"Let my hand go, Hermione." Snape gently commanded. "Let my hand-"

"No!" Hermione screamed. "I asked you a question!"

"This isn't the things you should be-"

"No!" Hermione desperately cried. "You don't tell me what to and what not to do! You don't dismiss me and set aside how and what I feel!"

Snape looked up at her.

Something again was different in her tone, something beyond anger and frustration were coming out of her mouth.

He looked up at her and something painful was growing at the depths of his chest.

"I'm not- "

"No! Not anymore – you don't tell me here what I can and I can't do!" Hermione angrily said. "You don't tell me what to do and you answer me when I ask you a question!"

Snape stared in complete awe.

She looked up at him with a face filled with tears but with a tone that was far and beyond pain that he had ever heard of her.

"Hermione-"

"Don't you love me?" Hermione asked again, breathing hard and heavy and trying to control her voice. "Don't you love me, Severus? Were all those years just a lie?"

Snape's heart skipped a beat.

No, ofcourse not a lie.

Whatever may have happened, he was sure of one thing – he always loved her.

He might have shown her a different way of expressing his love and had acted differently from what he felt for her but he was sure that he loved her more than anything or anyone else in all these years.

Hermione stared back at him, determined to get the answer she demanded for.

He reached out for her but Hermione inched away from him.

"Answer my question." Hermione whispered. "Were all those years just a lie?"

She stared up at him with wide eyes, with a look of both hatred and anger in her face.

"Did you not love me?" Hermione asked. "Did you not love me even just for that part of our memory in time?"

Snape's heart suddenly burst into a thousand pieces.

Shards and shards of it felt like they scrambled all over the place.

Her words and the sound of doubt in them made the deepest impact inside of him.

He could lie to her and tell her he had given up, he had given them up and that he was willing to see her start a new life again – even without him – but to hear her give up was far different.

Hearing her giving up on him or doubtful of his promises broke the depths of him.

"Hermione-" he reached out for her but she made a step back.

Her heart was also breaking.

Her whole word was falling apart and it felt like everything that she had endured were just a lie.

Why couldn't he answer?

Did she waste her life with him?

Did he really steal what life she as supposed to have?

Was Harry and the rest of the world telling her the truth then?

That Severus Snape, did not only steal her life from her, her youth and innocent but had also corrupted her mind and soul and destroyed the depths of her by lying of his love for her?

"Just answer me, please." Hermione cried stepping away from him. "Severus, did you not love me?"

Snape stare at her.

He didn't know how to speak to her now.

He wasn't sure how to tell her and explain everything to her.

Ofcourse he loved her more than anything else in the world but he had to admit it to himself that he had made all the mistakes possible that led them to their present situation.

He wasn't innocent.

If any, he has taken and corrupted her innocence when he was supposed to protect her – when he was the only Order member capable of doing it for her, for the Order and for Harry Potter.

He deserved Azkaban.

He deserved more and beyond the Dementor's Kiss.

A loud bang came again from the other side of the door but neither of them minded the sound.

Hermione was avidly anticipating and waiting for his answer.

Snape stared back at her with the same passive expression now with his black eyes cold.

"Severus, I want to-"

"I didn't." Snape answered unblinkingly. "I didn't love you. I just wanted you. There's a big difference."

Hermione blinked as she stood before him.

Her heart seemed to have stopped beating completely.

She stared at him, mouth slightly open and ears trying to listen to his words as if awaiting for something more, something else that he would say.

It was as if she wished that she had heard incorrectly but the way he was looking at her told her otherwise.

"You're lying." Hermione dismissively said. "You're just bluffing – you just want me-"

"You're right, I wanted you." Snape said. "I wanted you, Hermione but there's nothing more to that. I wanted you but that didn't mean that I love you."

Hermione was breathing heavy now, heart palpitating painfully.

"I don't.." she refused to accept what she has just heard. "I don't understand – you're lying to me – you're just-"

"You're supposed to be smart." Snape coldly said. "You're supposed to understand what all those years meant, Hermione. If I didn't tell you I love you, would you have done to me – for me – everything you've done all those years?" he asked her.

Hermione stared at him and it was as if all the years were suddenly being bombarded right before her eyes.

Her memories with him were suddenly being forced inside her head, reminding her of everything they've done – of everything Snape demanded of her – and everything she did, she gave and gave up towards him.

"No." Hermione cried and this time it was different.

Her tears and the sound of it resembled that of how she cried to him at the earlier years she had stayed with him.

"Severus, you're lying to me – you're just telling me these things-"

"Would you have kissed me if I didn't tell you I love you?" he asked moving a step forward her.

Hermione made one step back and stared back at him, shaking her head.

"Would you have laid yourself all those years on that very bed if I didn't tell you the same thing?" he asked her, his voice and eyes darkening by the moment.

"Severus, you told me – you've – but you said –"

"Would you have let me touch you, caress you – kiss every inch and part of you had you not heard those sweet words?"

Hermione's tears were nonstop as she stared up at him and backed away.

Something dark and unwanted was growing in his stance that scared Hermione.

It was as if he was completely a different man now – the very man that he was way long before those ten years began.

"Severus, you're scaring me – please stop – please just tell me-"

"No, you want to hear what you want to hear but you wouldn't want to hear what really things are, right?" he asked her as he continued to advance towards her.

Hermione's backward steps had led them back against the very well.

She looked up at him with the same fear in her eyes that she had years ago.

She was looking not at the man she love but at the man she feared all those years within the walls of Hogwarts.

"Would you have let me taste you, sweetheart, if I didn't tell you those loving words you wanted to hear-"

"Stop it –" Hermione warned staring up at him as he stood a few feet from him, blocking her against the wall.

"Yes, sweetheart, you wouldn't have look at me nor let me touch you if you didn't tell me-"

"Stop it!" Hermione angrily cried. "Stop it! Stop it! Stop what you're saying! They're not true – they're all – you're lying – you're-"

"Look at me!" Snape said grabbing her wrists now and blocking her against the wall. "Look at me, Hermione."

Hermione shook her head as he tightly held her wrists.

She was moving – she was moving against him.

She didn't want his hands on her wrists, she didn't want his proximity towards her and most importantly, she didn't want to hear those words he was saying.

She had led him to those things, she had let him do those things to him – because she was scared, she was damn scared of him.

"But you said – you said you – stop it, please, please stop it-"

"I told you I love you because I wouldn't be able to have and take what I wanted if I didn't, sweetheart." Snape emphasized on the word and Hermione tried to push him away.

He didn't move nor let her go.

He blocked her against the wall and ensured that she couldn't move away from him

Hermione screamed and moved against him, desperately wishing that someone would come in, that some sort of help would come and save her from his advantages.

"No, please – please – go away – please, let me go – let my hands go-"

"Hermione, this is what things really are – and I tell you that you should go because nothing will ever change – this is-"

"You love me – you said – you – we were going to be happy- we were –"

"Look at me and tell me you want to be happy with me!" Snape angrily said forcing her face to move up and look at him. "Look at me!"

Hermione, crying and fearful as she was slowly looked up at him.

A pair of scary, dark black eyes were staring back down at her.

His gaze was so still and sharp that she felt them embodying her, taking hold of her and controlling her emotions.

She felt so vulnerable against his advances and her soul forced to be bare by his sharp gaze.

"No, please – stay away – please don't – please don't touch me – please-" Hermione cried at him moving herself free from him.

"I'm not what you thought I was, Hermione." Snape whispered but this time his voice was gentle and his grip upon her had slowly lessened.

He was suddenly warm and gentle towards her but his gaze held her in place.

"I loved you," Hermione cried at him. "I always had.. I just.. you told me you love me." Hermione muttered the words as she looked up at him.

Snape stared down at her knowing that he couldn't hurt her any further.

But he had to.

He had to lie to her and hurt her because that was the only way for her to move on with her life.

"I told you what I had to tell you in order to get things done." Snape said. "In order to get the things that I wanted and nothing more."

Hermione shook her head at him and stared up at those black eyes, forcing herself to not get scared and forcing herself to look at the depths of the soul she knew was still there somewhere.

Hermione look up at him and not really knowing what took place inside of her, she grabbed his face and suddenly kissed him.

Snape was too taken aback to say anything nor to move away from her and against her.

It was the very first time their lips had touched in those three long months they've been separated.

He had never felt so assured in such a long time.

The warmth of her lips travelled to his lips and all over and across his body.

It felt like all the very cold nights spent at Azkaban had been forgotten by her warm kiss.

Her lips were still as soft as he has remembered it, as innocent as he first kissed them and as sweet as it always had been.

He moved his head an inch away but Hermione's hands were fast.

She had them around his neck in minutes and were forcing herself towards him, inviting him, moving him to kiss her back.

Her tongue moved gently out of her mouth, gently teasing his lips to open, to accept her kiss to take her in as he had always done so without reluctance, without fear and without second thoughts and merely taking her back.

She moaned in his mouth as she forced her kiss to deepen against his lips until he takes it.

And sooner than he could stop himself, Snape found himself softening against her arms.

His hands had slowly relaxed, his head slowly tilted forward towards her and slowly but surely, his mouth moved and opened and he slowly accepted her kiss and returned it.

But that only took a split moment.

The moment that Hermione felt him accept her kiss and return it, she had suddenly let go.

She titled her head back at him and pulled herself hard and fast away from the kiss.

Snape opened his eyes and looked up at her.

But before he could comprehend what has happened, Hermione's hand was fast and hard against his cheek.

He felt as if his jaw moved at her slap.

He looked up at her, eyes wide in shock.

"Liar." Hermione breathed out angrily. "Liar. You told me you didn't love me but I know you're feeling otherwise-"

"Hermione-"

"I will get you out of here and you don't trust me?" she asked him moving herself from him.

Snape opened his mouth to say something but Hermione shook her head.

"I will get you out of here, whatever it takes. I'll do anything to get you out-"

"I'm no longer redeemable, Hermione." Snape simply said, his face turning passive again. "I'm no longer redeemable and you should go and move on with your life, Hermione. Forget about me, forget whatever it was-"

"No, you don't get to tell me what to do anymore. I will get you out of here. There is a way – there must be a way out of this place-"

Snape moved forward in protest and was to say something when the metal doors slowly opened.

They both looked up, anticipating that Draco would tell them that their time was up and that he had to take Hermione back with him.

But it wasn't Draco who revealed himself by the door.

It was Harry.

Hermione's eyes widened in surprised.

Snape's black eyes turned wide all the same and he stare back at the boy who was pointing his want right up at him.

"Potter." Snape breathed out as Hermione quickly moved in front of him to protect him.

He moved a step but Hermione blocked him and placed herself before Snape.

"Harry." Hermione breathed out, eyes alarmed at the wand raised in his hand.

Harry stared at the both of them with a quiet stance that scared Hermione even more.

Harry, silent as he was with only a wand raised, was way scary than him saying anything at all.

"Harry, please let me explain-"

"Malfoy's alive and outside." Harry slowly said with an amused tone. "He would probably be out for a couple of hours-"

"What did you do to him?" Hermione asked alarmed. "What did you-"

"Ssh, 'Mione." Harry said closing the door behind him and taking a few steps forward them. "Malfoy is not included in this meeting. Things need to get done so I suggest that the both of you sit down."

"Potter, lower your wand-" Snape whispered as he gently moved a step forward but Hermione held her place

He felt Hermione open her other hand in his back, signaling him to take her hand.

Snape gently and softly took her hand.

Hermione breathed and held it firmly for a moment.

"Harry, please-" Hermione said keeping her eyes on Harry's raised wand.

"Sssh, 'Mione. I said sit down and things will be done here in order."

"Harry, I'm begging you, please just lower your-"

"Where were we?" Harry asked them as he slowly pulled a chair opposite the two of them and sat down.

"Harry-"

"Are you going to sit down and listen to my proposition or am I just going to kill him?" he asked nodding towards Snape.

Snape pressed Hermione's hand behind her back and they both slowly sat down opposite Harry.

Harry's eyes were out of its right context.

He was staring at them like he was a completely different person.

His eyes were unblinking and all kindness and warmth in them had vanished completely.

There was nothing but a cold stare and a pair of emerald eyes filled with hatred glared back at the two of them.

"What do you want?" Snape asked through gritted teeth.

Harry's eyes flashed right at him.

He kept his wand up and alert and ready to strike and kill anytime.

"What I want?" Harry asked with an insulting laugh. "Are you kidding me?"

Hermione stared up at him and recognized that scary mocking tone he had.

"Harry-"

"Maybe it's you who needs something." Harry said staring up at Snape and completely ignoring Hermione.

Snape's black eyes glinted but he didn't say anything.

"No, I don't need anything from you-"

"So maybe I should kill you now?" Harry offered. "Lessens your anticipation and fear of dying at the hands of the Dementors."

"I'm not scared of the Dementors." Snape said. "Nor am I of you."

Harry didn't look amused at all.

His face showed no emotion at all.

"Good then." Harry said raising his wand. "So maybe then I could just-"

"No, Harry please-" Hermione begged reaching out for him.

Harry looked up at her and back at Snape.

"You were saying something awhile ago, Hermione?" Harry asked her looking up at her with a warm smile. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help but eavesdrop and overheard some things."

Hermione stared at Snape then back at Harry.

"What are you saying?" she asked firmly.

"You said you're willing to do whatever it takes for his life, yes?" he asked her slowly.

Hermione stared back at him, scrutinizing his facial expression and words but got nothing from it.

"What do you want, Harry?" Hermione asked him. "What do you want?"

"The question is what are you willing to do 'Mione in exchange for his life?" he asked her.

Hermione didn't say anything.

He had been outside this whole time, listening to everything that they had been talking about.

"What do you want, Harry?" Hermione asked him back. "What do you want in exchange for you to get him out of this?"

Snape stared up at Hermione.

He had never hear her that brave before.

Harry raised an eyebrow at her.

"You know what I want." Harry said clearly. "The question I have for you is that – what are you willing to do in exchange for his life?"

Silence in the stone cold room echoed.

Snape stared at Harry with such anger he could barely control.

Hermione stared back at Harry, observing him and his gaze and looking for any loophole in his offer.

But after a moment that seemed like forever, Hermione breathed out and moved herself closer to the table.

Snape held her arm beneath but she moved his hand away and stared straight towards Harry.

"Well?" Harry asked, awaiting her response with an indifferent smile over his face.

"Anything." Hermione answered with a very determined look over her face. "Anything, Harry."


	42. Chapter 42

_**Chapter Forty Two**_

 _ **Christmas**_

 _"_ _Fuck you, Potter."_

 _Snape bent down and picked up his fallen books while the bell overhead continued to ring signaling the beginning of the final morning period before lunch takes place._

 _"_ _Here." said an almost lazy tone._

 _Snape looked up and his battered looking Advance-Potion Making notebook was being handed to him._

 _It was Narcissa Black._

 _"_ _Thanks." Snape muttered taking it from her hand and avoiding her gaze._

 _"_ _What happened to you?" she asked seeing the small mark across the side of his face._

 _He had just finish a row with Potter and his bestfriends and he had almost lost was he not able to defend himself at the last minute – but it had cost him to have all his things scattered all over the corridor._

 _Not one stopped from their tracks to help the skinny Slytherin boy who had always been bullied by James Potter and his gang._

 _"_ _Nothing." Snape answered stashing the last of his books in his bag._

 _Narcissa's eyes narrowed at the sight of his battered bag that was at the verge of breaking from its age and all its contents._

 _"_ _1706 Trademark of Victorino's Leather bags." Narcissa noted staring at his bag._

 _Snape nodded and moved it farther from sight as if ashamed from letting the world see his tattered bag._

 _It was a very old bag – given at the end of their first year to him by Lily Evans._

 _"_ _Yeah." Snape murmured. "Tale as old as time."_

 _Narcissa stared at the boy and crossed her arms._

 _Snape avoided the lady's gaze from her._

 _He knew her from the other Slytherins – she was ahead of the year, severely eyed and courted by Lucius Malfoy and was ahead of all the student in all their subjects in their year._

 _She was also a Black, a known Pureblood family who was closest to the Malfoys._

 _He had heard stories of her – or rather them – and how fond the Malfoys were of her and how they had planned to marry her to their beautiful son, Lucius Malfoy at the moment they finish Hogwarts which wasn't too far from the present time._

 _She was cousin of Sirius Black as well._

 _And she also had a sister – a crazy one._

 _Snape turned on his heel to leave and head for his next class when Narcissa called him back._

 _He slowly turned, reluctant what she would need of him._

 _She usually ignored him in the Slytherin Common Room or in the library when they see one another, let alone in the dining table of the Slytherins._

 _She was popular, rich and intelligent but she had always been quiet and seemingly feared by her peers._

 _He wondered then if he had done anything at all to upset the lady._

 _"_ _You're that boy." Narcissa said with a small smirk over her face as she crossed her arm again. "That boy that Lucius fondly talks about."_

 _"_ _He talks about me?" Snape repeated in slight surprise._

 _She was able to gain his interest in the mention of it._

 _He looked excited for a moment but that quickly faded upon realizing that he didn't want his emotions shown towards anyone else._

 _"_ _Yes." Narcissa said taking two steps forward him at the now empty corridor. "He always does. Didn't you know?"_

 _"_ _What did he say?" Snape asked unable to stop himself._

 _Narcissa smiled at him upon seeing the interest over his face and the undeniable glee upon finding out that Lucius wasn't just toying around with him but actually wanted to be his friend._

 _"_ _A lot of things." Narcissa replied. "That you're that boy who's extremely skilled at Potions, that boy who's ahead of all his classes – oh yes, he tells me exactly how brilliant you are and how much he'd like to put that into good use."_

 _"_ _Yeah." Snape said with a little proud smirk over his face. "He did tell me that I was good for my age in Potions."_

 _"_ _So I've heard." Narcissa agreed. "From professor Slughorn himself. He speaks highly of you and that red-haired girl you're always with."_

 _Snape's expression turned slightly sour._

 _He looked like Christmas has ended and he looked ready to leave again._

 _"_ _What?" she asked him. "Did I say something wrong?"_

 _"_ _Nothing." Snape quickly said wanting to change the subject._

 _Narcissa's eyes narrowed and she looked closely at him._

 _"_ _Yes, that girl.." Narcissa slowly said. "I barely see her with you anymore. I do see the both of you at that corner of the library but since the term began it seems that you're no longer-"_

 _"_ _I don't want to be rude but do you need anything from me?" Snape asked obviously annoyed at her question._

 _They were both Slytherins but they weren't close and Snape didn't want her prying on his life – especially on that particular subject._

 _If Narcissa was angry, she didn't show him._

 _No, she remained her stance - she remained quiet and composed as that rich kid that she was raised to act._

 _"_ _I wanted to show you something." Narcissa said in a straightforward manner._

 _"_ _Show me something?" Snape asked. "Are you sure I'm the one you're looking for?"_

 _"_ _Yes." Narcissa replied coldly. "Do you think I'm stupid?"_

 _"_ _No." Snape spat back at her, annoyed at her dominant attitude. "I'm just wondering if it's really me because-"_

 _"_ _I already told you." Narcissa said as if she was talking to some daft boy before her. "I'm looking for you. Why do you think I'd wait for you outside the classroom and follow you here?"_

 _"_ _You followed me here?" Snape asked in disbelief._

 _Narcissa only stared at her, obviously losing her patience at the boy._

 _"_ _Look, no one has ever really needed me for anything so I was just wondering-"_

 _"_ _You're that boy that Lucius is so fond of, are you not?" she asked. "He can't stop talking about you – how brilliant you are and how he'd like to let you join his circle of friends-"_

 _"_ _Really?" Snape said. "He said that? He told you that?"_

 _"_ _Yes." Narcissa said. "As if you're not aware to where he is recruiting you. Am I not right?"_

 _Snape's eyes turned indifferent then._

 _Now she was talking about something else._

 _For a moment he thought that Lucius Malfoy was actually talking to him about him being brilliant and all that he'd like to spend time with him – like some bestfriend who found another._

 _Now he realized he kept talking to her about him because of his persistent decision to have his 'brilliance' in both Potions and using magic be put into good use – be placed into a use of his special circle of friends._

 _"_ _Don't tell me you're not aware." Narcissa said. "You know, his friends who calls themselves 'Death Eater' for-"_

 _"_ _I'm aware." Snape cut short. "I'm aware of what you're talking about."_

 _"_ _Good then."_

 _"_ _Are you with them then?" he asked her. "One of the Death Ea-"_

 _"_ _No." Narcissa quickly said, her eyes glinting. "I'm not one of those."_

 _Narcissa said the last word as if it was the most disgusting thing to talk about._

 _Snape wasn't sure why he felt like she actually sound disgusted at the circle of friends of the boy who was known at school to be a ladies' man and yet has his eyes only for the girl in front of him._

 _Looking up at her, Snape realized how beautiful Narcissa Black was and how having her perhaps as a friend would earn him a couple more of good points and shots from the rest of the girls at school and might have a chance to redeem himself to Lily Evans._

 _"_ _So are you coming with me?" Narcissa asked him again calling him out of his reverie._

 _Snape blinked and stared up at her and nodded._

 _"_ _Right." Snape answered still not knowing if it was a good decision or not. "Where are we going?" he asked her._

 _Narcissa smiled at her and turned from him and began walking the other direction._

 _"_ _Hey. Wait up." Snape said. "I still have classes-"_

 _"_ _Nobody needs that Defense Against the Dark Arts crap." Narcissa called back at him as she continue to walk with Snape trying to catch up to her._

 _"_ _But I-"_

 _"_ _It's just a week until Christmas break. You can catch up in your classes after the holidays. It's not like they're going to teach us anything new this week. They're all just going to give us assignments for the holidays-"_

 _"_ _But I do have a class lecture on-"_

 _"_ _Do you really think you need all those crap?" she asked almost laughing at him as she gently stroke her beautiful long and shiny blonde hair._

 _Snape thought that her hair was just slightly longer than Lily's but that it had that sparkling blonde beauty that gleamed whenever it hit the smallest bits of rays of light that went through the snowy window of the castle as they walked down the corridors._

 _"_ _Yes – no." Snape quickly said. "Not that I – but where are we going-"_

 _"_ _To the library." Narcissa answered his breathless form. "Father just sent me a note that his donations of books for the Hogwarts library will arrive before lunch time. I want to see them myself."_

 _Snape's eyes turned bright and wide at the mention of new books and prospect that he'd be able to see up close and personal and at first hand the newly donated books by some rich Pureblood family._

 _He paced faster after Narcissa completely forgetting about his class and every other thing that troubled him this past days and weeks._

 _"_ _Am I allowed to see them?" he asked her as they turned another corridor._

 _Narcissa nodded at him and gave him an assuring smile._

 _"_ _Ofcourse. I'm a Black. My father had them delivered – I have every right to see them and anyone else I'd like to show them to. It's his Christmas gift to Hogwarts."_

 _"_ _Really?" Snape asked disbelievingly as excitement grew inside of him._

 _How rich could the Blacks be to donate such valuable books to their school?_

 _"_ _Really." Narcissa said. "We're friends now, are we not?" she asked him._

 _Snape's heart skipped a beat._

 _A new friend – a new Slytherin, Pureblood friend – and not to mention that she wasn't just pretty nor rich – but she also seemed a less scary and a bit more kind than Lucius and the rest of his friends he had been hanging out with._

 _But a sudden thought bothered him._

 _He stopped on his tracks and Narcissa paused and turned to him._

 _"_ _Would Lucius mind?" he asked her worriedly. "Do you think he would mind?"_

 _"_ _I'd like to see him dare to mind it." Narcissa said with a laced tone._

 _Snape smiled at her._

 _"_ _Are you sure?" he asked again although he looked like Narcissa had already bought the whole of him._

 _"_ _Bloody hell." Narcissa said rolling her eyes. "Are you coming with me or not?" she asked him._

 _"_ _I just want to-"_

 _"_ _Are we not friends, Snape?" she asked him with a smile that he just couldn't say no to._

 _"_ _Ofcourse." Snape quickly replied, obviously in dire and desperate need of new friends._

 _Narcissa smiled as they then continued to walk to the direction of the library._

 _"_ _Good then."_

 _"_ _You can call me Severus." Snape quickly offered following her like a dog who found a new master. "Or Sev if you'd like to."_

 _"_ _Call me Narcissa." she said as they turned to the last corner reaching the double doors of the library._

 _Snape nodded and agreed and then she turned to him with the kindest smile he had seen in a very long time._

 _"_ _Or maybe you can call me Cissy."_

 _"_ _Cissy?"_

 _"_ _Yeah." Narcissa said opening and pushing the double doors of the vast library. "If you are pleasing to be with and we get closer – maybe – I'd allow you to call me Cissy. Maybe."_

 _And with that, Snape followed her inside the library as she walked straight and steadfast towards the Restricted Section of the library where the newly donated books where to be found and where he had the opportunity to see them, read them and borrow them even before anyone else could know the information that new books arrived that day._

 _"_ _I'm sorry." whispered a low tone across her neck._

 _Hermione felt a pair of hands take her from behind her back and slowly close in around her waist._

 _"_ _Mione." whispered the voice again against her neck._

 _"_ _What?" Hermione said as she turned another page of the book in her hand._

 _It was late at night already, the winter wind was howling outside and Snape was smelling like he had drowned himself in a few bottles of whiskey before getting home._

 _They had a row that morning that ended in a fight that landed Hermione a punishment for which she wasn't allowed to use the library for unlimited hours for the coming four weekends that were to come._

 _"_ _Let's go to bed." Snape whispered pressing gentle kisses at the nape of her neck and running his hands around her waist and arms._

 _"_ _Go to bed." Hermione muttered flipping another page of the book._

 _It was nearly one in the morning already._

 _She was up all afternoon and all night when he had left her again._

 _He stormed out of the cottage and left her to tend to herself to find food in the house, to stay up and awake in wonder if he was coming back home and in anger for the punishment he had left her._

 _She was left with only a couple of hours use of their small library on a daily basis but not the freedom to use her precious library for the unlimited hours she wanted every weekend when he was out late staying selling his creations across town where usual late-night market buyers would most likely take and buy all of his products._

 _"_ _I'm sorry." Snape whispered and she felt his hand slowly reached up at the ends of her nightgown, slowly moving his fingers around the lace and had slowly reached up under it for her legs._

 _"_ _It's fine. Forget it. Just go to bed. I'm just going to finish this." Hermione muttered obviously still in controlled rage for what has happened._

 _She had seen a piece of newspaper from his things and was just about to take it and read it when Snape accused her of touching his belongings and fishing for things that made it very obvious that she didn't trust him._

 _Hermione tried to explain herself that she just found it laying around the house and intended to just clean it off but he had taken it viciously and had acted all deranged and started accusing her of her mistrust towards him._

 _"_ _Sweetheart, please." Snape whispered kissing her neckline, forcing her body to react towards him as his fingers began to make a tingling sensation against her skin._

 _Hermione sighed heavily, biting her lower lip and restraining herself as hard as she could to stop herself from responding to his kisses and touches._

 _"_ _I said it's fine." Hermione said through gritted teeth finding it harder by the moment to resist his touches._

 _"_ _Then let's go to bed.." he murmured against her neck, nipping her ears and licking it gently. "Sweetheart, come to bed with me."_

 _Hermione breathed heavily unable to stop herself from closing her eyes at the sensation he was emitting from her and at the automated response her body was making towards him._

 _She felt his fingers crawling at the back of her knees, creating slow and gentle circles before reaching up at the back of her thighs and slowly making its way between her legs and touching her in between on her clothed private part._

 _Nothing was ever private from him anymore for about a year now._

 _"_ _You can.." Hermione said unable to stop the moan that escaped her lips. "..can just go."_

 _"_ _I want to go with you." Snape whispered placing his fingers over her knickers and gently running them in circles in very slow motion and patiently waiting for her body's response._

 _He waited, kissing her neckline gently, nipping her ears and jawline and licking the base and inside of her neck._

 _"_ _Go away-" Hermione said trying to shove him away using her elbows but Snape gripped her harder around the waist._

 _"_ _Sweetheart, please don't resist it." Snape whispered against her neck, his deep and dark voice enticing him. "Just.. don't.. resist."_

 _Hermione sighed, tears threatening to fall from her eyes as his heated breathe against her neck and sensual touch in between her legs at her now damp knickers made her hard for her to moan again._

 _"_ _Yes, sweetheart?" Snape asked with a small smile across his lips knowing that he was going to win the night. "Yes?"_

 _"_ _Y-yes." Hermione moaned out as his fingers jolted over her wet knickers. "Y-yes, S-Severus."_

 _Snape smiled._

 _He was fast._

 _He quickly pushed the book from her hand and letting it tumble down the carpeted floor of their living room._

 _His hand around her waist twisted her around so that they were now facing one another and his hand on top of her knickers quickly moved out and about and he quickly reinserted it inside and was soon fingering her right through her very damp pussy._

 _Hermione closed her eyes, looking away in shame and guilt of herself._

 _"_ _Don't resist." Snape whispered taking her mouth to his "Don't resist it, Hermione."_

 _"_ _I'm not.. I'm.." Hermione gasped helplessly._

 _Her inability to move against him and his sensual touches were all to Snape's advances._

 _Soon, he had her nightgown lifted up and her knickers had fallen around her ankles._

 _She yelped, eyes wide as Snape suddenly lifted her off her feet, one leg around his arm as he shoved her right atop small cabinet next to their burning fireplace._

 _The two glasses of wine toppled over and luckily they were empty and went straight onto the carpeted floor so they didn't break._

 _Hermione moved and moaned as moved two fingers inside of her, scrutinizing her core and kissing her savagely against the wall._

 _Hermione's fingers painfully scraped and dug over his fully clothed back and he didn't mind at all – if any, it only increased his arousal for her._

 _"_ _S-Severus-" Hermione moaned unable to control herself any longer._

 _"_ _Just give in- just relax Hermione, just relax-" Snape murmured against her cheek as he continuously kissed her._

 _He sensually moved his mouth to her face, her mouth and neckline and gently moving it at the base of her breasts and nipping her right there._

 _But Hermione didn't and couldn't relax._

 _Despite that she had moaned more than the times she wanted to and her body responded to his kisses and touches, there was still the urge in her that resisted him – the urge that she was trying to put into a stronger disposition._

 _Snape could feel her resistance; he could feel her hands moving against him, unwilling to touch him in placed he wanted to be touched and her lips moved against him, her body withdrawing and sinking from him when it could._

 _"_ _Don't resist it." Snape whispered against her skin. "Hermione, shush,.. sweetheart.. relax. Don't resist and relax."_

 _But Hermione was already crying._

 _Her eyes were already tearing up in tears and she felt her body dislodging from her brain's command to surrender herself to him._

 _Sooner than she expected, they were in the bedroom and she was laid naked on their bed with Snape atop her taking full advantage of her body._

 _Hermione could only cry as he kissed her continuously._

 _He spread her legs wide, swinging them spread open over his shoulder giving him full access to her body and ensuring that she was locked in place._

 _Hermione cried and begged him to stop but he only dismissed her words and disregarded her feelings._

 _What was important at the moment was that she was there and fresh for him to take and to have._

 _Her legs hung forward over his shoulders and he pushed himself inside of her._

 _His long and hard member pushed through Hermione's damp opening._

 _Hermione cried in pain as he pushed, thrusted and moved in and out of her at a pace of his choosing._

 _Her hands hung over the side of his arm, gripping him hard for support as he laid himself on top of her, bucking hard and fast, uncaring for her feelings and merely licking away the tears that were flowing at the side of her eyes._

 _Snape was deeply embedded inside of her that he felt that he didn't want to move out – that he wanted to remain buried at the furnace of her core, at the depths of her soul where her pussy took him in fully, engulfing him and tightening and closing in around his shaft._

 _He reeled in the feeling, groaning monstrously as he moved up and down, in and out of her uncaring at the pain that he was causing the both of them._

 _He was breathing hard and fast, his voice caught in his throat as he savoured the feeling of her tight walls around his shaft that was to burst any moment now inside of her._

 _Whatever he was feeling at that moment – heavenly or beyond the depths of the heat of hell – he didn't care._

 _He even barely heard Hermione crying out loud in pain – no, she was no longer moaning in pleasure but actually crying out loud – crying for help, begging him to stop._

 _He pushed once, twice and for one last time and in one jolt, his cock bursted inside Hermione and they both feel all his come thrashing widely inside of her._

 _Hermione cried out in pain and in helplessness._

 _He kissed her, comforting her, placing gentle whisper and caresses over her face but she refused._

 _She could barely move and both her arms and legs were still tangled and locked around him._

 _Snape realized this and he quickly lowered her legs from his shoulders but collapsed on top of her._

 _His face collapsed right over her chest and he could feel her breasts rise and fall at her fast breathing and cries against him._

 _Despite the pain and exhaustion over her whole body, Snape could still feel her body doing its best to push him off of her._

 _Snape sighed and gathering the very little energy he still has, he moved away from her._

 _The moment half of his body lifted from her, Hermione quickly pushed him off her and turned over to her side._

 _He collapsed next to her, facedown and wanting to press the pillows over his ears as he could hear her miserable cries again._

 _It was getting louder and worse by the moment._

 _He felt her move next to him, tugging and gathering the blankets over the bed and forcing it around herself._

 _He could hear her coughing from her nonstop cries but she continued to tug against the blanket over the bed in an attempt to cover herself from him._

 _She faced away from him, her legs still damp from the cum that shot out from Snape when he withdrew from her, her lips red and swollen from his kisses and bites and her neckline now bruised from his bite marks._

 _Snape knew that it would take hours to calm her down again._

 _He also knew that she must fall asleep sooner because he would soon come and face a pain he neither wanted._

 _Snape collapsed completely next to her, he felt too exhausted to stay awake and wait for her to stop her cries._

 _His body was begging for sleep after all the things he had done for the past few days._

 _His body wanted to pass out and he knew that he would any moment now._

 _He moved over to his stomach, naked and buried deep into the drive of exhaustion grasping him to sleep._

 _And as his eyes closed, his senses giving up, he swore that as he listened to Hermione's cries it wasn't those tearful moans that bothered, annoyed and pained him – but it was the sound of her voice, begging and crying for help uttering one name and one name alone._

 _It was the one and only name that even just for that Christmas Eve he didn't want to hear._

 _That one name he seemed to be cursed to hear for the rest of the Christmas and days to come that he would be spending with Hermione._

" _Draco."_ Hermione gasped.

Draco was lying unconscious on the floor with a bleeding nose and side of his mouth just outside Snape's cell door.

His wand had fallen a couple of inches from his hand on the floor and he lay in an awkward position.

Harry had obviously attacked him from the back when he was defenseless and unaware.

"What did you do to him?" Hermione angrily asked turning to Harry who was literary dragging her by the arm to exit the corridor of Snape's high-level security cell.

Four Aurors also lay unconscious around Draco but they weren't bleeding nor did they looked like Draco attacked them in any harmful way.

If any, they only looked like Draco placed a Sleeping Charm on them.

" _Mercy_." Harry muttered gripping her harder as they turned down another corner. "I've given him mercy."

Hermione looked up at him with a scared and tearful expression over her face as Harry dragged her towards the main corridor.

She could feel the chill of the effect of the Dementors around the prison and she could glimpse the Aurors watching over the main hallway and lobby that led to Snape's secured cell.

They finally reached the ground floor of the prison.

Aurors were everywhere – whatever Harry said happened here must have caused all the Aurors to come to 'the rescue'.

"Everything alright, Mr. Potter?" asked one of the Aurors walking towards them.

"Everything is alright." Harry said gently letting Hermione's arm go and holding her hand instead.

The Auror nodded at him and stared at Hermione who was wearing a grimace over her face.

"Is she alright?" he asked worried of her expression.

"Dementors." Harry said with a woeful tone. "It's her first time to visit the place."

"May I inquire what happened?" the Auror asked.

A crease appeared in Harry's forehead that the Auror didn't notice.

"A misunderstanding." Harry replied. "But it led to slight inconvenience. I suggest you go upstairs and check on Mr. Malfoy."

"Malfoy?" the Auror repeated. "Draco Malfoy?" he asked.

"Yes." Harry replied piercing Hermione's hand because she opened her mouth to seemingly say something.

Harry eyed her to keep quiet and she quickly looked away from the two of them.

The Auror stared at her then at Harry.

"Mr. Potter, did you-"

"The prisoner upstairs – Snape –" Harry began. "His Defense Council seemed to think it like a nice trick here to have my fiancé see her captor for a little 'goodbye' chat before he is sentenced in a few. Apparently, Mr. Malfoy didn't think there would be – slight aggression – on his client's part. He longed only to protect my dear fiancé here but I think he was knocked out upstairs."

However it was in the name of gods that made Harry learn how to lie – it was very effective.

The way his eyes blinked, his facial expressions move, the tone of his voice – everything he had told the Auror seemed believable enough for him to worry about Hermione and be grateful enough to know that Draco – the accused's own Defense Council – sought to protect Harry Potter's fiancé.

It didn't really make sense nor matched up if you would take a closer look at it.

But he was Harry Potter and in this world that was saved by his presence and grace, his word was truth and law.

"I would have things settled." the old Auror said nodding at them. "I suggest you bring Miss Granger out of here as fast as possible as she looked terribly sick in being here."

"I agree." Harry said placing the back of his hand over her cheek and kissing the back of her hand.

Hermione gave a snort and a grimace.

"What do you say?" Harry sweetly asked her taking hold of her around the waist. "Let's go home, sweetheart?" he asked taking her hand into his.

Hermione didn't say anything.

Not a thing when the Auror smiled at them and bid them goodbye with a glee over his face to find such beautiful lovebirds like them in his age and time.

 _"_ _No, I don't want ten kids. Are you kidding me?" Hermione giggled splashing water behind her back towards Snape's face._

 _Snape sat behind Hermione in their large bath tub filled with soapy and bubbling water._

 _His legs were spread against the tiles of the tub with Hermione sitting right in between his legs and her body resting against his muscular body._

 _He had just finished magically tying her hair up in a bun so that he could kiss her shoulders, shoulder blades and nape of her neck without the disturbance of her long and soft hair._

 _"_ _I'm not." Snape whispered as he gently pressed small kisses at the base of her soapy and soaking neck._

 _Hermione shuddered at his kisses and he moved his arms beneath hers to help her relax against him._

 _Hermione reveled at the warm and comforting feeling of water around her body and Snape's enticing kisses._

 _They lay like that for what seemed like forever and the only sounds that could be heard were the small splashes of water when Hermione or Snape moved and then the sound of his lips against her skin._

 _"_ _Are we ever going to get married?" Hermione suddenly asked him opening her eyes as she rested her head over his left shoulder where his face gently moved against her cheek._

 _He ushered her head to move sideways so that he could kiss her neckline._

 _Hermione sighed as he pressed the same small kisses with a little bit of gentle bites here and there._

 _"_ _Ofcourse." Snape automatically answered her. "But there is a time for that."_

 _"_ _Right." Hermione heavily sighed closing her eyes again and simply forcing herself to relax against him._

 _In truth, he had been planning it for a long time – well, nine years was more than a long time to plan that._

 _But what he found out was that it wasn't a very easy task to do._

 _He wanted it – ofcourse he wanted to marry her – but the way of doing it wasn't easy._

 _Despite that he was able to recreate some identity for the both of them, he found out that recreating identities for a real marriage wasn't easy._

 _There was no way for them to get married without having the need to register their real identities and that could possibly raise problems._

 _In the Wizarding World, registering for marriage was also registering their magical identities._

 _Even if he wanted to register their marriage in the Muggle world where he could easily manipulate things and recreate identities, their names would come up in the Wizarding world's registry for marriage as it was part of them – as registered witches and wizards with a wand and with magical properties within them._

 _It was something that was connected to their birth rights._

 _And so wherever they may go – no matter how far from London – they would have the need to register their names and that was something he feared._

 _He feared that by chance, someone might come across their names and realized who they were._

 _Nine years was a very long time to be remembered by just any – but the problem was their identities._

 _They weren't just any witch or wizard – they had names known in the Wizarding world because of their connection to Harry Potter and the Dark Lord Voldemort._

 _It wasn't easy to hide._

 _And so he must wait for the right way, the right chance and the possible way of luck on their side._

 _He needed to be patient – but he wanted to marry her._

 _He didn't want her tagging along all his life as just some woman he beds._

 _He wanted their relationship to be legal as well – he wanted her to be Mrs. Snape – even just at that small town they lived in._

 _Just once, Snape wanted something pure, legal, normal and true in his life – even just once._

 _And it was a gift he could give to Hermione to ensure her of his love for her and to secure her forever in his arms._

 _"_ _I'm going to marry you, sweetheart." Snape whispered against her neckline. "I promise you that I will marry you."_

 _Hermione nodded and sighed as his arms crawled from beneath her back and slowly reached up above her body._

 _He moved her and inched her closer to him._

 _Slowly, he move his other hand towards the top part of her pussy and the other began massaging her right breasts – manipulating, squeezing and massaging her right breasts and pinching her hardening nipple against his hand._

 _"_ _S-Severus.." Hermione sighed knowing that his touches would make her come immediately._

 _Nine years – nine years was more than enough of a time to have Snape memorize every inch of her body, every part of her that reacted in certain ways he touched her, every inch of her skin that tingled and got affected at the slightest bit of the touch of his lips on it – he has memorized her like the lines in his hands._

 _"_ _Let's go to bed." Snape whispered nipping her ear and continuously touching her knowing that she was about to come. "Let's go to bed sweetheart."_

 _"_ _Let's.." Hermione sighed reaching her hands up towards him and moving her face up to meet his lips. "Let's go to bed, Severus and await the clock's chime for Christmas day." Hermione muttered, moaning and groaning as she felt his hands taking over her body and senses and his hard on pressing behind her back._

 _Snape smiled at her and took her mouth to his, allowing her to groan and moan loudly into his mouth as he kissed her deeply, passionately and gently taking hold of her whole body to carry her out of the tub and back to their bedroom where he could have her for the rest of the cold winter night._

Everyone was silent over the dinner table.

If anyone had anything in mind about or against what was happening, nobody spoke of it.

Harry had paid the whole of Madam Rosmerta's bar for the night for a 'Dinner Engagement Party' for his marriage to Hermione.

Madam Rosmerta was more than pleased to have her place be the location for this momentuous event for the Boy-Who-Lived and his fiancé.

It was something to be marked in history in her opinion.

Ofcourse Harry didn't think twice of choosing the place – not only was it the perfect place but it also gave him the perfect opportunity to broadcast his wedding plans for Hermione.

The place was well-known in Hogsmeade – Hogwarts students, alumni, faculty alike loved the place; people outside Hogwarts who had professions in or outside the Ministry and the Daily Prophet came to the place for a drink or to – anyone who was a normal citizen or had a well-known profession knew and love the place.

In other words, it was the best public place to be to have his so-called engagement party – it would be in a well-known place – a place that could quickly spread the news of his engagement to Hermione like wildfire.

Harry wanted it public, Harry wanted its great publicity – it would ensure that Hermione stays true to her word in their end of the deal that they had bargained back at Azkaban.

Aurors from the Ministry, Ministry officials and even some people from Hermione's trials came to the party.

The Weasleys were in complete attendance, a few of their Hogwarts friends even came and even McGonagall and professor Flitwick and ofcourse Hagrid came to the party.

Harry was having the time of his life – drinks overflowed at each table, the best dishes were requested for, the whole place reserved for their party until endless hours and everyone that Harry knew and cherishes were there at that a party.

Harry Potter could not ask for anything more than this kind of engagement party.

But for him, the best party of the party was having his fiancé, Hermione Granger, literary tagged along by his arm all over the place that he walked to – whether to grab some food, help serve some meal or talk to some of the guests – Hermione was seemingly literary glued by his side.

Hermione could only nod, agree, smile and thank the guests for making time for their engagement.

Nobody mentioned the trial – because it was such a great party and everyone seemed happy except for the Weasleys, for Lupin who sat next to them and the bride-to-be herself.

"We have a gown fitting in three days," Harry told Luna who was scribbling over her notes next to Neville who had just arrived from school duties as a professor at Hogwarts, "everything's well planned."

"Well planned indeed." Neville said with a smile as he stared over Luna's notes.

Luna now ran a new publishing company that was far and different from the Quibbler and being Harry's friend – she got the exclusive in Potter-Granger Nuptials and every details of it.

Lupin sat at the corner with his second cold beer in hand.

He was seated next to the Weasley's and the only reason he arrived was his fear of Harry creating havoc that may lead to unwanted circumstances.

And, he wanted to take a chance into getting Hermione in a corner and talk to her.

Apparently, two hours had passed and Harry had not let Hermione out of his sight at all.

He seemed very determined to keep Hermione by his side the whole night to ensure that nobody gets to talk to her and that nobody has the chance to sneak her away from him.

All in all, Hermione seemed like a dog on a leash that was being pulled by Harry at every corner of the party trained to do tricks such as – nodding, smiling and thanking the guests for their generosity to make time for their last minute created event.

"I'm tired." Hermione spat as they both walked down at the back of the bar to the ladies' room.

She turned and saw Harry standing behind her right outside the ladies' room.

"We're not yet going home." Harry said smiling at her and kissing the back of her hand.

Hermione quickly withdrew it from his mouth.

Harry reacted so fast that she felt pain in her back when he pushed her hard against the wooden door of the bar.

They were alone in the corridor and Harry could twist her arm right then and there and nobody would be the wiser about it.

"Do you see how many guests we have out there?" Harry spat back at her. "You're going to finish your business here and you're going back out there in the party and do the same thing you've been fucking doing for the past two hours. You're doing well, 'Mione – you only have two more hours to endure."

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Hermione angrily said taking her arm back from his strong grip.

"Ofcourse I am." Harry said with a smile as he let her hand go. "It's our engagement party, why would I not enjoy it?"

"That's not what I'm talking about." Hermione said with a gleam of hatred in her eyes. "You're enjoying this – getting everything you want, placing Snape in such a disposition that he doesn't have a choice, placing me in this situation where I don't have a choice-"

"Excuse me." Harry said and he suddenly grabbed her jaw and painfully held it. "You did have a choice on this. He did have the same choice. It's not my problem that your choices didn't match. But ofcourse, I'd prefer your choice because I'm close to you and not to him, right?"

Hermione tried to move against him but he only tightened his pincer-like grip around her jaw.

Hermione's face was so red in anger and pain that she looked like some freshly-picked tomato.

"I hate you." Hermione spat at him. "I hate you, Harry."

"I don't care." Harry whispered back at her. "I don't fucking care, sweetheart. You're going to marry me in a few days and that's all that matters-"

"How could you do this?" Hermione asked at the verge of tears. "How could you do this-"

"Because I could and because tomorrow at the trial, I'm going to save his fucking life before he gets sentenced. Isn't that the deal?" Harry asked her.

Hermione's silent tears fell.

Would her suffering never end?

Hermione didn't say anything anymore.

Harry glared at her then quickly let her jaw go letting her gasp and breathed out the pain he had caused her.

"Make your business fast because you have a fucking party to return to and guests to entertain and-" Harry moved closer and placed a soft kiss over her lips. " _A groom to please."_

And then with that, he turned away from her and walked down at the end of the hallway that led back to the bar.

 _"_ _Hermione!"_

 _Lupin nearly fell out of the guest's bed he was lying on when he heard Harry's deafening scream._

 _He scrambled to his feet and ran at the other side of the room towards Harry's bed._

 _He was aseat over his bed, trying to move around and about, forcing all the wires around him to be taken off him_

 _He moved wildly around, waving his hands up and around, throwing and thrashing around – he could move and throw as much things as he could and do everything that he could except to get down on the bed, let alone move his legs._

 _"_ _Harry, Harry, calm down." Lupin said quickly reaching for his wand with his free hand to send an alarm outside Harry's room._

 _He waved his wand the second time and pointed it directly over Harry's temple._

 _Within moments, Harry began to calm down._

 _His arms weakened and his screams faltered – he slowly lost energy as the magic he inflicted slowly drained his energy and was slowly putting him to sleep._

 _Soon, the doors opened and Medi-Witches and Wizards both came to the rescue along some other Healers._

 _Some quickly checked the wires that got disconnected from him and others quickly tended to the self-inflicted scratches that Harry placed upon himself in his haste and anger to get out of bed._

 _After half an hour, Harry was back on his place on the bed and was peacefully sleeping again._

 _Lupin thanked the other Healers and medics that came to the rescue even at the one in the morning._

 _It wasn't unusual – Harry wasn't the first patient to draw out tantrums and attacks such as that after a traumatizing experience._

 _But Lupin was beyond worried despite the Healer's opinion that this was nothing but normal._

 _Harry had been waking up in the midst of the night screaming for Hermione and having nightly nightmares of the night of the ambush._

 _It was very fresh from his mind – how they battled up in the air and how he helplessly lost Hermione in midair as they came crashing down from the air the moment they lost contact with their broomstick and with one another._

 _Harry would constantly wail in the middle of the night screaming for Hermione's name and screaming for her to forgive him and for fate to bring her back to him._

 _He kept screaming and crying in the middle of the night or sometimes just out of the blue for Hermione to come back and for fate to miraculously bring her back to him – how he swore he would take better care of her as long as it brings Hermione back to him._

 _It was a nightmare for Lupin._

 _As much as Harry was enduring, he had to endure every single day to see Harry like this – screaming beyond his wits, strangling Healers to get out of bed so he could get out of the hospital, screaming at people and thrashing around to let him out of the hospital so they could find a solution to bring him back to his feet so he could find Hermione as fast as possible._

 _Sometimes, Lupin wanted to cover his ears in the middle of the night whenever he would start hearing Harry groan in his sleep that would signify that he was beginning to have a nightmare._

 _But he could leave it to be so._

 _He would uncover his ears and quickly get out of the bed for the watcher and quickly go over to Harry and try to wake him up from his nightmares._

 _Sometimes he would wake up and just stare out of the blue and turn away from him._

 _Some night he would wake up and tell him he is alright and turn the other way but minutes later he would hear him silently crying under the sheets as if scared to cry out loud in guilt and shame of others knowing he was crying._

 _And some nights, Harry would just stay wide awake for hours – silent as he was as if he wasn't with them anymore and this scenario worried Lupin the most._

 _Sometimes, Lupin would toss and turn on his bed as he had the same nightmares already – of Harry losing Hermione and the scene that could be literary playing in Harry's mind over and over again of the memory of the night he lost Hermione._

 _"_ _Merry Christmas, mother." Draco greeted kissing her mother on the cheek as he placed a gift wrapped in emerald and silver packaging over the table._

 _Narcissa nodded and took a sideway glance on the gift he had given as he took a drink from the small table in their vast library._

 _Narcissa could hear him fill the glasses and drain one in one go and refilled it._

 _It was Christmas and Draco was home for the holiday break._

 _"_ _Am I not going to get a Christmas greeting?" he coldly asked draining his second glass._

 _Narcissa was quiet._

 _She kept her eyes over the fireplace and her fingers moving firmly against one another._

 _She remained quiet and passive and Draco didn't like that kind of silence from her._

 _"_ _What's wrong?" he asked pouring whiskey again on his glass._

 _He was sixteen, barely of age and he was someone that could be compared to a drunkard._

 _"_ _You know you're not allowed to drink." Narcissa's voice quietly came._

 _Draco drained another glass and smirked._

 _He loudly placed the glass down the marble table and moved from the table and walked towards her mother in a swaying motion._

 _"_ _For a moment there I thought you were asleep or something." Draco commented staring down at her._

 _Narcissa looked up at her own son and didn't know what to say._

 _She never raised him to be this way and yet here he was – the very boy she feared him to be._

 _"_ _Are you not even going to open my present?" Dracao asked her. "Are you afraid that it's going to have some curse as well and kill you?"_

 _Narcissa's lips pursed as she looked up at him._

 _"_ _What were you thinking?" she asked in a hushed tone. "What were you thinking, Draco?"_

 _"_ _Thinking?" Draco asked back in his drunken state. "Why would I go and –"_

 _"_ _Exactly." Narcissa said suddenly standing before him._

 _Draco wasn't intimidated – he was too drunk to realize the fierce look over his mother's face._

 _"_ _You weren't thinking." Narcissa said in barely a whisper. "You weren't thinking Draco and someone could've died and you would've been traced and be the first suspect!"_

 _Narcissa's angry voice echoed all throughout the vast library of the manor._

 _Draco only stared up at her, eye blank at her and lips pursing._

 _"_ _Is this how you're going to greet me a happy Christmas?" he asked mockingly._

 _He slowly turned to grab himself another glass of whiskey but Narcissa grasped his arm painfully._

 _"_ _Let my hand go-"_

 _"_ _I didn't raise you to be like this!" Narcissa said almost yelling at him. "I didn't raise you Draco to act this way! This isn't you! This isn't-"_

 _"_ _I don't have a fucking choice!" Draco angrily yelled back shoving his arm free from her mother. "I don't have a fucking choice!"_

 _"_ _You have a choice!" Narcissa said. "I could get you out of this – I could get you-"_

 _"_ _If father didn't mess up last year we wouldn't be in this position – I wouldn't be in this position!"_

 _Narcissa stared up at him._

 _She felt very pained and helpless at the thought that Draco was right._

 _There was really nothing she could do upon the punishment that the Dark Lord was placing Draco in._

 _She wasn't sure until what limit she could swallow everything that was happening to his son and the attitude for which he was showing._

 _He was reckless._

 _He wasn't thinking._

 _He was being stupid into thinking that he could do the Dark Lord's task for him._

 _"_ _You could've died, Draco!" Narcissa cried at him. "You could have died and there's nothing I could have done because I'm not there!"_

 _"_ _But I didn't die!" Draco said. "I didn't and that's a stupid thought – I'm not going to-"_

 _"_ _If the Ministry finds out – if they find out what you've done Draco – if the Order finds out that you've turned yourself to the Dark Lord and has become-"_

 _"_ _Shut up!" Draco angrily yelled grabbing the glass from the table and throwing it against the floor._

 _It crashed into pieces and the echoes of his mother's cries were heard thereafter._

 _Draco was breathing hard and fast._

 _Things weren't easy and his mother wasn't helping in his way of coping through the task the Dark Lord has bestowed upon him._

 _"_ _Draco." Narcissa pleaded. "Please listen to me. I can get you out of this – Severus can-"_

 _"_ _He's not going to take all the glory again, mother." Draco spat bitterly. "I won't let him have all the glory again. He'd done it once to my father and he's not going to do it to me-"_

 _"_ _Please." Narcissa said. "Severus is my dearest friend – trust him. He's going to protect you Draco – he's going to help you through the task and-"_

 _"_ _I said no!" Draco angrily said turning to her._

 _His eyes were wide and wild in anger and Narcissa momentarily saw a monster growing in her beloved son._

 _She cried and shook her head._

 _She moved her hands towards him but Draco shoved her hands away._

 _"_ _Draco, please. While we have time – while you have time – let Severus accomplish this task – this isn't-"_

 _"_ _I'm going to finish the task, mother." Draco said turning away from her. "Whether you believe in me or not, I'm going to finish that task and I'm going to bring back the glory of the Malfoys-"_

 _"_ _I don't need any glory, Draco!" Narcissa wailed at him. "I need only my son – just you. I only need you, Draco. Please. This task isn't for you. You're not going to survive this."_

 _"_ _Watch me mother." Draco said walking away from her. "Watch me mother-"_

 _"_ _Draco, no-" Narcissa cried. "Please, Draco – please-"_

 _"_ _Happy Christmas too, mother." Draco said and with that, he left the library and banged the doors behind his back._

 _Narcissa was left crying in the library, unable to stop herself and unable to control her emotions._

 _She moved across the room, staring angrily at the large room which she had all to herself._

 _It was Christmas Day and this was how the Malfoys celebrated it this year._

 _Lucius Malfoy was at Azkaban._

 _His son bestowed a task that he was meant to die doing._

 _And the lady of the manor, mourning the loss of the two men in her life._

 _Narcissa moved across the room, reaching out for the emerald and silver package that Draco had given her._

 _As tearful as she was, she moved across the room and took the gift that Draco had left him._

 _He was her dear boy – her only child, her only beloved son._

 _Narcissa unwrapped the box with her ring and bracelet filled hands._

 _She pulled away the silver ribbon and took away the emerald wrappings of the square-shaped box._

 _Pulling all the covers and ribbons away revealed a small box to her._

 _Narcissa sighed and gently opened the box and it revealed a black journal._

 _She lifted it open and flipped through a few pages – it was a blank journal._

 _Narcissa pulled the journal out of the box and a card and something else fell out from it._

 _Placing the journal back on the table, Narcissa bent down to pick up the objects that fell out from the box._

 _One was a small card with obvious handwriting by Draco and the other was a small shimmering object._

 _She picked both of the objects up and placed them over the table with anger and worry crippling her whole body at the same time._

 _She walked towards the small table where Draco had left the whiskey bottle and a glass._

 _Narcissa didn't really drink but in intense moments as that one she was having at the moment, she might as well find the strongest drink in Lucius' storage and drown herself with it._

 _After three glasses of the whiskey, Narcissa seemed to have calmed down – calm enough to hear that someone was knocking by the door for ten minutes already._

 _The door of the library slowly opened and the wizard servant entered and called her attention._

 _"_ _What do you want?" Narcissa demanded of the old man._

 _"_ _Young Master is packing his things. Should we allow him exit to the gates of the manor?"_

 _Narcissa turned from the table with Draco's gifts and walked towards the servant._

 _"_ _Where is he?" she quickly asked turning to the door._

 _"_ _At his room madame but-"_

 _"_ _Bring me to him." Narcissa said quickly walking out of the library._

 _The servant soon followed and began explaining to her what Draco was presently doing in his room._

 _Her worry had her forget at that moment Draco's gift on the table and the unread Christmas card he had written for her and the small key that went together with the journal._


	43. Chapter 43

_**Chapter Forty Three**_

 _ **The Debt**_

 _"_ _Hermione?"_

 _Hermione looked up at the darkened Gryffindor Common Room at the familiar voice._

 _"_ _Lumos." Harry muttered pointing the wand in the room._

 _The light of his wand flew up and lit above Hermione who was standing by the portrait of the Fat Lady._

 _Hermione waved her wand and lit the fireplace and extinguished Harry's spell._

 _He looked up at her and gaped at her appearance._

 _"_ _Are you alright?" he asked slowly as she walked towards him by the fireplace._

 _The Common Room was empty except for the two of them._

 _It was nearly two in the morning already and the Yule Ball has ended about an hour ago._

 _Hermione had spent the rest of the party crying by herself by the staircase._

 _"_ _Do I look alright to you?" she spat at him._

 _Harry stared from his sleepy state then realized that she was barefoot and holding her shoes._

 _Her Yule Ball dress was tangled up around her and her hair had gone back to its wavy and messy locks._

 _But what alarmed Harry was the way her make-up faded along her face especially around her eyes._

 _She had obviously been crying for hours._

 _"_ _What the hell happened?" Harry asked jumping off his side of the coach and throwing aside the book he was reading in preparation for the possible next task for the Triwizard Tournament._

 _Hermione didn't say anything._

 _She shook her head and bit her lip._

 _Harry quickly sat next to her and stared at her feeling confused and scared at the same time._

 _"_ _Why haven't you changed?" Hermione asked seeing that he was still in his own Yule Ball dress robes._

 _"_ _Ron's upstairs asleep already." Harry simply replied. "I thought I'd read here."_

 _"_ _I didn't ask about Ron." Hermione said staring closely up at him. "I asked why you're still awake."_

 _Harry slightly blushed._

 _In truth, he didn't like the Yule Ball at all and the preparations in came with._

 _He didn't like the idea that he took another girl to the ball when he really wanted to take someone else – that someone sitting in front of him right now._

 _He didn't like the idea that he didn't have the guts to ask her to the Yule Ball when she was always with him in all his classes, when they stayed and studied at the same dormitory and spent hours and hours together around the classroom, library, grounds and everywhere else in between._

 _He had let some Bulgarian jock ask her to the Yule Ball and now that the event has ended, here she was obviously crying about something._

 _"_ _I couldn't sleep." Harry answered avoiding her gaze. "Thought I'd read or so."_

 _"_ _You?" Hermione asked taking the book from the floor. "Read?"_

 _Harry only nodded._

 _Hermione stared at him with a concerned look over her face._

 _"_ _You're lying." Hermione pointed out with confidence. "What's going on? What on your mind?"_

 _'_ _You' Harry miserably thought._

 _He was mostly concerned at the look she had at the moment._

 _She looked so distressed and yet there was that beautiful gleam in her eyes and a pair of ears ready to listen on what was bothering him._

 _She always gave herself to others no matter the burdens she was carrying._

 _His mind was still full of regrets about tonight._

 _If only they managed to dance a bit more last night at the ball._

 _He was so distressed with the Triwizard Tournament, was constantly having his patience and temper tested by his peers lately, was so caught up with school work and was feeling both ashamed, excited, scared and anxious all the same into asking Hermione out to the Yule Ball for some unknown reason to him that the next thing he knew, she jumped into him after a Quidditch lecture meeting and told him in great excitement that Victor Krum had asked her out to the Yule Ball and that she said yes._

 _Ron was outward angry for her saying yes to the boy and told her that she was 'fraternizing with the enemy' and had been in constant bicker with Hermione regarding the subject._

 _And so he was left with no choice but to be the ears for Hermione to tell all her plans for the Yule Ball and how excited she was and how Victor had spent an afternoon or two with her in the library or had asked that they walk down the lake in between or after her classes._

 _And if he was ever displeased, he was quite good at hiding it from her her because she's never once seem to consider how he felt about her rants and stories about Viktor._

 _But tonight, seeing her crestfallen and crying over the boy – he will surely have to tell her how he disliked the boy and how he didn't want her around the boy._

 _He wasn't sure why, but he was jealous of Viktor Krum and wanted to punch him first thing in the morning when he sees him no matter the reason Hermione looked so stressed out at the moment._

 _He was so angry that he didn't get the chance to ask her to the ball nor really dance with her and then the boy had all the chances in the world and what did he do with it?_

 _He made Hermione cry._

 _"_ _Let's dance." Hermione's voice suddenly came out of the blue. "Harry?"_

 _Harry blinked looking completely confused._

 _Hermione was standing over him with her hand outstretched to him._

 _"_ _W-what?" he asked although he clearly heard what she had said._

 _Before he knew it, Hermione was pointing her wand around the room._

 _The fireplace's light slightly dimmed, sparks appeared overhead them like small stars and glitters in the sky._

 _It was beautiful._

 _"_ _Should I ask?" Harry slowly asked her, uncertain if she would allow him to know what exactly has happened._

 _He wanted to know._

 _He badly wanted to know._

 _He wanted a reason to motivate him to beat the boy in the next task or rather a valid reason to punch the boy._

 _"_ _No." Hermione simply answered but not unkindly. "Not even worth knowing."_

 _Harry nodded at her._

 _He respected her decision._

 _He always respected her decisions even if sometimes it didn't make sense to him._

 _She had always been brilliant and was often right so he didn't question her decisions even if they seemed at the edge or indifferent than the rest of the things he know of._

 _After all, he and Ron wouldn't have survived many things from the past years until today if not for her._

 _"_ _You're so beautiful, Hermione." Harry muttered unable to stop himself as his eyes strayed from the glitters above them and slowly down back at her._

 _She was seemingly glowing beneath the glitters overhead._

 _"_ _Don't be silly." Hermione said putting her wand and shoes down and standing before him._

 _"_ _I'm not being silly." Harry said standing up and taking her arm._

 _They both giggled._

 _"_ _Harry-" Hermione began looking up at him and not knowing where to put her hand._

 _Harry smiled at her despite that his heart was racing for some reason._

 _He sighed heavily and planted another charming smile over his face and Hermione actually blushed._

 _He gently took hold of her wrist and placed it over his other shoulder._

 _"_ _I think you should put it here." Harry said in an almost funny tone._

 _Hermione grinned at him and slowly placed both her other hand around his neck._

 _Harry didn't know now what to do as his hands were at the space around her body._

 _"_ _And I think –" Harry began not knowing if he should ask permission first to place his arms around her._

 _"_ _I think you're supposed to place them here, Harry." Hermione laughed placing both his hands around her waist and then settling her hand other hand around his neck as well._

 _They stood barely inches apart with their feet slow moving to an imaginary music they had in their heads._

 _They looked at one another._

 _They both stopped giggling._

 _They were both blushing for some reason._

 _Harry didn't know why but his heart was beating so fast again upon being that close to Hermione._

 _He had always been close to her and even had a chance once to sleep in the same room and the same bed with her in a late afternoon at the Burrow – but for some reason, something was very electrifying in their proximity at the moment._

 _"_ _Harry, I think-"_

 _"_ _I should have asked you to the dance." Harry said before he could not have the courage to say it. "I'm sorry I let that scum go with you to the dance and now you're all weary and crying and – well, I'm a pray because I wasn't sure you wanted go to the ball with me."_

 _"_ _I said yes to Viktor because I thought you'd never ask." Hermione suddenly said._

 _Harry stared, mouth slightly open and now no guts to say anything._

 _"_ _You what – I – hold on, I can't-" Harry began as Hermione blushed again as she simply nodded and grinned._

 _His heart was beating ever faster._

 _"_ _Well I – I'm – 'Mione, I just-"_

 _"_ _Are you asking me now?" Hermione asked with a small smile over her make-up stained face._

 _"_ _Y-yes." Harry said smiling at her and placing his hands closer around her waist._

 _He cleared his throat and tried to look serious while Hermione tried her best to keep her giggles low and restrained._

 _"_ _Don't laugh." Harry warned although he was restraining himself from laughing._

 _Hermione nodded and bit her lip as she stared up at him forcing a serious look over her face._

 _Harry smiled back at her – a serious smile and a gleam in his beautiful emerald eyes._

 _He had never looked that beautiful for Hermione._

 _Her mind was buzzing around like crazy._

 _She didn't know why she felt anxious, nervous with her heart beating extremely fast at that very moment._

 _Harry moved closer and raised his fingers to her face – he moved a few strands of her hair behind her right ear to clear it off her face._

 _"'_ _Mione.." he slowly began taking hold of her hand and the other not knowing where to settle at all._

 _"_ _Yes?" Hermione asked with a smile as she moved closer to him as well._

 _"_ _I'd like to ask you if you would like to come and dance with me to the Yule Ball?" he asked her nodding at both their Yule Ball outfits._

 _He was wearing his dress robes although he had untied the ribbon around his neck and Hermione already had her shoes off and her dress now hung around her body in a tangled way._

 _"_ _Why yes, Mr. Potter." Hermione answered giggling as she accepted Harry's hand around her._

 _He smiled and gently placed one hand around her waist and the other held her other hand._

 _"_ _Harry." Harry said as he gently wiped off the tears at the sides of her eyes before holding her hand back again. "My name is Harry."_

 _Hermione smiled at his correction._

 _Harry nodded at her and he gently moved her around the carpeted floor of the Common Room._

 _He began humming some melody that Hermione was sure that played earlier from the Yule Ball._

 _The moment lasted for what felt like forever._

 _Their feet both swaying at the right direction in a slow-motion movement, Harry's hands around her waist in an intimate manner like he's never done before, their other hands holding one another in such a different way, their eyes meeting in certain moments and a grin from one another like they've never smiled at that very manner towards one another before._

 _Both of them were blushing unconsciously._

 _Both of their hearts beating very fast and their minds confused at what was going on._

 _They couldn't point a finger on it but something was definitely different and something was going on._

 _The room's temperature seemed warmed than it had ever been before._

 _"_ _I'm not making it up." Harry said breaking the ice. "But you really are extraordinary tonight, Hermione."_

 _"_ _It's just the make-up and the hair thing, Harry." Hermione said looking away from him._

 _"_ _No." Harry said gently placing his finger under her chin to make her look at him. "You've always been beautiful. Any boy would be a prat not to know that."_

 _"_ _Harry-" Hermione began as he moved her face closer to him. "It's really just the night that's all-"_

 _"_ _It would have been perfect if I just asked you to be my date weeks ago but I'm a prat and a coward all the same."_

 _Hermione laughed but Harry was not finding it funny – he looked serious and romantic all the same._

 _Hermione stopped laughing and remained quiet not knowing what to say._

 _"_ _I would have said yes." Hermione admitted. "I would have said yes to you-"_

 _"_ _I know this may not be the right time with all that's happening and all Hermione but the task and the tournament is really getting on me and I'm not sure if I'll survive the next- "_

 _"_ _Ofcourse you'll survive it." Hermione cut short with the same confidence. "You will always survive anything, Harry."_

 _"_ _Because you're with me." Harry said straightening himself and moving himself just an inch apart from her._

 _"_ _Harry-" Hermione stopped dancing all throughout and even Harry stood still._

 _"_ _Hermione, I don't know what this is and I'm not sure if you would find it different or awkward or anything but I need to let you know that there's this something I'm feeling and I'm not sure if you're feeling-"_

 _"_ _I'm feeling the same something or whatever it is you're talking about." Hermione said the words as if she was in some sort of hurry._

 _Harry looked at her with a radiant glow in his eyes._

 _He looked like Christmas had come early and the next time that he spoke, he sounded a bit more confident._

 _"_ _I'd like to ask you if you would like us to date?" Harry asked unable to stop himself as he pushed all words from his mind out of his mouth._

 _Hermione looked at him with a slightly confused glare._

 _"_ _I mean not just for tonight –" Harry hurriedly said. "But you know – like date around school – like – Hermione, if you would-"_

 _"_ _Yes, I think I'd like that." Hermione answered helping him survive this very difficult situation for him. "I think I'd like to exclusively date you, Harry Potter."_

 _Harry's face gleamed._

 _The red in his face glowed even more prominent and he looked like he won the lottery._

 _Hermione stared up at him unsure if that's what he meant._

 _"_ _Harry?" she asked slightly concerned at Harry's stunned look._

 _He looked back at her with a racing heart._

 _"_ _Hermione, I-" he leaned in closer her as Hermione sighed and leaned closer to him as well._

 _Just when their faces where just about a breath apart, someone called their attention._

 _They both looked up but didn't let one another's hands go._

 _Ron was standing by the staircase of their dormitory and was staring at them with an utmost confused and awestruck look over his face._

 _"_ _Please tell me I'm not dreaming." Ron said seeing the two of them and their position._

 _Hermione bit her lower lip not knowing with what to tell him as he took the last steps and walked towards them._

 _Harry moved closer Hermione and placed his hand around his waist._

 _"_ _Ron, we were –"_

 _"_ _Please tell me I'm not dreaming and I'm seeing what I'm thinking." Ron said with an excited look growing over face._

 _"_ _Well, Harry and I were just-"_

 _"_ _Yes?" Ron asked excitedly. "Please tell me this is what I think it is-"_

 _"_ _Ron, don't go over excited." Harry began but he and Hermione began holding hands._

 _Ron looked like Christmas has arrive early._

 _"_ _Bloody hell." Ron said. "Mum will be very happy about this!"_

 _"_ _Ron, wait!" Hermione said but Harry only embraced her from the back._

 _She didn't do anything._

 _There was something more than comforting with his arms around her despite that she was slightly concerned of just letting the whole universe to know about this night._

 _She didn't understand it fully but she wanted it to be a secret first – something she could sleep with and grin with only to herself just for a few nights._

 _"_ _Ron we were-"_

 _"_ _Mum is going to go nutters. Do you know how much she's a fan of the both of you?" Ron said. "She was devastated when I told her that you're dancing with that scum this Yule Ball-"_

 _"_ _You told Mrs. Weasley what, Ronald Weasley?" Hermione spat back at him her expression changing._

 _Hermione made a step forward to grab and hit him but Harry held her in place around the waist._

 _She looked back at him and he placed his face over her shoulder holding her closer._

 _"_ _It's alright." Harry said winking at Ron. "I've also waited for so long to let the whole world know."_

 _"_ _What do you mean?"_

 _"_ _Well, he's been bugging me every single night what's going on with him." Ron said rolling his eyes. "Ever since he saw you and Viktor at the library the second week they were here."_

 _"_ _You were what?" Hermione asked laughing at Harry's expression._

 _"_ _He was stalking you. He was the one who first told me that you were dating him –"_

 _"_ _I said might have." Harry corrected him blushing away._

 _Ron waved his hand up in the air aside._

 _"_ _He had been ever so insistent that we follow you guys everywhere and all that-"_

 _"_ _You were the one stalking us?" Hermione asked in awe. "It wasn't Ron that was-"_

 _"_ _Yes, bloody hell. It wasn't me. I already told him time and again to ask you out and ask you to the Yule Ball but this bloody idiot didn't have the balls to ask you-"_

 _"_ _He asked her first." Harry reasoned out. "He was too fast and rude in my opinion. I was being a gentleman."_

 _"_ _A gentle man?" Hermione asked almost laughing._

 _"_ _Yeah." Ron agreed. "He had to wait to see you with another boy before he realizes what he feels for you."_

 _"_ _Is that true?" Hermione asked moving her head back towards him. "Is that true, Harry?"_

 _Harry didn't say anything._

 _He couldn't bring himself to answer as he was as red as a tomato._

 _He could only nod at her and face away._

 _"_ _Oh, Harry." Hermione whispered placing her hand over his face._

 _Ron rolled his eyes._

 _"_ _Anyway, I'm still here." Ron said turning from them. "I only checked why Harry's still not upstairs. I was thinking he was still bloody stalking you at the ballroom with Krum."_

 _"_ _I wasn't stalking her there tonight." Harry defended himself as Hermione gave him a look. "You saw me. I was here in the Common Room reading."_

 _"_ _Reading." Hermione repeated with a raise brow. "I'm sure you were."_

 _"_ _The prat wouldn't go to bed without you." Ron said and Harry gave him another look. "He thinks it's his job to make sure you safely go to bed tonight still a whole and in one piece."_

 _"_ _What's that supposed to mean?" Hermione asked laughing._

 _Harry placed her hand around her mouth._

 _"_ _Wait, what did he-"_

 _"_ _You're supposed to be the smartest witch of your time, isn't that right?" Ron asked her with a grin._

 _"_ _Let's go to bed." Harry whispered in her ear momentarily distracting her attention from Ron._

 _"_ _What?" Hermione asked confused. "What did you-"_

 _Ron and Hermione looked at one another._

 _"_ _I mean, we'll go back to our dorm and you go back to yours." Harry corrected himself and he suddenly stole a soft kiss over her cheek._

 _Ron gave a dirty look and turned from them._

 _"_ _I'm going to pretend that I'm not here. Goodnight you two."_

 _Harry and Hermione waited until Ron walked back upstairs and vanished from sight._

 _Hermione turned back at Harry who was still holding her around the waist._

 _"_ _I'm going to bed." Hermione softly said as Harry turned her around so they were facing one another._

 _"_ _Me too." Harry said holding her hand. "Let's talk again tomorrow and.. discuss things?" he asked hopefully._

 _"_ _Yes." Hermione said reaching up for him. "Tomorrow, Harry." Hermione said._

 _He smile at her and before Hermione could understand what was going on, Harry had leaned forward._

 _Their lips gently and warmly met for the very first time._

 _It was a short kiss._

 _But it was intimate and romantic and innocent in all ways possible._

 _They let one another go, breathing fast against one another's arms._

 _"_ _Goodnight, Harry." Hermione whispered with a smile over her face._

 _Harry stared at her beautiful and smitten face._

 _"_ _Goodnight, 'Mione." he gently whispered against her lips._

 _And soon, they parted after what felt like forever staring at one another and both fled to bed without sleep coming to their sense but only a complete bliss and unexplainable excitement for dawn to arrive so that morning would come sooner and they could see one another again in the morning as if it has never happened in the many years they already knew one another._

 _"_ _Go away, Cissy. I don't need your help." Snape spat as he continue moving around the Slytherin Commmon Room to pack his belongings._

 _The end of the long seven years of journey of Hogwarts has finally arrived._

 _Their last year – endured and survived by him – and today, well, today was the day that they would all be going back to their respective home._

 _Well for Snape, it was the last day he would be at that beautiful place with the best and worse memories of his life – and then he would be home for a few days and then he'd find a place to live in._

 _The important idea was that he was leaving Spinner's End – and that's what mattered the most at the moment._

 _Or atleast, that's the only thing that mattered that was left of him._

 _"_ _I didn't know you two call one another not just in first-term basis but in nicknames."_

 _Snape's eyes widened and he accidentally dropped the two books he was holding._

 _His neck almost snapped as he whirled around as fast as his head could go._

 _There, standing by his dormitory's doorway stood Lily Evans._

 _Lily Evans._

 _Lily Evans stood by his dormitory's doorway._

 _"_ _L-Lily?" he stuttered still unable to comprehend what was going on._

 _More than one year of not talking to him – more than one year of ignoring him as if they were never bestfriends nor schoolmates._

 _More than one year of existing with such pain and regret in his heart because of what has happened back in their fifth year._

 _"_ _What are you – what are – why –"_

 _"_ _I just wanted to bid you goodbye today." Lily said walking inside uninvited._

 _Snape stood frozen by his bed side as Lily bent down to pick up both the books he dropped._

 _He gaped at her as she placed both books over his bed._

 _She was already wearing her Muggle clothes – pants, blouse, a sweater and high-boots to protect her from the long walks that she mostly hated at the Hogwarts grounds._

 _Her red-hair was all wavy and down and her emerald eyes as prominent as ever._

 _"_ _Goodbye?" Snape repeated as if he didn't hear her._

 _"_ _Yes, goodbye." Lily answered folding her arms as she looked back at him._

 _Snape didn't know what to say nor do._

 _He has never spoken to her since they fought and she has never come this close of a proximity to him since that very day._

 _He had given up hope that they would ever talk again or ever be in good terms._

 _"_ _Good-bye?" Snape said again with his brain having a hard time catching up on what was going on._

 _Lily looked up at him with uncertainty._

 _She wasn't smiling but neither did she looked as murderous nor as cold as she had been over the time for which their friendship had gone down the drain._

 _"_ _Well we're leaving Hogwarts, aren't we?" she asked him with a snotty tone._

 _Snape only nodded._

 _His eyes and attention were still on how beautiful she still was – how melodic her tone still was and how mesmerizing her eyes still were._

 _"_ _Yeah-" Snape said unable to stop himself from slightly shaking and stuttering. "I guess – I guess we made it."_

 _"_ _Yeah." Lily said momentarily moving her hand around her hair and sighing heavily. "We've survived this place."_

 _There was some silence._

 _Snape wasn't sure if he could ask her to sit over his bed for which was normal back in the days when they were close and he could sneak her up in the Slytherin Common Room on a very rare basis._

 _But Lily neither looked like she wanted to sit on the bed_

 _In fact and in all honesty, she looked like she was merely forced and dragged there against her will._

 _Snape desperately wanted to read her mind – why she was there, why she was talking to him after all this time._

 _But he couldn't._

 _No, he couldn't bring himself to do it – not to Lily Evans._

 _Never to Lily._

 _But he was also in desperate need to know why she was there._

 _What was the big effort for?_

 _Just to say goodbye?_

 _Did she really want to bid him goodbye because she would never want to see him at the life they would live outside and after Hogwarts?_

 _He had the slightest hope that years after Hogwarts, he could have had a chance to redeem himself to her._

 _Now it seemed the opposite direction._

 _Should he try then to redeem himself to her at that very moment?_

 _"_ _Lily, I –"_

 _"_ _I wanted to bid you a good luck to your life, Snape." Lily said the words so fast that Snape barely heard it._

 _But he heard it._

 _He clearly heard what she had just called him._

 _They weren't friends again._

 _Redeeming himself seemed like a long-shot and a long-road ahead._

 _"_ _I see." Snape muttered unable to hide the disappointment over his face._

 _Lily wasn't stupid._

 _She knew why he reacted that way – the slightest bit of change in his tone, the smallest crease in his forehead._

 _They were bestfriends since they were kids and she knew every bit and inch of his features and reactions and actions and their meaning._

 _"_ _Then I wish you luck as well, Evans." Snape said as he took the two books from the bed to put inside his bag._

 _He was still using his tattered old bag that she had given him in their first year._

 _Lily's eyes momentarily moved towards it and back to Snape and then she looked away again._

 _There was a glimmer in her eyes that passed as she stare at the bag._

 _It was as if the bag meant something to her as well – it was as if it reminded her of the life they had fun living together._

 _Snape looked back up at her._

 _She was still standing there as if not knowing how to end the conversation or what else to tell him._

 _"_ _I know you'll do well after Hogwarts. I'm sure that-"_

 _"_ _Alright, fine this is stupid, Severus." Lily said finally unable to stop herself._

 _She looked up at him now with that glimmer in her eyes again._

 _She kept biting her lower lip that told Snape that she was very anxious about something._

 _His eyes softened at her and he nodded for her to sit on the edge of the bed._

 _She stared at him as if he was mad._

 _"_ _It wouldn't hurt." Snape muttered as he resumed packing his things._

 _Lily's eyes roamed round the empty dormitory, back at the doorway that viewed the Slytherin Common Room that was also almost empty and then back at Snape who was packing, back on the spot on the bed and back at him again._

 _"_ _Lily, I believe you also have to pack so if you-"_

 _"_ _Do you hate me?" she asked him suddenly as she sat down._

 _The edge of the bed move as her weight suddenly came down upon it._

 _Snape's face quickly turned to her with utmost surprise._

 _"_ _Ofcourse not." Snape said unable to stop himself._

 _His heart was beating fast._

 _They were going to talk about what happened._

 _They were going to talk about it and he may have a chance to redeem himself._

 _"_ _Then what?" Lily said impatiently._

 _"_ _I'm stupid." Snape said. "That's what. I'm stupid, Lily."_

 _Snape stared down at her at the edge of his bed._

 _She still had her arms crossed over her as if scared that Snape would come closer her and grab her._

 _"_ _Then why are you hanging out with her?" Lily asked in an accusatory tone._

 _"_ _With who?" Snape asked suddenly confused._

 _Lily's eyebrow raised._

 _"_ _With her." Lily repeated emphasizing the last word. "You know – Black – Sirius' cousin."_

 _Snape's black eyes slightly widened._

 _"_ _Cissy?" he asked her._

 _A flare passed Lily's eyes._

 _"_ _Narcissa?" Snape corrected himself in front of her._

 _"_ _Well, who else?" Lily spat back at him._

 _There was something angry and bitter in her tone that actually made him to almost smile back at her._

 _"_ _What do you mean?" Snape asked sitting suddenly on the edge of his bed._

 _Confused as he was with what was going on, he had manage to engaged her into a conversation and now she sounded like the same Lily who discussed and argued things with him._

 _He did have a chance to redeem himself._

 _"_ _Well for one, you call her 'Cissy' – " Lily said emphasizing the name with a tone and a face. "You just called her that so don't deny it._

 _Snape almost smiled again._

 _"_ _I'm bloody not denying it." Snape explained himself. "And yes, I call her that because that's her nickname – "_

 _"_ _Well you only call someone with by their nickname if you're very close to them-"_

 _"_ _Well, we are friends, Lily and that-"_

 _"_ _Why do you have to be friends with her?" Lily asked him with a slightly raised tone._

 _"_ _What's wrong now with being friends with her-"_

 _"_ _Well you could have any other right?" Lily said red in the face now._

 _"_ _Well, who do you suggest?" Snape asked back with a raised eyebrow._

 _"_ _Well I don't know." Lily said impatiently. "I mean really, is she the only person you could be friends? Don't you have any other friends to be with and to hang out with? Does it really have to be her?"_

 _Snape didn't say anything._

 _His black eyes was kept on hers and Lily suddenly felt intimidated._

 _She quickly closed her mouth._

 _She was red in the face upon realizing what she had just said._

 _But it seemed that it has already reached Snape's brain and heart to take back._

 _"_ _That's not what I meant-" Lily began but Snape was already ahead of her._

 _"_ _I get what you mean, Lily." Snape said in an almost hurtful tone. "And you know that I don't have friends anymore. Narcissa is the only one who'd genuinely would want to talk to me right now."_

 _"_ _And me?" Lily asked back with bitterness. "Are we not friends?"_

 _"_ _We haven't talked for more than a year, Lily." Snape said with the same bitterness. "I'm quite sure you haven't forgotten why."_

 _Lily didn't say anything._

 _She looked like she already regretted going there in the first place._

 _Snape seemed to have sensed the same thing._

 _"_ _You can tell me, Lily." Snape slowly asked without any doubt nor apprehension nor coldness in his tone._

 _"_ _Tell you what?"_

 _"_ _Tell me why you're here." Snape told her. "Why are you really here?"_

 _He asked in a gentle and warm tone._

 _He asked her like there had been no gap between them in more than a year they have not been talking._

 _He moved a little closer to her – close enough for her to feel his presence and that he wasn't mad at her but not as close enough as how it would have been if they never fought._

 _Lily bit her lower lip and grinded her teeth for a moment as if thinking if she should tell him._

 _Snape patiently waited._

 _But a boy could only wait as much._

 _Waiting done by a man was different._

 _He slowly resumed to his packing._

 _"_ _I didn't want to leave Hogwarts knowing we're not okay." Lily suddenly said looking away from him. "I didn't want to part this way, Sev."_

 _She called him 'Sev' – it was their term of endearment of some sort._

 _His heart was slightly racing and his hopes were going up._

 _"_ _Why?" he asked turning back to her. "Why now?"_

 _"_ _Because.." Lily began not knowing how to finish it._

 _She wasn't sure._

 _She wasn't even really planning this but it made sense to her._

 _She didn't want to leave Hogwarts were certain fights and misunderstandings or hung ups._

 _She even made friends with James Potter and the prat that he was and the annoying friends that he had around him._

 _"_ _What changed, Lily?" Snape asked her in a serious tone trying to look to her eyes. "What made you do this?"_

 _"_ _Well, James and I were-"_

 _"_ _Oh, I see." Snape said and his tone was suddenly cold and almost mocking. "Potter."_

 _Lily's eyes went up sharply at him._

 _"_ _That's not what I meant."_

 _"_ _I'm quite sure." Snape said completely losing interest and he returned to his packing gain._

 _"_ _I said that's not what I meant and what this meant-" Lily said standing up an explaining herself._

 _"_ _You don't know need to explain." Snape cut her short. "I've heard stories, Lily."_

 _"_ _Stories?"_

 _"_ _Stories." Snape repeated. "That you and that Potter have been going out and – "_

 _"_ _We haven't been going out-"_

 _"_ _It may have escaped your noticed but we're not good friends so I'm not going to fix things just because he told you so-"_

 _"_ _He didn't tell me anything – look, listen to me – we were just talking about Hogwarts and leaving and how it should be that we shouldn't have anything against one another and maturity is one-"_

 _"_ _I guess you're following what he says now seeing the two of you are together-"_

 _"_ _We're not together!" Lily said. "We're not dating or anything, Severus – and you should-"_

 _"_ _You should have remembered what he and his friends has done to me-"_

 _"_ _I haven't forgotten, Sev." Lily angrily said now. "I haven't forgotten and I'm not going to let him just get away with things –"_

 _"_ _I'm quite sure you wouldn't-"_

 _"_ _Look, Sev. That's what I'm trying to say here. James and I have been talking and how much that before leaving Hogwarts we shouldn't be against one another and we should just be as- he's willing to change-"_

 _"_ _Ofcourse he'd say that if he really wants to get into your pants which I'm quite sure you're barely aware of-"_

 _"_ _Excuse me, I am aware of James and his intentions and whatever he may be thinking will not be happening – I'm not daft Severus-"_

 _"_ _Well, whatever he may be thinking is not going to happen and you shouldn't be doing things just because he tells you so-"_

 _"_ _I don't do things that others tell me!" Lily was so angry and red now._

 _But Snape ignored her._

 _He had lost interest in their conversation the moment James Potter was mentioned._

 _"_ _Good. You shouldn't really."_

 _"_ _I take advises, Severus. But I'm not a puppet who does things as I'm told –"_

 _"_ _Good as well. Then you should know that I wouldn't do things just because he tells you to tell me things, Lily-"_

 _"_ _He doesn't tell me what to do! And I'm not even here-"_

 _"_ _Then you should know I wouldn't just change because he says so-"_

 _"_ _He didn't tell me to be here-"_

 _"_ _Well, I'm uninterested to whatever that scumbag told you and for whatever reason you're here-"_

 _"_ _I'm not here because of him – "_

 _"_ _Well, Lily I'm not even interested-"_

 _"_ _I'm here because Narcissa Black told me so!" Lily angrily yelled at him._

 _Snape dropped the books he was holding again._

 _His eyes wide and his heart skipping a beat._

 _He sharply turned to her._

 _She was looking beyond angry at him now._

 _"_ _What?" he asked her. "What did you say?"_

 _"_ _Your dear 'Cissy'." Lily began folding her arms at her. "She's the one who advised me about things that made me help James understand that they shouldn't be such prats and bullies especially to you-"_

 _"_ _What did you-"_

 _"_ _She was the one who enlightened me that I shouldn't leave Hogwarts feeling ill towards anyone." Lily said each word clearly and with spite in her tone._

 _"_ _Narcissa did what-"_

 _"_ _Narcissa was the one who made me understand about our friendship and how foolish I was about what I've done." Lily spat at him. "She's the reason I'm here, Sev and not James Potter."_

 _Snape stood frozen on the spot now knowing what to do._

 _His chance to redeem himself might just be slipping away from him at that very moment._

 _But to be given a chance to redeem himself towards Lily was bestowed upon him by none other than his newfound friend, Narcissa Black._

 _"_ _Lily I-" he quickly regretted everything he's told her. "I want to-"_

 _"_ _Well, aren't you uninterested?" Lily asked him angrily in the face._

 _Snape swallowed hard and took two steps towards her._

 _He reached out to her but Lily backed away._

 _"_ _I'm going to finish packing." Lily said turning away from him. "I'll see you at the train station."_

 _"_ _Wait." Snape said walking after her._

 _Lily stopped and slowly turned to him._

 _There was that angry look in her face but in her eyes, there was still warmth in them._

 _She wanted to fix things – she obviously wanted to fix them._

 _And Narcissa Black was the instrument to that ray of hope that just appeared._

 _"_ _Lily, I just want you to know that I'm sorry-" Snape began. "About everything that happened and I-"_

 _"_ _It's fine." Lily said. "But I'll talk to you after I pack when you're feeling better."_

 _"_ _When I'm feeling better?" Snape asked stunned. "Or when you're feeling better?"_

 _Lily didn't answer immediately._

 _She looked slightly off at him._

 _"_ _When I'm feeling better, Sev." Lily answered after a while._

 _She gave him a short smile._

 _"_ _What did Narcissa tell you, Lily?" he asked before he could stop himself._

 _Lily turned and gave him a peculiar look and smiled at him – her charming smile._

 _"_ _Everything." Lily said. "Everything that I should have always been grateful of."_

 _Snape was confused._

 _But she was giving him that smile that told him that things will be different._

 _A smile that gave Snape all the hope in the world that things would be alright – that they would be alright._

 _"_ _I'll see you at the train, Lily." Snape said giving her the same small smile._

 _"_ _I'll see you." Lily replied. "Same compartment, Sev."_

 _She smiled back at him and she looked like she wanted to say something else but she didn't._

 _Without another word, Lily turned back from him and left him to his packing and his thought._

 _The first thing that came to his mind upon her exit was where to look for Narcissa._

 _He badly needed to find 'Cissy' and thank her for what she has done._

 _He would forever be grateful of what she has done for them – for him._

 _Whether things would be better for him and Lily, whether he completely redeems himself to her or not, whether they still become friends after Hogwarts – he wasn't sure._

 _But one thing was for sure._

 _Hope was given to him by the only Slytherin friend he's ever really had._

 _Hope was given to him to redeem himself by someone he had made good friends with._

 _He finally had a chance to look up to a better future because of Narcissa Black._

 _He never trusted people but for the first time other than Lily Evans he knew that there was someone else he could finally trust._

Draco had three main problems at the moment.

First was that he needed to have his nose checked at the hospital because Harry had punched him so hard twice that he felt like a bone or two had been broken.

The second one was that Hermione was again with Harry – which was just as big as his third problem.

The fucking key.

They didn't get the answer to the fucking key they came for and instead, Hermione was taken away from the two of them.

Snape was sitting opposite him in the visitor's room with his eyes focused on the table before them.

The trial was to commence within a few hours' time.

"Why did you make the deal with him?" Draco asked unable to stop himself.

"I told you." Snape pointed out. "I didn't make the fucking deal."

Draco was just as devastated as he was.

He didn't know now how the trial would take place.

Snape had told him what has taken place when he was knocked out.

Harry swore that he would do something to evade him the Dementor's Kiss.

But that promise didn't mean that he would be out of Azkaban prison.

It was only the Dementor's Kiss he would be saved from and not from the wrath of the years that may be placed upon him as his judgment.

"I can't see a way for which he may save you from." Draco honestly told him. "This was a jest. We were outsmarted."

Snape stared at him and for a moment he saw a flash of the Draco Malfoy he knew before – the boy with so much hatred and spite for the world who had uncontrolled feelings and thoughts.

The boy who had always been lost and angry and confused all the time.

It had vanished as quickly as it had come.

"No." Snape simply told him. "We weren't outsmarted. This isn't a jest, Draco. Potter has plans."

Draco looked up at him.

He wanted to think that way too but he had analyzed the whole trial and his case and in any and each angle he looked at – Snape was going to down and suffer the Dementor's Kiss.

He had too many cases filed against him – all of which were major offenses – and each garnered a judgment worth of the Dementor's Kiss.

"No, he couldn't have." Draco said. "He doesn't know the law. I know the law."

"He is the law, Draco." Snape pointed out. "He has a way out of this. Potter would stay true to his word."

"Really?" Draco said with an annoyed tone. "Will you tell me the same thing an hour before you are Kissed out of your wits?"

Snape looked up upon him.

The boy had his feelings overcoming him.

There was strategy in Potter's plan and he was sure of it.

And because Draco felt defeated at the moment he wasn't thinking straight.

He was being the overly emotional Draco who had all hate I his heart like before.

"Potter may hate me and may want to kill me thoroughly but he will stay true to his word."

"How sure are you?"

"Very sure." Snape assured him. "Potter has a strong will. He would do whatever it takes to get what he wants but he has his own principles. He would get what he wants but he would never turn away from that principle."

"What makes you think of that?"

"He's a war hero, Draco." Snape pointed out. "All war heroes act the very same way no matter the time that passed."

Draco was silent for a moment.

He was still trying to think what Harry may be thinking.

Harry couldn't save him even if he stayed true to his words over his promise in exchange for Hermione.

He was guilty of each of the cases filed against him.

He was nowhere near redeemable from the Kiss.

Hermione's testimonies were nothing but futile attempts.

Even if his uncle was head of the Wizengamot, there was no use for that – the final decision would be vote for by the twelve members of the Wizengamot – all of them would likely vote for Harry's cause and not because he was Harry Potter but because the case was simple.

All evidences laid pointed straight to Snape's positive guilt.

There was simply no escape.

"So what do we do?" Draco asked him completely confused already.

"We wait." Snape simply answered him. "We wait for whatever magic trick Potter will pull out of his sleeve."

"Well I can't wait forever." Draco said taking his files from the table and packing it all up.

"Where are you going?" Snape asked him.

"Well if I can't save you at the moment because Potter will do that, might as well save someone else."

"Who?" Snape asked him.

"Who else?" Draco asked slinging his black bag around himself. "Your supposedly bride who is about to be someone else's bride to be."

 _"_ _You are the most beautiful bride, Hermione." Snape whispered as he stared down at her descending the stairs._

 _Hermione took his hand as she reached the final steps and kissed him on the lips._

 _Her hair was magically strung up in a beautiful bun with small strands dangling at certain areas._

 _Her face blushed to its full beauty._

 _She was wearing a pair of emerald earrings and the beautiful ring that Snape bought for her was sparkling around her finger._

 _Her white dress was beyond perfect in both their opinion or anyone else's for the matter._

 _It was long but not too long; the cut was perfect for her body with alignment that embraced her curves in just the perfect places._

 _Her beautiful collarbone became prominent from the cut of the dress and her beautiful shoulder blades was bare and beautiful behind her._

 _Real diamonds were studded around in beautiful lines across the ends of her dress and the cloth used for the dress was specially made from Paris._

 _It was beyond perfect._

 _She was beyond perfect._

 _"_ _Where are they?" Hermione asked excitedly._

 _For the first time in ten years, Snape allowed visitors at their cottage._

 _He needed them for the wedding – the Danish Minister who would be the master of the ceremony that he met in his business before and who had offered his service for him for free due to all the medication – potions – he made for him every time that helped improve his health; the old couple from the bookstore from which he always bought Hermione's books and the older couple from which he always sold his creations best._

 _A minister for the master of the ceremony and four witnesses that was required for the ceremony to become legal._

 _The wedding was perfect._

 _The garden behind their cottage was magically decorated by the two of them before the arrival of the visitors who knew nothing of their heritage._

 _Snape had Obliviated their memories and tinkered with them for the hours that would be required for the ceremony to take place for them not to realize that they were about to hear their real names and not the made-up names he had created for them._

 _It was also the first time that they would see his so-called bride._

 _It was the first time Hermione would see other humans than Snape in a very long time._

 _She was beyond excited._

 _And Snape wanted her to be the happiest bride – even just for one day where he would have to break all his made-up laws in the cottage._

 _"_ _It's a pleasure meeting you." the two old couple greeted Hermione as they pecked her cheek with a kiss and embraced her and gave their flowers and gifts._

 _Hermione was beyond excited upon seeing them._

 _Her heart was racing before she could contain it._

 _Whatever lies Snape told them about them or whoever they were since they were meeting for the first time, she no longer cared._

 _She no longer questioned Snape's decisions._

 _They had the visitors they required, a beautiful garden place for their wedding and a perfect dress – she had everything she needed._

 _Snape took care of everything that she ever dreamed for a wedding._

 _It was simple, private and intimate._

 _It was everything she wanted for a wedding._

 _What more could she ask for?_

 _Hermione talked and chatted with them not really knowing what to say as she was too excited._

 _She simply smiled, nodded and agreed upon the stories they told her about the stories Snape told them about her and about them._

 _They were waiting for the minster that was to be the master of the ceremony as Snape served some deliciously exceptional drinks and crackers._

 _"_ _What time is he coming?" Hermione asked embracing him from the back in the kitchen as their visitors chatted by the cottage's living room._

 _Snape smiled at her and continued to rearrange the table that would later serve the dishes he has already magically prepared to be served after the wedding._

 _"_ _He's to come in a few minutes, sweetheart." Snape said kissing the back of her hand as he turned to her._

 _"_ _I'm so excited, Severus." Hermione said looking up at him and pushing her body tight against him. "I really want to get married soon."_

 _Snape stared down at her with a hopeful gleam in his eyes._

 _He had never seen her this happy in the entire time they've been together in the cottage for years._

 _She looked as naïve and as excited and happy as she was the very first time she had a class with him._

 _"_ _Me too, sweetheart." Snape said whispered it to her ear and kissing it gently. "I can't wait."_

 _Hermione giggled as he pressed feather-light kisses around her ears and neckline and his hand gently moving around her clothed covered breasts._

 _Hermione moaned at his touches and she moved her face against him so they could kiss._

 _Snape took her mouth to his, unable to stop himself to fill in the hunger inside of him._

 _He had taken her a few hours ago and now he couldn't even keep any part of him from her._

 _He wanted her again as if the hunger for her was insatiable._

 _They were so engaged in their deep and passionate kiss that they barely heard the older couple calling them because of some noise from the outside._

 _"_ _Oh, he's here!" Hermione excitedly said moving herself away from him and pulling away from the kiss._

 _"_ _Hermione, wait-" Snape said moving her back to him to kiss her again._

 _Hermione giggled and kissed him again._

 _She playfully licked his lips before giving him another kiss._

 _"_ _More later, Severus." Hermione whispered as she moved his arms off from her and gently slipped away from his grasp as she excited moved towards the door to welcome their final guest._

 _"_ _Sweetheart-"_

 _"_ _Come now, we're about to get married." Hermione giggle at him turning away excitedly._

 _Snape was smiling unable to hide the glee and happiness over his face as he watched Hermione ran away from him in her beautiful dress._

 _And as he stared at her with thoughts of her and only of her, his smile slowly faded._

 _He suddenly realized what he had heard as they kissed as if it became suddenly so clear in his senses._

 _The cottage did have a bell for the day that he had placed and that was not what he heard by the door a few moments ago._

 _He heard something else._

 _His heart skipped a beat and it was as if something heavy had been stabbed right across his chest._

 _"_ _Hermione." Snape breathed hard as his head and chest both spun in pain and a vomiting sensation began to cripple his whole body as he attempted to run after Hermione to reach the door before she did._

 _But she didn't hear him call her._

 _She was humming, too excited and too happy to pay attention to the panic rising through him as he yelled for her name to come back._

 _"_ _No, no – Hermione-" Snape begged calling her and raising alarm to their guests just at the other room._

 _Grasping his wand in his hand, Snape ran out of the kitchen as fast as his legs could carry him._

 _Because he had just realized that the sounds that he heard were the sounds of the magical bonds and wards he had placed over the cottage that were being magically taken down by some vast external force and may only be done not by some Danish Muggle minister but by an external force that withheld such same strong magical force for which he created the wards with._


	44. Chapter 44

**_Chapter Forty Four_**

 ** _The Trade_**

 _"_ _Shit." Hermione muttered under her breath as she heard Snape arrive from the other room._

 _She quickly sat up straight over the couch in their living room and pretended to be immersed in the book she was reading._

 _She was alone in the cottage the whole day – a whole day of solace and time to think about things._

 _It has been weeks, a few months since the ambush._

 _She had nowhere to go but to stay with Snape._

 _She was wandless and no means to contact the outside the world but Snape._

 _He told her that the war was still on-going. He told her that it was unsafe to be out there and trying to contact Harry and the others might be dangerous._

 _He told her and promised her that she should just heal herself completely from her injuries and trust him that he will deal with things in the outside world and if there was anything significant or imminent for her to know he would let her know._

 _Nothing in the weeks and months that passed seemed to happen that was 'imminent' for her to know._

 _She only knew that the war was still on-going and she was being kept in the cottage for her safety incase the Dark Lord gets to her and finds her and uses her as leverage against Harry Potter._

 _Hermione had no choice but to be obedient and to stay and listen and follow whatever he had to say._

 _But that couldn't just stay forever._

 _There must be something, something – anything – she can do to get out of there and go back to Harry and the others._

 _But that thought of hers was quickly swept away the day they had a big row and then he came home injured._

 _She felt terribly guilty after that._

 _But that wasn't the end of it – they had engaged together in something beyond their relationship that was more than sensitive._

 _Their situation had been awkward and as uncomfortable as it could terribly be inside the cottage since then._

 _And the days passed that everything became more questionable – they would sleep in one another's arms in the living room and in the morning they would fight, there will be mornings he would come to her room and kiss her goodbye for the day before he would leave, nights she would stay up and wait for him and then they would kiss and make up and everything else in between._

 _Hermione felt she was going crazy in the entirety of it._

 _She couldn't leave him now not because of what was happening between the two of them – despite that she questioned herself if it were all right or wrong – but because despite and in spite of everything, he was taking very good care of her._

 _But was that all enough for her to accept the reality she was living in?_

 _Were holding her hand, kissing her on the forehead or cheek and brushing kisses on her lips and touching her something normal in their so-called 'relationship' in exchange for all the kindness and compassion he was giving and showing her?_

 _"_ _Hermione?" Snape's voice called out from the other room._

 _Hermione didn't answer._

 _She didn't want to talk to him nor deal with him at the moment._

 _Not when she was starting to question if everything that was transpiring these past few days and weeks between the two of them were still legal and normal._

 _"_ _Hermione?" Snape's voice called out entering the living room._

 _Hermione looked up as he walked in and stopped in front of her._

 _"_ _Sorry, yes?" Hermione answered looking up at him._

 _"_ _Why the hell are you not answering?" he demanded taking the book out of her hand._

 _Hermione looked up at him with a surprised expression at what he had just done._

 _"_ _I didn't hear you-"_

 _"_ _You're just here in this room and you didn't hear me?" Snape angrily asked her. "What, are you deaf now?"_

 _Hermione's eyes flashed in anger as she moved towards her book but Snape flicked his wand and it quickly flew into his hands._

 _"_ _That's mine!" Hermione angrily said._

 _"_ _I asked you why you didn't answer when I first called-"_

 _"_ _I didn't hear you!" Hermione wailed trying to take the book back from him._

 _Snape threw it out and away from her reach and then he looked back at her._

 _"_ _I asked you-"_

 _"_ _I didn't hear you!" Hermione only repeated standing up from the couch but Snape pushed her back._

 _Hermione stared up at him with fear in her eyes._

 _They just exchanged glares for a whole moment without a word._

 _Hermione blinked and looked away from him with a pout over her face._

 _"_ _I'm sorry." Snape said flicking his wand again and the book flew back into his hand. "I just got worried when you didn't answer."_

 _Snape slowly handed the book back into her hand and sat on the couch next to her._

 _"_ _I really didn't hear you." Hermione quietly answered taking the book and sitting back next to him._

 _"_ _You made me worry."_

 _"_ _I didn't mean to."_

 _"_ _I was worried when you didn't answer. I thought you-"_

 _"_ _There's nowhere to go." Hermione quietly said staring at the book in her hand. "I think you already know that."_

 _Snape didn't say anything._

 _Hermione sighed heavily and turned back to her book._

 _The only thing that could be heard for a few minutes were Snape's labored breathing from his exhaustion from wherever 'work' it was he came from._

 _Hermione's mind was then back to her book._

 _But that didn't last long._

 _Slowly, she felt Snape hands move around from the couch and slowly settled over her lap._

 _She didn't say anything nor did she move._

 _She pretended to be reading and was acting as if she didn't notice his hand that was now slowly moving over her lap._

 _She sighed heavily as she flipped another page and was doing her best not to react to him._

 _She knew he was watching her closely – awaiting for her response or reject to his actions towards her._

 _It only took him a moment before he had taken his hand from her lap then was now slowly massaging the inner of her thighs._

 _He nudged his fingers a couple of times for her to part her legs a bit more so that it could accommodate the space he needed._

 _Hermione bit her lower lip and tried not to move._

 _She felt Snape move closer towards her over the couch while his hand continued to run over her legs._

 _"_ _Hermione?" he whispered leaning closer to her and breathing against her ear._

 _"_ _I'm reading." Hermione simply said feeling her skin tingle at the touch of his hand over her skin and his warm breath against the side of her cheek that slowly moved towards her neck._

 _He breathed out to her, gently brushing his nose and lips at the side of her cheek again and moving his fingers between her legs for her to part it._

 _"_ _Did you like the new selections I left you this morning?"_

 _Hermione nodded quietly but was irritated at the question._

 _Did he not see that it was the book she was enjoying?_

 _Or rather was enjoying awhile ago._

 _"_ _Hermione?"_

 _"_ _Yes." Hermione answered through labored breathing._

 _He moved and prided her legs apart and Hermione slowly slid them apart but only for barely an inch._

 _He sighed and moved closer to her._

 _This time, he openly placed a kiss over her shoulder before resting his hand in the gap between her jawline and shoulder._

 _His hand had moved a little faster and impatient now around her legs._

 _"_ _Did you know there are new editions I've seen today at the same store?" he slowly told her._

 _Hermione only nodded and parted her legs a little more as he nudged them further._

 _"_ _Sweetheart?" he slowly whispered._

 _Hermione's eyebrows quirked._

 _Now that was new._

 _He called her 'Hermione' or 'Mione' or "Miss Granger" or sometimes 'insolent child' but never that term before._

 _She thought she's heard him say it once or twice but never this close nor as vivid as the moment that just passed._

 _"_ _Sweetheart?" he whispered again and this time just over her neck before placing a kiss there._

 _Hermione sighed heavily, breathing hard and loud and clear for him to hear the stress he was causing her._

 _"_ _That's interesting to know." Hermione simply muttered under her breath._

 _Her mind was nowhere in the book she was reading._

 _She had lost all the mind and will to continue reading._

 _All she could think about was his hand running over her leg and how she was going to shove it away or how she was going to run back into her room without being rude or showing such disrespect towards him._

 _"_ _I think I want to sleep early tonight." Hermione muttered as he continued to massage her leg._

 _He was creating small circles, enticing her with his touches as he now began to openly place soft and small kisses around her shoulders, at the side of her shoulder and neckline._

 _"_ _You want to go to bed?" he asked softly against her ear and he licked it once._

 _"_ _Wait-" Hermione said as he moved to her now, closing in the gap between the two of them._

 _Snape's black eyes stared at her as he moved his hand further down the gap of her legs._

 _His other hand found its way behind her back securing her on the couch next to him._

 _Hermione closed the book now and turned to him unable to stop herself from showing her irritation at what he was doing._

 _"_ _Please stop –"_

 _"_ _Ssh." Snape whispered dismissing her words with a kiss._

 _He broke the kiss and stare at her waiting for her reaction._

 _She didn't say anything. She couldn't say anything._

 _She was looking up at him with what looked like a mixture of fear, confusion and anger in her eyes._

 _He couldn't point which and he obviously didn't care because he moved his face again to her and nuzzle her face with two more soft brushes of his lips._

 _"_ _Sweetheart?" he called her again as he gently jerked his hand between her legs._

 _Hermione stared up at him with a defeated expression._

 _"_ _Yes?" he asked her softly. "You would like to have the new editions of the books I've bought you last week?" he offered her._

 _Hermione bit her lower lip._

 _The books he bought her the previous week were all about enchanted places and other geographical places that deciphered old magic._

 _It was one of the most interesting selections she has ever read in her entire life._

 _A new edition of the set sounding even more enticing than what she has previously read._

 _"_ _I don't have the money for it." Hermione managed to blurt out knowing she could no longer think straight with his hand roaming between her legs._

 _"_ _Who said anything about paying for it?" Snape asked her with a gentle smile._

 _He was smiling at her – something he rarely ever does really and something Hermione missed in her surroundings._

 _She liked it when he smiled._

 _Not that his smile was enticing or that it made him the more handsome or what._

 _But his smile reminded her of the many good smile her family and friends had._

 _Seeing it every once in a while made her feel happy and comfortable._

 _"_ _I just –"_

 _"_ _I just want to know if you want it." Snape said. "Because I was already planning on ordering it for you before it runs out."_

 _Hermione didn't say anything and Snape knew that she was weighing her options._

 _"_ _Come." Snape said. "I can have it reserved by tomorrow. And I also bought you your favourite dinner."_

 _Hermione's eyes widened at the mention._

 _She had been dead hungry the whole day._

 _He left her some bread and butter and a couple cans of dried fruits._

 _But nothing that made her really full for the day._

 _And hearing her favourite – a platter of pasta, some meatloaf and two more delicacies that he had bought her the other day sounded enticing._

 _"_ _Meat loaf?" Hermione asked unable to hide her excitement and hunger._

 _Snape nodded and smiled further at the look over her eyes._

 _He nodded with a genuine smile at her own smile and excitement._

 _"_ _I'm starving." Hermione truthfully said._

 _Snape smiled at her._

 _He leaned forward and kissed her once, kissed her twice and thrice._

 _She welcomed the kisses without question and her legs parted at their own accord._

 _Snape smiled further at the response of her body towards him._

 _"_ _I knew you would love my surprises for you, sweetheart."_

 _"_ _I do." Hermione moaned in his mouth as he gently pushed her back down over the couch._

 _He had her legs parted for him while his hand reached back and down between her legs._

 _She had given him full access to her body and his fingers started to move towards the band of her undergarment._

 _Hermione's eyes narrowed and all the glee in her face quickly vanished._

 _Snape's face was now busy around her neckline and then at the crest of her chest just over her cleavage._

 _He flicked his tongue over them and sooner than Hermione could comprehend what was happening, her undergarment was already over the carpeted floor and two of his fingers were already inside her core._

 _She uncomfortably moved against his movement but all the same she only closed her eyes and let him do what he wanted to do._

 _He kissed her in parts and places for which she usually didn't allow him to do so but maybe he was exhausted enough today that he forgot those boundaries._

 _Hermione swallowed hard and closed her eyes as she felt his mouth forcing its way to the inner of her bra so that he could kiss and lick and suck over her breasts._

 _She moaned and she felt it was something she should not have done._

 _Snape had gently taken out his fingers inside of her and slowly placed them over her buttoned blouse._

 _It seemed that to him her moaning was some sort of response for him to agree and continue._

 _But before she could even react and defend herself, Snape was already unbuttoning her blouse and was unclasping her bra as he kissed her thoroughly._

 _Hermione's legs were apart now and he knelt in his pants between them while his lips continued to roam around her neck and inside her mouth and his hand groping her now exposed breasts._

 _Hermione closed her eyes in both the sensation, shame and guilt over her face._

 _She felt his tongue moving in and out of her mouth and later he was lathering it across her breasts and hardened nipple and was soon sucking them while his hand moved back inside her and was fingering her enticingly._

 _She emitted moans of pleasure that she couldn't help from escaping her lips and she was extremely damp between her legs as he moved his hand in and outside her._

 _But at the entirety of it she wanted to cry._

 _She wanted to call out for Harry but knew that he wasn't going to hear him._

 _She wanted to push him away and to tell him that she didn't want what was happening but she was damn scared that he would get mad or that he would tell her again how ungrateful she was._

 _She wasn't sure if what was happening was normal or was something that was bound to happen to whatever relationship she was having with him._

 _She wasn't sure of the many things that was occurring all at once but she was sure of one thing and just one thing alone:_

 _She needed to survive._

 _She needed to endure and survive thoroughly even just until a few days or weeks or maybe another month or so until she had the strength and will enough to find a way to get back to Harry._

 _And maybe by that time, Harry would also find a way to get to her and find her even with or without Snape's help._

 _And until that day would come – which she had hoped against hope would only last for a few more days – she just needed to endure, accept and revel on what was happening between her and Snape._

 _He was tired and she understood that._

 _He was tired and was alone and is exhausted in the many tasks that has been abandoned for him to do._

 _She was the only one who understood him at the moment._

 _She was also the only one she has at the moment._

 _After all, he had saved her life._

 _After all, he was an Order member and he was bound to protect her no matter._

 _After all, he would surely take good care of her no matter what happens._

 _After all, she was sure that he wasn't going to do anything that will really physically harm her in any way._

 _After all, what was her body in exchange for all the good things he has ever done for her and for the Order – all the sacrifices he has made for all of them?_

 _After all these – what was her body, a few caresses and kisses – when every day for the many years that has passed, Snape had sacrificed his own mind, power, time and physical well-being to save the lives of many others not just in the name of the Order of the Phoenix but above all others, in the name of the light?_

 _What was a little trade like a sacrifice if it meant that she could be assured of her safety until she gets back to Harry?_

"A bit of a trade you had there." Draco said entering the Auror's office at the Ministry and throwing a large copy of the Daily Prophet over Harry's desk.

People stared but Harry nodded to tell them that he had everything under control.

He stared on the cover page where it was his and Hermione's beautiful picture making the headlines:

"Potter-Granger – Finally To Tie The Knot"

"Did you like it?" Harry asked with a smile as he stared up at Draco's expression.

"You're a bastard." Draco muttered under his breath as Harry smiled before closing the door of his office to keep their conversation private.

He flicked his wand and all the curtains closed down and they were completely blocked out from view from the outside.

"You should be grateful." Harry pointed out with a smirk as he sat behind his desk. "You should be at Azkaban right now for doing what you've done."

"What I've done?" Draco repeated with a mocking expression.

"Yes." Harry simply answered with a satisfied smirk over his face. "You could have been in there - but you know, my fiancé is very generous and she didn't want any hang-ups until our wedding day-"

"Where's Hermione?" Draco angrily demanded.

"She's busy." Harry said. "She's doing a lot of things and errands for our wedding. Quite sweet of her actually knowing a have so much on my plate right now here at the Ministr-"

"Hand her over, Potter." Draco demanded knowing he was in no place.

Harry stared at him for a moment then he burst out laughing at him.

"Are you kidding me?" Harry said. "What do you think of her? Some Golden Snitch I'm going to just let you win out- "

"Isn't that what you're doing?" Draco asked back. "Isn't that what you're-"

"You should be grateful you're not salivating right now at Azkaban, Malfoy. Because of Hermione, I've requested that you remain to be untouched despite all that shit you've done to-"

"You've bargained and traded Hermione for all the-"

"You don't have a say on anything that I do, Malfoy."

"I am concerned because-"

"Be concerned of your client, not of Hermione."

"I'm going to-"

"I'm going to see you too at the trial this afternoon." Harry finally said drawing out his wand.

Draco placed his hand inside his robe but Harry raised a hand to warn him.

"You're in the Aurors' Department, Malfoy." Harry gently said. "Do you really think you'll walk out of here unscathed if you draw that on me?"

Draco didn't say anything.

He was shaking so hard in anger that he looked like he was just going to attack Harry by means of arms.

Draco slowly lowered his arm and Harry smiled at him.

"You should be thankful of the trade, Malfoy." Harry slowly said. "Or else you wouldn't even be standing there threatening me if it wasn't for that."

 _"_ _What's on your mind?" Hermione asked sitting in front of Harry._

 _Harry looked up from the book he was reading and stared at Hermione's questioning glare._

 _He closed the book and at up on the bed as Hermione closed the door behind her._

 _"_ _Nothing much." Harry said but Hermione knew that he was lying and was bothered by something._

 _"_ _Do you want to talk about it?" she slowly asked sitting at the end of the bed._

 _Harry shook his head and smiled at her._

 _He didn't want to tell her that he was bothered by Dumbledore lately._

 _He has noticed the old man's indifference towards him whence he always seemed to be his favourite._

 _Or maybe he just imagined all those things._

 _"_ _It's nothing." Harry said. "Not really but it's alright."_

 _Hermione looked unconvinced but she didn't push the subject further._

 _She knew that Harry would tell her if he was ready._

 _They always trusted one another in that way._

 _"_ _Well alright." Hermione said with a smile as she reached for the book he was reading._

 _It was a Quidditch history book._

 _Something she has given him over the summer before the term began._

 _"_ _This is the only time you're ever interested on reading anything about history." Hermione brilliantly pointed out._

 _Harry smiled and reached out to her._

 _He gently pinched the end of her chin and smiled at her._

 _Hermione leaned forward him and their faces inched closer together and against one another._

 _Hermione was silent as Harry slowly reached up towards her hands and gently played with her fingers._

 _"_ _Maybe we should go downstairs and help them?" Hermione suggested and Harry sensed her slight nervous state as he held her close and held her hands._

 _"_ _Maybe." Harry muttered mindlessly. "Or maybe you can just stay here with me?"_

 _"_ _Harry, they might need our help in preparation for the Christmas dinner-"_

 _"_ _No, stay here." Harry said and there was that undertone of worry in his voice._

 _Hermione felt worried about him._

 _She looked up at his slightly worried expression._

 _"_ _You will tell me when you are not alright, right?" she asked._

 _"_ _Yes." Harry simply said as he helped her up the bed._

 _Hermione sighed and laid herself against his chest across the bed._

 _Her heart was slightly beating faster than usual and Harry was feeling the same way._

 _Neither of them spoke as they lay there on the bed together while their hands held one another._

 _It was no secret to anyone but they still didn't do anything that crossed the boundaries that they knew shouldn't be crossed._

 _And after all, they needed to give respect to the house and the people who owned it that was housing them for the Christmas holidays._

 _Harry's 5_ _th_ _year wasn't easy as it started with him having to go to the Wizengamot trial court._

 _It was the first time he's ever had to go there and he did think that he was going to be expelled._

 _Then there was the trouble with the new DADA professor who was by far – more crazy than any other bad teacher they've ever had._

 _Her adamant behavior towards what she called 'right and wrong' was beginning to be real trouble in the school._

 _And then there was that indifference from the headmaster himself, Dumbledore._

 _Harry hadn't talked to him in a long time and he felt that the old man was avoiding him._

 _He was there a few hours ago as he visited Grimmauld Place for the holidays – or rather to check on the Order members._

 _Not that Harry felt he was very important but he felt slightly off when the headmaster didn't even seem to want to see him even if they were just a few rooms apart in Sirius' house._

 _And let's not count the bothersome dreams he kept on having._

 _"_ _Mrs. Weasley is making your favourite pudding." Hermione said after a while. "The twins also finished decorating the living room with Sirius."_

 _"_ _He's happy, isn't he?" Harry said with a smile. "Never seen him that happy in such a long time."_

 _"_ _I think this is one of the happiest Christmas he's ever had." Hermione replied opening her palm as Harry touched her hand and started creating small circles inside her hand._

 _Harry agreed with her and continued to unconsciously touch the inside of her hand._

 _Hermione sighed and closer her eyes at the comforting sensation that Harry's fingers were placing over her hand._

 _It felt such a blissful night – the snow was falling beautiful at the outside of the house, their loved ones were downstairs preparing for the Christmas dinner and most importantly, they were together._

 _No, it was a really beautiful Christmas._

 _Harry and Hermione had been known to be going out or rather what others called 'exclusively dating'. And although nothing physically serious has ever happened between the two of them, their relationship seemed a bit more serious and a bit more sweet than those people who prided themselves by thoroughly showing a public display of affection._

 _Theirs was entirely different._

 _Theirs was entirely beautiful, pure and serious but nothing that ever really crossed the boundaries of being ever so physical like that of what Ron and Lavender was presently doing around school with the other known couples at school._

 _After what seemed like an hour, they both fell asleep holding one another's hands and in each other's arms, thoroughly savoring and reveling in the feel of a blissful night that was being given to them._

 _They only awoke when they heard Ginny come up the stairs and knock by their door and asked them to come down for the food because Mrs. Weasley wanted everyone in the dining hall for the meal._

 _Harry and Hermione excitedly went down the stairs holding one another's hands and laughing about something._

 _They could hear the joyful conversations of the people that were already down the stairs as they both happily went down._

 _They were halfway down and only a few steps from their joyous sprint when Harry suddenly halted and Hermione actually bumped over his back and they both nearly fell off the stairs if Lupin wasn't able to hold Harry at the last minute._

 _Hermione however slipped the few steps, bumped over Harry and tumbled at the last step and nearly fell on her face if Snape wasn't there to catch her right away._

 _She looked up and saw the brooding face of Snape staring down at her._

 _He held her by the arm and the other by her wrist and was looking at her as if he wanted to reprimand her and take off points._

 _"_ _Sorry, professor." Hermione said quickly standing on her feet as Snape let her hand go as quickly as he had caught her with his fast reflexes._

 _Hermione then realized that the two might have been talking privately at the end of the stairs when they went sprinting down the stairs._

 _"_ _Careful, Miss Granger." Snape's soft voice came about as he stared down at her. "Be mindful of your actions."_

 _"_ _Sorry, really sorry – didn't see you and professor Lupin-"_

 _"_ _Come on, 'Mione." Harry's voice suddenly came._

 _Before Hermione knew it, Harry had taken her hand and had placed himself in between her and Snape._

 _He was looking up at Snape with a spiteful glare while Lupin stood staring at them._

 _"_ _I think Molly is looking for the two of you." Lupin said seeing the glare that Harry and Snape were exchanging._

 _"_ _Let's go, Harry." Hermione said knowing that Harry was just going to feel worse if he stays there with the man._

 _He had stopped giving Harry the Occlumency lessons._

 _"_ _Come." Harry said taking Hermione's hand. "Let's go eat."_

 _"_ _I would like a word with Miss Granger." Snape softly said staring at Harry. "Do you mind?" he asked._

 _Lupin stared at them and then nodded._

 _He gently placed his hand around Harry's arm._

 _"_ _Come Harry." he said but Harry didn't move._

 _"_ _What for?" Harry asked defensively._

 _Snape stared at him with a raised brow._

 _"_ _It's an academic matter." Snape said._

 _"_ _It's school vacation." Harry pointed out knowing that he was probably going to get some reprimand from Lupin for that._

 _Snape's eyes flashed in anger at what his response was._

 _"_ _This is a matter that does not concern you, Potter."_

 _"_ _Oh yeah?" Harry said. "You can say anything you would like to say to Hermione in front of me."_

 _"_ _And that is because?" Snape slowly asked with an annoyed facial expression._

 _Harry took hold of Hermione's hand and stared back at Snape._

 _"_ _And this is supposed to intimidate me?" Snape asked him._

 _"_ _No." Harry said. "This is supposed to tell you something."_

 _Snape looked both irate and amused by Harry's actions._

 _"_ _And that would be?" he slowly asked him in a mocking._

 _"_ _That I'm her boyfriend." Harry said with confidence. "Therefore I'm allowed to know whatever it is that you would like to tell her."_

 _"_ _Harry, please." Hermione's small voice came about. "Just go with professor Lupin. We'll be there in just a few minutes."_

 _Hermione nodded towards Lupin but Harry didn't move._

 _He was staring up at Snape with a vicious glare as if he knew something that the other two didn't understand._

 _"_ _How romantic." Snape said lazily. "However, I cannot empathize with this little news of yours-"_

 _"_ _Severus, if you please."_

 _It was Lupin._

 _He was staring at Snape as if warning him about something as his eyes strayed at Harry momentarily before going back at Snape._

 _It was a very awkward moment – the four of them standing in silence between the corridor and stairs and none of them seemed willing to move a muscle._

 _"_ _Harry, just go with professor Lupin." Hermione's voice came. "I'll be right there-"_

 _"_ _But 'Mione-"_

 _"_ _Just go." Hermione said._

 _She was staring at Harry with such a command that Snape's lips secretly thinned as he tried his best not to smile at the thought that Harry Potter – the Chosen one as he was called and the only Boy Who Lived after the Dark Lord's wrath – couldn't even argue with this girl._

 _He was so powerless over the girl's prowess over him._

 _Or perhaps it was something else – something that was ridiculously called love._

 _"_ _Fine." Harry said in a defeated tone letting her hand go._

 _Snape gave a curt nod towards Lupin who led Harry away._

 _"_ _Five minutes." Harry said with emphasis with his emerald eyes glinting at Snape._

 _Snape only smirked at him._

 _He waited until they were alone in the corridor and then he turned to Hermione._

 _She was looking quietly up at him with a nervous glance._

 _"_ _You're nervous." Snape pointed out. "Is something wrong, Miss Granger?" he asked her._

 _Hermione shook her head._

 _"_ _I'm fine, professor." Hermione said although she wasn't._

 _Something was amiss and different about Snape tonight and she felt quite uncomfortable to be alone with him for some reason._

 _No, they weren't alone._

 _There were people a few feet away from them – a whole bunch of people gathered in a party – was just about seven steps away from where they stood and yet she didn't feel comfortable at being alone in his presence._

 _"_ _What can I help you with, professor?" Hermione asked him before she loses her guts to do so._

 _"_ _Potter." Snape said. "It's about, Potter."_

 _Hermione's eyes widened momentarily that after all this time, Harry was the concern of what they were to talk about and yet he was insistent in keeping Harry out of it._

 _"_ _Harry?" Hermione repeated unable to hide her surprise and irritation. "But I thought you said-"_

 _"_ _How good are you with wandless magic?" Snape asked in a straightforward and business-like manner._

 _Hermione blinked._

 _She wanted to ask if the question was what she heard it to be._

 _"_ _I'm sorry professor, are you-"_

 _"_ _You've heard of wandless magic, yes?" Snape asked impatiently._

 _Hermione nodded._

 _"_ _Then you understand what I am asking of you?"_

 _"_ _I'm familiar." Hermione said. "But I don't think I'm an expert. I haven't done powerful casting spells that are-"_

 _"_ _I just need to know if you've done so." Snape cut short. "Have you?"_

 _"_ _Yes, I have." Hermione answered him staring at his black eyes with confidence. "I have done so."_

 _"_ _Good." Snape replied. "And you are consistently practicing this?"_

 _"_ _Yes." Hermione answered him. "When I have the chance and when I don't think I'd get into trouble for it."_

 _Snape seemed to consider her answer._

 _"_ _How good are you?"_

 _"_ _Excuse me?"_

 _"_ _How good are you with it in a scale of 1-10?"_

 _"_ _Eight." Hermione confidently answered again. "As I've said, it's only the large spells I cannot-"_

 _"_ _Good. Then I want you to do something." Snape said pulling out a parchment from the inside of his robes._

 _He slowly handed it to her in such a slow pace that their fingers touched momentarily._

 _It separated as fast as it had gone but Hermione could swear that she felt a twinge of some sort through that very short and minimal skin contact._

 _It felt different and foreboding in a manner._

 _Hermione opened the parchment._

 _There were side notes, dates and hours over what looked like a small-sized chart written and scrawled by Snape himself._

 _"_ _What are these?" Hermione asked confused._

 _"_ _Dates that Potter was supposed to have Occlumency lessons with me. Apparently, I am quite sure you've already known he's stopped-"_

 _"_ _You cancelled the lessons." Hermione said not meaning to sound accusatory. "I've heard that you've-"_

 _"_ _That's not the matter at hand, Miss Granger." Snape said simply dismissing her thoughts away._

 _Hermione fell silent but she was looking up at him with a different gleam in her eyes._

 _She never liked it when she was being cut short in her words or sentences especially if she knows that what she has to say had some importance in it._

 _"_ _Then what do you want me to do with it?" Hermione asked him._

 _"_ _Use wandless magic and mentally prepare him to learn closing his mind against the Dark Lord."_

 _Hermione blinked._

 _Did she just hear what she thought she has just heard?_

 _"_ _You want me to what?" Hermione incredulously asked. "You want me to tinker his mind and-"_

 _"_ _I want you to teach him to protect his mind."_

 _"_ _But why wandless?" Hermione questioned him. "Why should I do it if it's your job in the first place?"_

 _Snape's eyes flashed in anger at her obvious defiance of his request._

 _"_ _Are you going to do it?" he suddenly demanded of her._

 _Hermione's eyes widened at his tone._

 _She opened her mouth but Snape cut her out again._

 _"_ _Do you want to protect him and his mind from the Dark Lord or not?"_

 _Hermione gritted her teeth and was glaring up at him unblinkingly._

 _"_ _Yes, I want to." Hermione answered him._

 _"_ _Then you would do it?" he said although his tone was more of a demand than a question._

 _"_ _Yes." Hermione answered through gritted teeth already thinking how she was going to tell Harry how this conversation went by._

 _"_ _Good." Snape said with a satisfied smirk. "Do it. Start immediately. I want you to report to me every week at school how it progressed."_

 _"_ _But professor, how about-"_

 _But Hermione no longer finished what she was saying._

 _He shoved a small book in her hand and turned away from her._

 _"_ _What's this?" Hermione asked completely bewildered by the book in her hand._

 _It looked like an old and yet important book._

 _She turned it over and her eyes widened in surprise and excitement._

 _The author was a known Occlumens and the book was all about Occlumency and how to strengthen skills and magic on the matter._

 _"_ _Professor!" Hermione called out running after her down the hall. "Professor, what is this for-"_

 _"_ _A gift of trade." Snape simply said._

 _"_ _A gift of trade?" Hermione repeated feeling insulted. "I didn't ask that you pay me for this-"_

 _"_ _Everything has a price, Miss Granger." Snape said stopping on his steps but he didn't look back at her._

 _Hermione's hands clenched at her sides with the book in her hand._

 _She has never felt that insulted by Snape before._

 _He may have called her – an insolent girl, a know it all and many other things – but for him to tell her than he was giving her something in exchange for her to do something that was supposedly to be his job anyway – that was beyond._

 _She felt her anger rising and her blood boiling._

 _She has never felt this much hatred for the man who Harry has never trusted in his life._

 _She has always defended him against Ron and Harry and now she didn't know if she should still._

 _She felt extremely hurt by those small words for him._

 _"_ _Not everything has a price, professor." Hermione said walking up to him and facing him._

 _Snape looked down at her with a surprised look over his face._

 _He opened his mouth to say something when Hermione suddenly grabbed his hand._

 _She pushed the small book back in his hand._

 _"_ _Miss Granger-"_

 _"_ _I don't need that." Hermione spat at him. "Thanks professor, but no thanks."_

 _"_ _You know-"_

 _"_ _I know what I'm talking about." Hermione angrily said. "I'll do it without needing anything in return, professor."_

 _They exchanged glares and it was the first time that Hermione didn't seem intimidated by him._

 _"_ _It will help you-"_

 _"_ _I will make my own research."_

 _"_ _Potter's case is not ordinary. It takes extra –"_

 _"_ _I know what to find and how I can help him. You don't need to pay me anything-"_

 _"_ _I'm only giving you something that will help you and as you've said it was my job – I think it is only right for me to-"_

 _"_ _I said, I'll do it because I have to not because I'm paid for it."_

 _Hermione looked impatient and angry at the same time and it was a look that Snape rarely ever saw together over her face._

 _"_ _Miss Granger-"_

 _"_ _You can't put a price on everything, professor."_

 _And then with that, she turned away from him and walked inside the dining hall slamming the door behind her._


	45. Chapter 45

_**Chapter Forty Five**_

 _ **Abandoned**_

 _"_ _Ouch!" Hermione gasped as a whole pack of bandage was thrown over towards her and has hit the side of her face._

 _"_ _Don't be such a drama-queen.." Snape spat. "You didn't die."_

 _"_ _I didn't die?" Hermione repeated aghast. "No, I didn't professor – I just almost burned."_

 _Snape didn't say anything._

 _He ignored her as he continued on opening another pack of bandages and then stirring a bluish potion over a cauldron._

 _Hermione sat on the small carpeted spot of his potions laboratory while he continued finishing the potion that healed burns._

 _Hermione was left with small burns at the side of her left arm and a very slight cut at the side of her face after attempting to go out of the door and leave the premises of the cottage within the perimeter of Snape's strong wards._

 _She sat there placing bandage after the first-aid that Snape placed over her._

 _Her eyes were swollen and left tear-streaked as she kicked and screamed at the pain that the burns caused her._

 _Snape told her that it she has just entered the first layer of wards and that it gets stronger from inside out._

 _However, Hermione felt otherwise._

 _For some reason she felt that the wards' level of pain were the opposite direction – stronger from the inside going out._

 _Which made a bit more sense at both parties – anyone from the outside attempting to go in would have the hardest time reaching the nearest point and anyone inside attempting to go out, wouldn't even get past the first ward level that person reaches._

 _Her eyebrows quirked at the thought that most likely that was the said person for the wards means from inside going out._

 _"_ _I told you there were wards." Snape spat throwing over a package of small clothes to be place over her burns._

 _Hermione didn't say anything._

 _It wasn't a major try-to-escape- plan of hers; she just really wanted to go out for a bit._

 _She had been with him for weeks and months now and she had just healed from a recent injury from the cottage and now another burn marks were at hand._

 _She wanted to ask him why he had to place such wards but knew that she wasn't going to get the answer she wanted anyway._

 _She wanted to go out._

 _She told him she was better and that maybe a glimpse downtown for any news from the Order or anything about the war would help her cope from all that depression she was having._

 _He had told her that he was 'too busy' in some of his tasks that he didn't have enough time for the past two weeks to find out anything about the Order's progress in the war._

 _Hermione would have believe this lie if only she didn't see the inconsistency on it._

 _Snape was becoming more inconsistent with his stories of the outside world that it made it hard for her to believe that he was telling the truth._

 _Therefore, she wanted to take matter into her own hands._

 _But every single time that she does – things go haywire – and she ends up hurt and Snape ends up tending patiently if not kindly to her needs and for the process of healing her._

 _She wasn't sure whom she hated more – herself, who was stubborn and who dismissed all of Snape's warnings that ended up true anyway or Snape, who kept her away from her family and friends and kept her in the dark and yet had always been there to tend to her needs and save her from whatever trouble or pain she gets herself into._

 _"_ _If you followed what I told you this would not have happened, Miss Granger."_

 _"_ _You've already told me that a dozen of times professor Sn-"_

 _"_ _And yet you seem deaf enough not to hear nor understand it- which leads us to this."_

 _Hermione looked up as he settled a potion goblet with a wine colour liquid and a paste-like potion that she was supposed to put over her burn marks._

 _"_ _This will hurt." Snape warned her. "I suggest you do it yourself."_

 _Hermione's eyebrows raised as she gulped the potion in the goblet and stared down at the paste._

 _"_ _What?" she asked hoping that he would be helping her to tend to the burns. "But you said-"_

 _"_ _I said I will give you a Calming Draught with effects that of an anesthesia that will last for about a few hours and then I will make you the paste to heal your burns."_

 _Hermione stared up at him and the difficulty she had to face._

 _He was really going to punish her for what she has done._

 _Her hands were both painful despite that only the other arm had a burn; her right arm was the first one to fell off the stone floor of the outside of the cottage and it was pressed hard on the floor upon her weigh and the impact it caused when she was thrown backward from the unseen walls of the ward._

 _There was no going out and there was no going inside the cottage and now she could barely even move from the injury._

 _"_ _What?" Snape asked her with glinting eyes._

 _"_ _Nothing." Hermione muttered taking all the paste in her arm and planning to heal herself in her room._

 _"_ _Where are you going?" he asked her._

 _"_ _In my room." Hermione answered. "Where I can fully tend to myself seeing that I won't be getting any help here-"_

 _"_ _Excuse me?" Snape asked her blocking her from the door. "Did I not warn you about the wards?"_

 _Hermione didn't say anything._

 _She tried to avoid his gaze knowing he was right._

 _"_ _Did I lack the responsibility upon telling you about the wards that you weren't supposed to cross in anyway?"_

 _Hermione still didn't say anything._

 _Snape took another step and she backed away seeing the anger and glint in his eyes._

 _"_ _You weren't even supposed to go beyond the premises I have placed upon-"_

 _"_ _I'm sorry!" Hermione angrily yelled at him. "I'm sorry alright?!"_

 _Snape stood there stunned at her ability to still yell at him._

 _His fists were clenching in anger with her attitude towards him._

 _She was so ungrateful after everything he's done and sacrifice._

 _He knew she hated the place and hated to be there with him but did she really think he as enjoying this so-called vacation they were having?_

 _People out there were dying and here they were – stuck in the cottage – unknowing really of the world and war outside and if it was even ever going to end._

 _He had just received news that Potter was presently invalid._

 _Hermione should not know about it at all costs because it would surely lead her to more tantrums and her will to get out of the cottage would only be stronger whence she cannot be close to her family or friends._

 _Harry Potter and Hermione Granger were both safe at the moment so as long as they weren't together._

 _The war must be won by the light and that needed them to be apart._

 _"_ _I'm sorry, professor." Hermione quietly said. "I really am sorry. I didn't mean – I just really want to go back to them and-"_

 _"_ _I don't want to hear this." Snape said dismissing her and turning away from her._

 _"_ _Professor Snape-"_

 _"_ _Go to your room and bring these things. I will follow to tend to your wound."_

 _"_ _But I-"_

 _"_ _I said go to your room and I will follow to tend to your wounds."_

 _And without another word, he opened the door for her to leave the laboratory so he could clean up and follow her upstairs and tend to her wounds._

 _Hermione bit her lower lip and nodded._

 _Teary as she was, she took all the materials they would need with her out of the laboratory and walked out of the room._

 _She heard Snape close and lock the door behind her obviously not wanting her in his precious private space._

 _He didn't her around and that was obvious to her._

 _So why couldn't he just bring her back where she really belongs?_

 _Hermione dragged herself back into her room with the things in her hands and trying to force herself not to cry._

 _Not again, not tonight._

 _She was tired of crying._

 _She was tired of everything that was happening around her._

 _She didn't have anywhere to go and she was stuck there for as long as the war 'demanded' of them._

 _She was losing hope upon her situation._

 _She also discovered that without a wand for days, weeks and months – she was slowly losing her magic._

 _She was slowly losing her wandless magic and even if she wanted to practice it, she knew that she would have to do it when Snape wasn't around._

 _She felt that the world was so unfair to her even in just the smallest things that was happening around her._

 _Snape could lock her out of a room and keep himself inside the room with the door locked and now she could no longer do that._

 _He said that he no longer trusted her to be alone because of the several 'self-inflicted damages' - like what has transpired today - to date for him to trust her when she was alone and so he demanded that she couldn't lock doors._

 _She no longer had the privacy she wanted._

 _Despite that he'd knock upon her door's room she still felt vulnerable at the thought that she couldn't lock it even at night and she didn't feel comfortable at the thought of that._

 _She was tired – physically and mentally._

 _She was also emotionally getting tired._

 _She was losing her faith and her hope that she was ever going to get out of the cottage and get back to Harry who might be desperately looking for her for all she knew._

 _She desperately needed to find a way to let him know that she was still alive – that she has not abandoned this life and he shouldn't give up in finding her._

Hermione entered the Wizengamot court room with Lupin that day.

Harry had left early for the Ministry and since they weren't really on speaking terms, Hermione didn't bother asking Harry where he was going.

He didn't say why he left early but Hermione would bet that it was about his side and part of the deal that he was going to accomplish.

Despite all that was happening and despite the relationship that they had, she still had that spark of hope that Harry was in there somewhere – the Harry she knew and the Harry that was true to his words.

She terribly missed that Harry.

And she knew that the boy felt the same, missing the Hermione that she was and couldn't bring back.

"I'll look for Harry." Lupin said leaving her to sit on one of the long couches in the lobby where people passed by.

"Alright, professor." Hermione quietly answered as she only stared at the people that walked by..

Lupin looked down at her and stared at the dark circles around her eyes and her weigh that was getting bothersome.

She wasn't sleeping nor was she eating properly.

The damage of the trial was seemingly worse than they had anticipated.

He sat down next to her and took her hand.

Hermione was surprised at the gesture but she didn't say anything.

It was only one of the very few times that the two of them had privacy.

"Are you still hanging in there?" he asked her slowly.

Hermione nodded at him but she obviously wasn't.

Snape's case was to end today – and he was either going to be Kissed or he was going for a life sentence at Azkaban.

Hermione hope for the latter and she knew that it was the best that could be done.

He was going nowhere with all the evidences but atleast he was going to live.

"I need you to know that I'm still grateful of you." Hermione said taking hold of his hand.

Lupin didn't say anything.

He tried to withdraw his hand from her but she kept them in place.

"Hermione-"

"I know you feel guilty about what happened to Harry." Hermione said knowing this was true and yet unspoken by the man and the people around them.

"I should have been a better mentor."

"You always were. You were the best we've ever had-"

"That goes with a limit, Hermione. There were things I could have done-"

"You didn't do them in fear that they would hurt Harry." Hermione pointed out. "But that does not make you a bad person. You did what you thought was right at the moment – you did what you thought would be less harmful for him."

Lupin didn't say anything.

"Nobody saw this was coming." Hermione said. "I didn't. I even thought I'd never see any of you again."

"Why did you stay with him?" Lupin suddenly asked unable to stop himself.

Now this time, Hermione wanted to take her hand back but Lupin didn't let her go.

She tried to avoid his gaze but he followed her stare.

"There were things we had to do." Hermione said. "There were things I couldn't explain to you but you would just have to trust me-"

"And then?" Lupin asked. "And then what happened?"

"I fell in love with him." Hermione answered looking away from him as if ashamed of her admittance.

Lupin didn't say anything as he stared at her.

"Are you sure about it?" he asked her. "Are you sure about your feelings for him?"

"Yes." Hermione answered. "You were – you knew that we were going to get married-"

"Hermione, sometimes there are things we do because we think we feel that way towards the certain circumstance but sometimes-"

"Sometimes they aren't?" Hermione finished for him. "Draco told me the same thing the other day."

Lupin didn't say anything but he was glad that someone else was seeing what he was telling her now.

"I couldn't help Harry when he needed me the most." Lupin said. "I could have done more – I could have done something and now it seems too late to save him from whatever- "

"You've done your part." Hermione said. "Let me do my part."

"You don't love him?" he asked quietly.

Hermione opened her mouth but no answer came out.

The thought has never really been deeply embedded and realized for her.

Ofcourse she loves him – but it might have been different from what was a long time ago.

He would always be her first love and that would never change.

But there was something in him that just wasn't and something that wasn't in him that should have been.

"I love him." Hermione said. "That's why I'm doing this. For the both of them – for Severus and for Harry."

"I don't understand-"

"If I marry Harry, I save Severus' life." Hermione slowly said without meeting his eyes. "And if I marry Harry, I might have a chance to change him – to bring him back – to save him as well."

"Do you think it's all worth it?" Lupin asked her. "Do you think that what you are about to do is worth Snape's life?"

Hermione opened her mouth to say something but they both saw a couple of people who came into view.

Mr. Weasley was ushering for Lupin to come to him while he was talking to some Ministry Officials and Draco who had just come out of the elevator doors and was holding his small black bag.

"I think I should talk to them." Lupin said gently tapping Hermione's hand.

Hermione nodded.

She stared at his hand for the momentary gesture but before she could say something he already let her hand go and had taken steps towards Mr. Weasley.

The very moment he left her, Hermione quickly stood up and followed Draco to the corridor he was walking to.

 _"_ _You called for me?" Draco asked entering her mother's study._

 _He entered the door to find her waving her wand and seemingly extinguishing something that slowly vanished into a thinning green and black smoke._

 _It was obviously some sort of dark magic._

 _"_ _Come, Draco." Narcissa said as she waved her wand again and the air cleared of smoke._

 _"_ _What are you doing?" Draco slowly asked as he walked closer to her table._

 _"_ _Just some practice." Narcissa simply said. "You don't know what and who would come up to you these days."_

 _"_ _It looked to me like you were extinguishing something you've conjured." Draco said. "Not some defensive spell."_

 _Narcissa ignored his comment as if she didn't her him._

 _Draco kept quiet knowing that the topic was already over._

 _Draco stared as she took something from the table that he just didn't immediately see and had sealed it inside her drawer's desk._

 _It was one of her secret stores that she had warned him never to touch or he would surely be severely punished by her._

 _Draco was not a fool to defy her mother._

 _He knew how much more scary she was than that of Lucius when it came to serious terms._

 _"_ _Have you eaten?" she asked him._

 _"_ _Yes." Draco answered. "Have you taken whatever it is you're supposed to take because you look pale again."_

 _"_ _I'm fine." Narcissa said brushing his worry away. "It's nothing, Draco. It's one time I fainted and-"_

 _"_ _Twice, mother." Draco corrected sitting on the large mahogany chair in front of her desk._

 _Narcissa didn't say anything._

 _"_ _Why did you call me?" he asked her._

 _"_ _I'm handing you these documents." Narcissa said pointing over a large pile of parchments over her desk._

 _"_ _These are estates, land documents, records from Gringotts of various of accounts owned by the Blacks and the Malfoys and-"_

 _"_ _Are you going somewhere?" he asked her slightly terrified at what she was doing._

 _Despite her obvious love for her, Narcissa has never bestowed nor handed him anything that important._

 _Draco always knew that her mother doubted her abilities of comprehension when it comes to terms of handling the really important things especially that of the inheritance and the billions of worth of the Blacks and Malfoys._

 _"_ _Ofcourse, I'm not." Narcissa snapped at him. "I just need your signature on all of them."_

 _"_ _I'm not yet of age." Draco pointed out. "I haven't even-"_

 _"_ _Seeing you're enjoying your Christmas and holiday vacation Draco might as well put that into good use."_

 _Draco didn't say anything so Narcissa continued._

 _"_ _Seeing it is just you and me now while your father is resting at Azkaban-" her eyes flared for a moment. "Might as well become the man of the house. I want you to sign all these documents."_

 _"_ _What for?" Draco asked as Narcissa took out a silver quill with an end that of a snake and the Malfoy and Black emblem fused into one._

 _It was a magical quill that he only saw twice in his lifetime – one was in a picture of his parents' wedding photos where they both used the quill and the only other instance was when Lucius signed something for the Dark Lord binding him to his services and allowing him to place the Dark Mark over his son about a year ago._

 _Draco knew then that if he was to sign everything using this enchanted quill then all these documents were far more important that they may seem to be._

 _"_ _All of these?" Draco asked._

 _Narcissa nodded and pointed over the special quill._

 _"_ _Would you care to tell me what I'm actually about to sign?" Draco asked reaching for the quill and for the first batch of documents._

 _"_ _Your inheritance." Narcissa simply answered as if it was the most normal and casual thing in the world._

 _Draco stopped in mid-movement of taking the quill as he stared up at his mother._

 _It was the first time they ever talked about inheritance._

 _It was usually his father who told him what they owned and what he was about to receive._

 _Narcissa never openly talked to him about these things let alone tell him what he was about to get from the Blacks side._

 _"_ _Inheritance?" he repeated in disbelief. "Are you alright? Is something wrong?" he asked her._

 _Narcissa's brows creased but they quickly vanished and she looked passive again._

 _"_ _Should something be of the matter for us to discuss this and for you to sign?" she asked irritably._

 _Draco felt taken aback by her answer._

 _Ofcourse he always looked forward to what he was to inherit given their estates and worth._

 _But with the war and everything had gone on, he just only wanted to live a peaceful life and withdrawn from all that was happening._

 _"_ _No. I just want to know why so sudden." Draco answered truthfully._

 _Narcissa looked back at him for a brief moment with a certain worry over her face before it was completely replaced again by a cold façade._

 _"_ _You're not young anymore, Draco. You're nearly of age." Narcissa said sitting behind her chair and waiting for him to sign everything. "And neither am I getting any younger."_

 _"_ _I want to know why so sudden."_

 _"_ _Why so sudden is because your father is in Azkaban and right now I want things and well should things go down the drain for the Malfoys, Draco."_

 _Narcissa said the words as if she was holding all these back for weeks now._

 _She was obviously panicking deep down, thinking of Draco should things not go their way after or during the war._

 _Draco didn't say anything._

 _He grabbed the quill and began taking the parchments from the table and began signing each parchment as Narcissa watched his progress before turning to a couple of batches of parchments and reading them through._

 _"_ _Some of these are blueprints of the Malfoy Manor, Grimmauld Place and other estates and landmarks owned by both Blacks and Malfoys." Narcissa said placing a separate batch of papers._

 _Draco only nodded in half interest._

 _He used to be interested in all of it but for some reason, he found that this would soon all be worthless._

 _He also didn't like the idea that her mother was leaving her suddenly with all these 'burden' when she never really discussed these with him._

 _It felt like she was shoving everything towards him without explanation and with the foreboding feeling that she was about to leave him for some reason._

 _Draco feared the idea that her mother would abandon him in the middle of the war._

 _He didn't like the idea of losing another parent._

 _He didn't like the fact that his father was suddenly whisked off at Azkaban and the Dark Lord does not simply care about what has happened to his most loyal servant._

 _He simply abandoned Lucius Malfoy at Azkaban._

 _And he didn't like the feeling of being abandoned by his own mother._

 _She was the only one he got._

 _She was the only person she's ever really had even if they didn't have the most conventional relationship._

 _She was the only person he's ever really cared for in the entirety of his life._

 _"_ _Why am I doing this again?" Draco asked halfway through signing all the parchments._

 _"_ _Because it's time to be an adult, Draco." Narcissa replied with a heavy sighed._

 _She stood from her chair and began taking out large books from the shelves in her office where she keps records of various of business transactions and all other forms of financial documents._

 _"_ _My Legal Council will be arriving within the week. A meeting will take place and I want you present in the meeting and the future meetings-"_

 _"_ _Why do I have to-"_

 _"_ _As I've said, it's time to be an adult, Draco."_

 _"_ _But you're here and you're-"_

 _"_ _I will not always be around, Draco." Narcissa sharply said. "You must learn all of these as soon as possible."_

 _"_ _Are you going to abandon me?" Draco suddenly asked in an angered state. "Why should I even be-"_

 _"_ _Because you should!" Narcissa suddenly flared at him. "Because you're the only heir of this goddamn empire Draco and that is your job!"_

 _Draco stared back at her._

 _He only wanted answers for he couldn't understand the sudden changes and decisions that Narcissa was making._

 _He has tried since his father was sent to Azkaban to understand her with all his might._

 _She was very different from his father._

 _Her attitude towards many things were quite calculated; she was always calm and collected and passive as much as he knows of her._

 _She always seemed to know beyond what she lets on and seemed to have plans than what she actually shows._

 _It was scary sometimes because he barely ever sees her true emotions that led him into thinking that some of the intentions that she shows might be different from what she really wanted or planned to happen._

 _Narcissa Black Malfoy was such a mystery even to her own son._

 _"_ _Now do you have a problem with all these, Draco?" she coldly asked him. "Do you have a problem inheriting 70 billion worth of inheritance?"_

 _Draco felt momentarily insulted by her way of asking him to cooperate with her._

 _But no matter, she was his mother and she has never once created a decision that led him into a disaster no matter how questionable her actions were._

 _"_ _No." Draco answered her as he reached for another batch of parchments to sign. "None, mother."_

 _Narcissa stared and waited for him to resume his signing the parchments._

 _She stood there for another moment simply watching him without a word._

 _She didn't want to push him into this task but she had to._

 _Time was running out – or atleast for her._

 _And she didn't have enough time to prepare him emotionally as that would take time._

 _She hoped against hope then, that financially preparing him would be more than enough to suffice a future for Draco where she may no longer be present._

"Draco!" Hermione called out running after him.

It took a few moments before Draco realized that someone was calling and running after him.

He turned in his haste and saw Hermione breathlessly halting a few feet from him.

"Hermione?" he asked walking back to her.

"Draco-" Hermione breathlessly said staring up and smiling at him.

Draco gave her a small smile and looked around her.

"Where's Potter?"

"Upstairs, I think." Hermione said. "I think he was asked for by the Wizengamot jury before we begin."

"We have an hour and a half." Draco pointed out to her.

Hermione only nodded.

"How are you coping?" he asked her. "Is he treating you –"

"I demanded with stay with the Weasleys until the wedding and he's fine with it." Hermione told him.

Draco nodded but seemed unconvinced.

"Harry finds it comforting if I'm surrounded by others –" Hermione explained. "He feels safe that I'd be docile enough with everyone watching my every move."

"Good move then." Draco said. "I do want to talk to you but I need to prepare as well." Draco said. "I haven't seen Severus and I need to talk to him before we begin."

"Can I see him?" Hermione suddenly asked. "I mean, I know that – well, Harry isn't around-"

"It may affect the case, Hermione." Draco said. "I wouldn't be complacent enough despite Potter's agreement and promise."

Hermione only nodded knowing that this was for the better.

Draco always seemed to know the right answers to questions and things that she does not even seem to consider these days.

"You'll get to talk to him after the trial I'm quite sure." Draco said. "It's part of the deal, remember?"

Hermione was silent but she nodded at him in agreement.

Draco could tell that she was worried and she wanted to talk to him – desperately.

But he had to tend to the case and he needed to talk to Snape before the trial actually begins.

He'd been damn late because he slept very late the previous night.

He was having nightmares and so he constantly woke up and given that, he gave up completely and spent the whole night traversing to his mother's quarters and old office to look for an answer that they never really found.

There was no secret drawer or box or anything where the key may be used to get answers that they needed.

He was in desperate need of it.

He had hoped against hope that he could save Hermione from Harry's plans by use of the key that may have save Snape's life without having the need to trade Hermione's freedom to life for Snape's escape from the Kiss.

But he failed and at the moment he didn't want to show his face to Hermione.

He felt like there was the biggest failure there could be.

He had been working hard but he was feeling as if there was nothing he was able to do for Snape or for her.

"We'll talk later." Draco said suddenly grabbing her hand.

Hermione looked up in surprise.

Their contact made her feel somewhat secure and she slightly relaxed.

There was something comforting in Draco's presence these days.

"Draco-"

"We have more than an hour. I just need to talk to him then I'll get back to you as soon if we finish talking."

Hermione could only nod at him.

She wasn't feeling well.

Despite that rest assured that Harry was going to ensure that Snape evade the most cruel of all the punishments, there was still a heavy tug at her heart.

It was inevitable.

Just as Snape being taken to Azkaban.

"Hey, you alright?" Draco asked worriedly.

"I'm fine." Hermione muttered. "I'm just worried."

"Potter will do his part of the deal." Draco reminded her. "That's the best news we can have."

"Draco, Severus is going to Azkaban." Hermione said as if Draco could do something about it.

Draco sighed knowing he had little time in his hands right now but Hermione seemed to need him more than Snape does at the moment.

He placed his black bag down and turned to her.

He took her hands into his and Hermione's expression was of obvious surprise.

It was as though it was one of the first times that Hermione had physical contact with others without having the need to be sexual at all but that one of genuine concern.

She felt both uncomfortable and new at the idea of it even though it was the most normal things in the human race.

"Hermione, you know this was going to happen." Draco said emphasizing each word. "We've already talk about it, right?" he said looking at her eyes that was seemingly avoiding his gaze.

"I know." Hermione sighed heavily. "It's just that – Draco, you know that-"

"He has to pay for what he has to pay." Draco said. "We both don't want him in Azkaban and I understand how you feel – I know he took good care of you, Hermione – but he has the law to answer to. He still took you and kept you for a very long time without telling any of us – without having the outside world know of what was happening-"

"But the – you know why that was Draco-"

"I know." Draco said. "But no matter what you say, he is guilty of a handful of things – even if he didn't take you in or kept you there are still those years he was a Death Eater – with cases he has to face and answer to."

Hermione didn't say anything.

She knew there was no way out of Azkaban.

She knew she was a fool if she thought that having his licensure and title as a professor and professional would be the worst thing that could be taken from him.

What he did wasn't some shop-lifting or punishing a student beyond Hogwarts' rules.

No, what he did was beyond normal comprehension and deep down she knew that this was a possibility.

"Hermione." Draco's voice came from her trail of thoughts. "Hermione, look at me."

Hermione met his gaze as he held her hands closer in his.

"Draco –"

"I know what you feel." Draco's tone was now different. "I'd just about to do anything to bring him out of this – to make sure that he evades even the punishment of Azkaban."

He sounded a lot like the Hogwarts boy that he was and Hermione suddenly felt nostalgic upon seeing a different Draco but not the bully she knew of.

"But you know the law." Draco said. "You know and understand the law, Hermione. More than anyone I know of I know deep down you know this is what is right and what is logical."

Hermione tried to take her hands from him but Draco didn't let her go.

He made sure that their eyes made full contact.

"I will take care of him if he is punished in Azkaban for years." Draco said. "I'd visit him every day and make sure that he remains sane. Look – no, listen to me – he isn't any ordinary prisoner. They won't just leave him and have him to rot in there. He would have the slightest and smallest privileges of visitors because of the year she had spent serving as a spy for the Order of the Phoenix – we will make sure that isn't overlooked Hermione-"

"Draco, he's going to Azkaban!" Hermione suddenly wailed at him. "Draco, I can't lose him!"

Draco was taken aback when Hermione suddenly flung her arms around his neck and embraced him tightly and she just began crying right then and there.

The empty corridor echoed her cries and Draco knew that this was going to be harder than he originally thought.

He had a timeline for his itinerary for the day but apparently that seemed to be flying out of the window at the moment.

"Hermione-"

"Please, I can't lose him. He's the only one that I've got."

Draco stopped caressing her back and let her cry for another pull moment before pulling himself away from her.

He looked back at her as he held her hands in his.

"That's not true." Draco said looking seriously at her. "You have those friends of yours and as crazy as it sounds, you still have Harry – he may still be saved-"

"He can't be saved!" Hermione cried. "He can't be – if Severus goes to Azkaban – what about me? What will happen to me – what will – I'm all alone and-"

"Don't say that –"

"I've got no one, Draco!"

"Me!" Draco suddenly said. "Don't you have me?"  
Hermione stopped wailing.

She looked up at him as if seeing him for the first time.

"What about me?" Draco quietly asked her. "Don't you have me?"

She tried to withdraw again from him but Draco didn't let her go.

"I'm here." Draco said in a serious tone. "I'm here, Hermione. Have I not been here for you? For the both of you? Have I not been here in the days you thought everything is lost?" he asked her. "Have I not been a good friend to you?"

Hermione didn't know what to say.

She didn't expect these from Draco.

He looked disappointed for a moment as if some reality had been splashed cold over his head.

"Draco, that's not what I meant-"

"I am here for you." Draco whispered. "I am here for you, Hermione. Even if Potter marries you, I will make sure that I will be involved in your life – I wouldn't abandon you – I wouldn't leave you alone – we will deal with this together-"

"Draco-"

"Together, Hermione." Draco said. "Together we will deal with this. I'll bring you back your life – I will give you-"

"Mr. Malfoy?" a voice called out.

They both looked up and saw a man and two elder person from the Ministry.

"Yes?" Draco said turning to them and gently letting Hermione go.

They walked to them and was glaring at Hermione who was hurriedly wiping away her tears.

"Is everything alright?" they asked them.

"Yes, I'm fine." Hermione quickly said.

They looked back at her but were more concerned of Draco.

"You wanted to see your client first, yes?" they asked him.

Draco nodded and straightened his clothes.

He bent over to pick up his bag and nodded at them.

"He's at the waiting room." they told him. "You might want to come with us now as soon we would begin."

"Yes, thank you." Draco said as they began walking away.

He looked back at Hermione who was obviously avoiding his gaze.

"I'll talk to you later." Draco said without knowing what to say anymore.

"Yes." Hermione answered. "Later, Draco."

Draco nodded and sighed heavily at her.

He looked like he didn't want to leave her there but he knew that he had to.

There were things to tend to other than licking certain wounds that were seemingly never going to heal anyway or pointless to attempt to heal at the moment.

He had to control his emotions.

Everyone around him seemed to be losing him.

And in the many years that he has been raise by a Black and a Malfoy there was one good thing that came out of it – the power of control.

Whether it was about controlling people, situations, oneself and the emotions – he had been strictly raised well to control certain emotions that may be used by enemies.

He had been raised well by a Black and a Malfoy to know when to let go of emotions and when to rigidly control it by any means possible.

 _Hermione lay quiet over the cold stone floor of the bathroom._

 _Her bathroom towel lay across her naked body._

 _Her face was red from crying, cheeks drying of tears, lips swollen and neckline filled with bite marks._

 _Snape had arrived angered and drunk for some reason._

 _They argued ofcourse and it ended up that he locked himself in his laboratory for about an hour before yelling at her that dinner was ready._

 _She came down and left again._

 _A few hours later, he returned even more drunk than earlier but he now had a bouquet of roses for her._

 _He gave it to her and kissed her._

 _She took no notice of him and told him that she wanted to sleep._

 _He barely took time to her as the moment his head hit their pillows he was dead asleep._

 _Hermione went to the bathroom to take a shower and was more than aghast to find him waiting for her outside the door._

 _She was in her towel and was just about to try herself when Snape pushed her back in the bathroom._

 _He took her despite that she begged him not tonight because she wasn't feeling well._

 _He dismissed her excuse and only kissed her ravishingly to the point that she was already lacking oxygen._

 _He took her in the bathroom floor; kissing her and taking her as if there was no more tomorrow._

 _He was worse in their sexual activity when he was drunk and that was what she avoided these days knowing that there was no escape from it anyway._

 _And right after taking her, he left her on the stone cold floor telling her that he wanted her back in their bed as soon as she finishes._

 _It was already an hour later and she bet that he had fallen asleep again._

 _Her face was drying of tears just as the seeds he left to dry up around her legs._

 _She felt so dirty that she wanted to take a shower – ten times over._

 _But she no longer had any energy._

 _She couldn't even more a muscle._

 _She as sure to have bite marks in the morning, her lower lip had a small cut from his bite, her wrists red and arms painful from his strong grasp of her when she tried to fight back telling him that she wasn't feeling well._

 _At the moment, she just felt worse._

 _At these times she could only cry and stare out of nowhere with that endless misery growing inside of her._

 _Yes, she's been with him for nearly a year now and the hope in her was slowly dying away._

 _Why has Harry not found her yet?_

 _Has he given up on her?_

 _Did he simply decide that perhaps she was gone – dead – from the war and that there was no one to look for?_

 _Did he not try harder to look for her?_

 _And the worst of all these thoughts was that question that was beginning to grow stronger inside of her – has Harry finally given up and has completely abandoned her?_

 _No, she couldn't think of that._

 _Hot tears swelled in her eyes again and streamed down her reddened cheeks._

 _She couldn't think that way._

 _The thought of Harry was her only ray of light._

 _He was looking for her – he wouldn't just give up on them or on her._

 _He wouldn't just give up on looking for her._

 _But why hasn't he come?_

 _Where were they exactly that Harry seemed so far away and unreachable?_

 _The minutes were being dragged into hours and into days; the days passing into weeks and months – and no hope was coming to the rescue._

 _Had the Order of the Phoenix simply thought that she has died from the ambushed and quickly discarded the idea of rescuing her?_

 _Why couldn't just Snape go out there and tell them – why couldn't he just come and save her?_

 _Where was Harry?_

 _She couldn't even cry in fear that Snape would burst into the room and drag her to bed with him._

 _She couldn't stand another moment with the man._

 _How could he just do these things to her?_

 _Was her rescue really worth all of these that he was doing to her?_

 _But he saved her life – he saved her life – he didn't abandon her._

 _"_ _Harry.." Hermione cried in silent tears as she curled into a ball dragging the small towel in an attempt to cover herself should Snape suddenly enter._

 _She knew it was the dead of the night and he's probably back on their bed comfortably asleep and in bliss of the world around him._

 _How could he sleep?_

 _She was barely of age and she felt that she's never even reached the full potential of her powers. ._

 _She has lost her wand and her wandless magic seemed to be dying slowly because she wasn't able to use it nor practice it at all._

 _She had nothing and no one but Snape – the man who has saved her among many other innocent lives that she know of._

 _But as the days were passing, she felt that he seemed to be taking them farther from the direction of things he first promised her._

 _She didn't want to mistrust him for the simple reason that he was the only one she's got._

 _Wherever they were, they were far and away and he was still taking very good care of her despite all her whine and cries and defiance to the rules he created that was also for her safety._

 _He may be unreasonable at certain times but he always showed her how logical his decisions were and how she was the one who eventually benefits the most at the end of the day._

 _He was the only remaining connection she had with the outside world and if she loses him, what will become of her?_

 _What if she angers her to the point of his limit?_

 _He could as easily leave her there to die alone._

 _She couldn't go back that was for sure._

 _She wasn't sure where they were exactly and she had no wand to help her and her magic was becoming not only less reliable but seemingly less and less in the days that were passing._

 _There was nothing she could do but cry every night._

 _Cry and hope for the best._

 _And the latter was becoming more vague in the passing of time._

 _She had hope that things would eventually become better and that things would end but they have gone from nothing to worse of the days._

 _He had promised her things for which she has barely seen progress and yet she couldn't just mistrust him because he had always come out right in the decisions he imposed for the two of them._

 _She didn't know what to do anymore and she felt that sooner or later she could do herself harm if she doesn't control her mind and let herself fall into complete despair and depression._

 _What was she going to do?_

 _She always knew what to do and now there was just no answer to questions she had._

 _Nobody was there to answer her questions._

 _She had nobody but herself but she also felt that something inside of her was slowly dying._

 _Hermione could only close her eyes as she cried, desperately and strongly thinking of Harry as she always did so every single night._

 _She had hoped that there could be some sort of magical connection in their minds and that he would be able to hear her and vice versa._

 _If only she could talk to him – even just in dreams – so she could send a message to him that she was alive, that she was somewhere out there and in desperate need of his rescue, of him._

 _"_ _Please don't abandon me.." Hermione desperately thought over and over again. "Harry, I'm here.. I'm here… I'm alive.. please find me, please find me..Harry, I'm still here.. I'm still here."_


	46. Chapter 46

_**Author's Notes:**_

 _ **Goodmorning!**_

 _ **A gloomy weather Sunday morning from my end of the world.**_

 _ **The week that passed was my last vacation week and by Monday I'm back to full work as for the summer music lessons of my students.**_

 _ **Today is my last off day and my hand is full of errands and finishing and organizing reviewers and stuff.**_

 _ **Hope all is well at your end and here's a chapter for everyone else.**_

 _ **Hope you like it.**_

 _ **Thanks for all the comments and love. Keep 'em going!**_

 _ **Lots of love**_

 _ **xx**_

 _ **Chapter Forty Six**_

 _ **"**_ _ **The Writ of Clemency"**_

"Are you ready?" Draco asked Snape as he entered the room.

He looked at his back that was turned to him as he stared right by the wall.

Draco's eyes slightly widened as he turned – he was clean shaven and was dressed better.

He was given a new pair of prisoner's clothing and was given the chance to shave.

He wondered what this was for until he realized that it was Harry's way of mocking him.

He was seemingly giving Snape his 'new life' – or how he welcomes him literary forever at Azkaban.

What an ironic and painful joke that was.

"Should I still guess?" he asked closing the door behind him.

"No." Snape simply answered. "I just accepted things as they were."

But Draco felt that he meant something else when he said those words.

"We've got less than two hours to talk and wait."

"There's nothing to talk about Draco." Snape said. "We both know where this is going and what is about to happen."

Draco didn't say anything.

Snape had never seen him as defeated and as morose since he became his Defense Council – no, since he became his godson who could talk and think for himself.

"I wish I could have done more." Draco quietly said as he sat by the couch in front of him.

"You have done more than enough." Snape answered him. "Promise me one thing Draco."

He looked up at his godfather – his age had definitely caught up with him at Azkaban by the way his expression creased over his forehead and the way his eyes moved so wearily.

He looked old and very tired.

He was prepared to stay in Azkaban and meet his end there.

"Anything." Draco answered him. "Anything, godfather."

Snape looked up at him with slight surprise and gleam in his eyes.

He has never called him that.

He insisted in calling him 'Severus' or 'Professor' in the Hogwarts premises back in their school days.

But he never really called him 'godfather' – the title and privilege that Narcissa and Lucius had given him.

He felt touched for a moment but he had to control his emotions.

There was a trial to attend to and it was not a time to fall apart – not in front of his godson who seemed to need him emotionally as he looked and felt so defeated at the moment.

"Hermione." Snape said without a blink. "Please take good care of Hermione. Please promise me you'll keep a close watch on her even if Potter marries her."

 _"_ _Promise?" Lily asked him. "You promise me that, Severus?"_

 _"_ _I promise." Snape said nodding and taking hold of her hand._

 _They sat across one another in a newly opened café near the train station._

 _Lily and James were off to a small vacation with their first born, Harry who was born about a year ago._

 _"_ _When did you find out?" Snape asked her as he stared at her beautiful emerald eyes._

 _"_ _A few days ago." Lily answered excitedly. "Only James and I know about it. We haven't really told anyone but I wanted you to be the first to know other than James."_

 _Lily reached across the table and held his hands._

 _Snape looked like he wanted to withdraw his hands from hers but he didn't._

 _He reveled at the feeling of her soft and warm touch._

 _They had not seen one another since they graduated from Hogwarts._

 _Despite his known hatred for James, Lily as loving and forgiving still asked him to come to their wedding._

 _In no surprised, he refused with Lily unknowing that he was there – far and away but could see everything that could take place._

 _He couldn't miss her wedding day even if it was to the man he despised the most._

 _She was the most beautiful bride he has ever see in his life._

 _She was the most beautiful woman in that very day and he was not about to miss that._

 _He loved her and would always love her._

 _She wrote him messages from time to time – at the Fall, a card or so on Christmas and sometimes just out of the blue he would receive a notecard from her._

 _He kept if all – each and every of those things she sent him despite that he never answered any._

 _But the last note she sent him was different._

 _It was invitation for coffee at the train station in London before she leaves for a few months vacation with James and Harry._

 _She wanted to tell him something very important and said that she hasn't told anyone else but James._

 _He didn't have any idea what it was but given it sounded very significant and no one else was told about it, he couldn't help his curiosity_

 _What could be so important that only James and he would know about?_

 _Ofcourse he suddenly felt special again – the same Severus Snape and bestfriend Lily Evans had._

 _No, she was now a Potter – and he must always remember that._

 _He had just come out a few months after swearing his loyalty to the Dark Lord Voldemort and he had been planning and scheming on finding a way to ensure her safety._

 _Maybe this meeting may be the opening to that possibility._

 _He said yes and today he received a news that was as beautiful as she was._

 _She was to have her second baby._

 _She was a few months pregnant and a baby girl was now on the way._

 _Lily wanted to personally tell him because she also wanted to personally ask him to be the child's godfather._

 _Ofcourse he couldn't say no._

 _No matter the years that passed and whatever things may have changed and circumstances that showered between them and their relationship between one another – she would always and forever be Lily Evans – his one and only true love._

 _He would never say no to anything she would ask of him._

 _"_ _We will be back soon." Lily said letting his hand go. "And when we return, I'll tell James you said yes and that there are plans for the child and the event of it that you need to be there with me."_

 _"_ _I don't think Potter will approve."_

 _"_ _You're my bestfriend, Sev." Lily said with a charming smile. "I will always have a say for you. I will always be here for you."_

 _"_ _Always?" Snape asked with a tinge of a smile that was ever so genuine._

 _Lily smiled at him – the same charming smile he has fallen in love with._

 _"_ _Always, Severus."_

 _"_ _Did you like my gift?" Harry sleepily asked Hermione._

 _It was nearly four in the morning and two of them lay quietly by the Common Room's fireplace._

 _Harry sat by the couch and Hermione was laid down in his arms as they quietly watched the dying fire._

 _The rest of the Gryffindors were asleep after the party they threw a pre-Christmas party and after some of the finger-foods they've sneaked from the kitchens and a couple of drinks that the twins had managed to sneak into their dormitory, everyone went back to their respective beds with filled stomachs and hearts full of happiness and excitement for their Christmas vacation._

 _Everyone was to leave in the morning for the holidays and wouldn't be back after a few weeks._

 _But Harry and Hermione felt different._

 _This was the third Christmas that they would be sharing something seemingly at the boundaries of 'romance._

 _Ofcourse it began a few years back in their Yule Ball which transpired and continued with their continued exchange of mails at the summer that came after._

 _They grew closer together in a different way when they spent the rest of the summer at Grimmauld Place with the rest of the Weasleys and Sirius._

 _Their relationship went into a deeper relationship after Harry's great and painful loss of Sirius._

 _Even if his other friends were there, the Weasleys, Lupin and all others it was in Hermione's arms that he felt most comfortable and happy with._

 _He started to have a feeling that he couldn't lose her – no, not her – definitely not her._

 _Their relationship grew deeper that it became more serious in the weeks that passed by._

 _Nobody would say a thing about it because it was so obvious that Hermione and Harry had always seemed to be meant for each other._

 _It even all looked like Hermione was the only one waiting for Harry to wake up and realize that she was a woman and that he was the man for her._

 _The moment Harry has woken up from this fact and had realized how much he cared and loved Hermione, everyone seemed to celebrate with them._

 _No that they displayed affection around school – but their meals times, their 'library moments', the classes they went together and Harry's willing to wait for Hermione to finish her other classes without him – and everything else in between – showed and proved how much they loved one another and how much they not only looked good together but how they seemed to be meant for each other._

 _Everyone knew that Harry belonged to Hermione and Hermione was always Harry's._

 _Everyone seemed to celebrate that fact and nobody dared to destroy that relationship that they had._

 _Draco Malfoy seemed to notice this as well as he took some extra time bullying Hermione a year back but this year at their sixth year seemed different._

 _Draco has seemingly detached himself from the world and even from bullying Hermione._

 _They weren't sure if it was because of what has happened to his father that affected him so much or because that his nemesis has claim over the girl he always bullied that he just decided to back away._

 _Either way, everyone surely noticed his halt on bullying Hermione no matter if it was because Harry was officially with her or because he was still depressed and devastated upon losing his father the previous year._

 _"_ _Ofcourse I did." Hermione said with a smile. "Did you like mine?"_

 _"_ _Very much." Harry answered kissing the back of her hand._

 _He held her hand gently into his while his other hand held the small necklace she gave him._

 _It was an imitation of a Golden Snitch that when he touched would open and show a picture of them together with an enchanted glimmer that spelled out: 'I will always be yours'_

 _It was like a small locket and he loved the gesture that Hermione has given him._

 _He was beyond happy that he almost forgot about the brooding beginning of the year after Sirius' recent death._

 _Hermione had always been there for him and he couldn't seem himself without her._

 _He didn't know what he would do if he loses her._

 _She was the only good thing left of him now._

 _He couldn't lose her no matter what._

 _"_ _I can't help but think what I'd give you next Christmas, Hermione." Harry said in delight and wonder._

 _Hermione giggled as she felt his fingers running gently from over her arm and then around her neckline giving her a tingling sensation._

 _"_ _What?" he innocently asked pulling her closer and placing a kiss over her forehead._

 _"_ _Harry-" Hermione said holding his hand to keep it from roaming around her body._

 _Harry giggled with her and kissed her again over the head and sighed heavily._

 _"_ _You don't have to get me anything every year, Harry." Hermione said with a smile looking up at him._

 _"_ _I want to." Harry answered her moving his face closer her. "I will give you anything, 'Mione."_

 _Hermione smiled and closed her eyes as Harry leaned forward and kissed her._

 _The kiss was warm, sweet and gentle and as beautiful and sound as it had always been._

 _First love was forever going to be embedded in anyone's hearts._

 _"_ _I love you, 'Mione." Harry whispered taking a closer hold of her in his arms as if in fear of losing her._

 _"_ _I love you too, Harry." Hermione replied sinking in his arms and inhaling the scent of Harry._

 _He always had a special scent – like some personal flare of the fresh air of the grounds and the sandalwood that came from a couple of books she's smelled before._

 _Something fresh and yet something that smelled that of a library were Harry's scent for Hermione._

 _She wanted to memorize how he always smelled for it reminded her of their good memories since the first time they met on the train station a few years ago._

 _"_ _I'm excited for the holidays." Hermione said. "We'll be having loads of things to do and eat at Mrs. Weasley's for sure." Hermione said excitedly._

 _Harry laughed and smile at her as his excitement was just as same._

 _"_ _I couldn't wait to eat at their house. They always have loads of food and fun and stories across the table."_

 _"_ _I can't wait to hang out with Ginny too and ofcourse professor Lupin would be there."_

 _"_ _I'm as excited to see him." Harry said. "You know, he's like a father to me and to all of us and there's just something comforting when he's around."_

 _"_ _I know." Hermione said. "I'm thinking of buying something for him tomorrow at Hogsmeade before we go, right?"_

 _"_ _Yes, I think that's a good idea." Harry said. "I mean we can go down to Hogmeade first and all that. I'm thinking of getting him something special or so. He's always been my favourite person."_

 _"_ _Me too." Hermione said. "I was thinking of getting him something nice that he could use at home or at work like some sort of book guide or notebook or something."_

 _Harry nodded in agreement as they talked about what they could give Lupin altogether._

 _"_ _Or maybe something he could use with Tonks?" Hermione suggested "What about a pair of vacation tickets or something?"_

 _"_ _Sounds delightful for me." Harry excitedly said. "I do have extra savings I can use for them."_

 _"_ _I'll pay for the reservation of a place to stay or something – mum and dad has all those kinds of offers and gift certificates from clients."_

 _"_ _Oh that's great!" Harry said. "And maybe in our wedding we can get those too!"_

 _"_ _Hey, Harry!" Hermione exclaimed suddenly hitting his ribs by her elbows._

 _"_ _Hey, Granger!" Harry said quickly grabbing hold of her wrists and putting her back against the couch._

 _Hermione giggled nonstop as Harry held her down, tickling her at certain areas and simply looking down at her._

 _They laughed and giggled and suddenly stopped._

 _They stared at one another and for some reason – a sudden and unexplainable reason – Harry felt that he wanted Hermione to just lay there so he could stare at her completely._

 _To forever remember her face and how happy she was tonight and for the coming days they would have._

 _He wanted to memorize her facial features and everything that was beautiful in her._

 _"_ _I love you." Harry said staring down at her. "I will always do, 'Mione."_

 _"_ _I am yours forever Harry." Hermione whispered gently placing her arms around his neck and puling him into a soft kiss. "Yours, Harry."_

"Draco!" Hermione called out.

Draco turned around and saw Lupin and Hermione heading his way.

He had just left Snape's holding area and was just about to go down to get himself a bottle of water before the trial begins.

"I was about to buy us something to drink." Draco told her.

"I'm fine." Hermione said. "Professor Lupin and I went downstairs for something to drink before we went back here."

"Draco." Lupin said taking out a bottle of cold tea for him.

"Thanks." Draco said taking it even if he does not drink such things. "I'll keep this for later."

Lupin smiled and watched him keep it inside the black bag he always had.

"I was wondering if I could talk to Hermione?" he asked. "Privately?"

"Ofcourse." Lupin said.

He gently tapped Hermione's shoulder and gave her a quick embrace.

"I'll settle inside at the usual seats, Hermione." Lupin said. "Let me know if you've seen Harry."

"You haven't seen Potter?" Draco asked them.

Hermione shook her head worriedly.

"We haven't." Hermione said. "Kingsley said that he hasn't seen Harry either. He is usually always early in the trials."

Draco sighed but he didn't show his disappointment or worry.

Harry was supposed to come – he should.

He promise that he would take matters into his own hands to ensure that Snape does not receive the most severe punishment of them all.

 _So where the hell was he?_

"I'm sure he'll come." Lupin said seeing the worry in both their faces. "He would come. Don't worry."

Draco nodded at him and Hermione gave him a nod too.

Lupin bid them goodbye for the moment and turned to walk down the corridor that would lead to the trial court room.

The moment he was out of earshot Hermione turned worriedly back at Draco.

"Is he coming?" she asked in obvious panic. "Are you sure he's coming?"

"He promised you, did he not?" Draco asked her back.

They both looked very worried since they bagged in Harry's words that he was going to save Snape from a fatal punishment that Snape was likely to receive.

"He did." Hermione said. "He promised me. I promised him that I would marry him and he agreed – he clearly agreed, Draco."

"Well don't worry for now." Draco said. "Maybe he needed time to think what he should do or something or maybe he's talking to the member of the Wizengamot."

Draco took hold of her hands again and firmly held them.

"Don't worry." Draco said. "Things will be alright."

"I'm trying not to worry." Hermione said. "How is he?" she asked.

Draco gave her a small smile. "He told me that whatever happens I should promise him that I'd watch over you and I am to keep that promise."

"I wish I could talk to him before the trial today."

"I know." Draco said. "But we both know that's not possible until he is sentenced."

Hermione nodded and gave him a somber look.

"I am worried."

"I am here, Hermione." Draco assured her.

She took a firm hold of both his hands and then gently pulled him into an embrace.

No matter how close they were now and the level of their friendship, Draco would never be used into physical embraces as he grew up not really receiving these small gestures of love and kindness from either his parents.

"Thank you, Draco." Hermione said. "Thank you for being there and for taking good care of Severus."

Draco place his arms around her as well and gently patted her back.

"I will always be here for the both of you." Draco said. "We will get through this. I promise you, we would get through this."

A tear suddenly fell off from her eyes and another and another.

Suddenly, she was already crying in Draco's arms.

Draco was taken aback and he tried to shush her and took her to the side of the corridor.

"Hermione?"

"I don't know.." Hermione sobbed at him. "I don't know why I'm.. why I'm like this.. why I'm crying when I know he should be in there – he should be – he should be punished for everything he's done to me."

Draco's eyes suddenly widened.

There was something different in the way Hermione cried and spoke those words.

Something was suddenly different.

Did he just trigger something in her and her memory?

"Hermione?" he asked worriedly pulling her to the benches at the empty corridor.

Hermione tried to control her tears but they were just suddenly flowing nonstop.

"Draco – he – he should be in Azkaban but I couldn't – I don't have the courage to bring him there because he took care of me – he made sure – he promised me that we would together get through it and I believed in that and-"

"Wait – Hermione-"

She just suddenly placed her arms around him, tightly embracing him and crying nonstop.

Draco quietly cursed himself.

He definitely said something that triggered something deeply emotional in her.

He didn't know what to do.

He was slightly panicking and he wished that Lupin was still near and around so he could help him calm her down.

"Hermione, I understand you but you need to restrain-"

"No, Draco – listen – he – Severus – I know he should be in Azkaban but I couldn't – I couldn't bring myself to bring him there because he took good care of me and Harry and –"

"Miss Granger?" a voice called out. "Draco?"

It was the head of the Wizengamot.

He had come out of a secret door and was walking towards the two of them.

He looked down upon them and Hermione hurriedly wiped her face off tears but they were still very obvious along her facial features.

"The trial is about to begin." he said nodding at Draco. "Mr. Potter is already in the court room as well as Mr. Snape."

Hermione's face lit at the mention and she quickly stood up.

Draco stood too and nodded at his uncle in a way that he only understood.

"I will see you in the court room." the old man had said trying to ignore Hermione's look of plea.

She was obviously wanting to talk to him – to beg for Snape's life – but she always knew the boundaries she could no longer cross.

The moment he was out of sight Draco took hold of Hermione's hands again.

"Let's go?" he offered her with a concerned smile.

Hermione nodded and dried the last of her tears.

"Please hold my hand." Hermione said with worry written all over her face. "I need you more than ever, Draco."

 _Hermione slept blissfully next to him._

 _Her back was turned to him and she was kept warm by the newly bought thick blankets he had for her._

 _He always made sure that she was environmentally comfortable in the cottage._

 _And for ten years, he was able to ensure that kind of comfort for her._

 _She had everything she could ever need and want._

 _A good shelter to live in, nice food that never ran out, books that she always loved, potions and other ready made medications for any of her needs and a man in her life who would provide her anything else that she would ask of._

 _In a few days, she would finally be Mrs. Hermione Jean Granger-Snape._

 _She had agreed to marry him._

 _Everything else was in order and everything had been thoroughly planned._

 _She had picked the colours she wanted, a special wedding dress that he had made especially for her from Paris, food that she wanted to be served, the special wine she asked him to make and every small detail that she wanted for their wedding._

 _There was nothing else she could ask for._

 _It was the small, intimate and special wedding she always spoke about._

 _It was going to be a perfect day._

 _And he was going to be the perfect husband._

 _But could he really be?_

 _There were still days and hours he couldn't help but doubt himself if he could indeed give her everything she would ever want._

 _Would she ever get tire of loving him?_

 _Would marrying her be the answer to all the problems he knew that future might still want him to answer to?_

 _If she marries him, there was a chance for them to slowly go back into the outside world and nothing can separate them because they were literally and magically bonded together as husband and wife._

 _Nothing – not a person nor magic – in this world could ever separate them once that happens._

 _Was he ready?_

 _Was that what he really wanted?_

 _Ofcourse._

 _That wasn't a question._

 _He always wanted a family too._

 _He always wanted something beautiful for himself as wel._

 _And was she really the answer to all of that or was he still fooling himself up to this day ten years later?_

 _"_ _Severus?" Hermione's voice came about._

 _He slid back in the bed under the sheets next to her and smiled at her._

 _He kissed her forehead and pulled the blankets over them._

 _"_ _Go back to sleep, sweetheart." Snape whispered as Hermione backed herself against his warm naked body for her comfort._

 _"_ _Why are you still awake?" she sleepily asked closing her eyes and feeling him with only her hands._

 _"_ _I just went to close the lights in the lab." Snape lied to her. "I have forgotten to turn them down."_

 _In truth was that he couldn't sleep._

 _It was nearly four in the morning and he still couldn't sleep._

 _He was still thinking, thinking hard and deep._

 _She was to be truly and legally his and for some reason he didn't feel at ease about it._

 _He would forever have her._

 _But was that what she also wanted?_

 _Did she really choose him at that day at the train station?_

 _Or did she just choose him in her fear of the world she no longer knew of?_

 _Was he really her choice or was it because she was so scared of the outside world that she chose to return in his arms because he was what was comfortable and familiar for her?_

 _He wanted to shoot himself in the head with these thoughts running inside him._

 _He should have asked that years ago – three years ago in fact._

 _"_ _What's wrong?" shed asked turning to him and placing one hand over his cheek._

 _Snape shook his head. "Go back to sleep."_

 _Hermione's eyes momentarily opened and she searched his black eyes for answers._

 _She gently placed her hands from his cheek and ran them down at the side of his muscular arms._

 _"_ _Are you sure?" she asked him leaning forward and kissing the base of his shoulder before leaning up to kiss him on the lips._

 _Snape opened his mouth and accepted her warm, soft and gentle kiss._

 _Her kisses has never really changed._

 _They were still soft and warm and sweet to taste._

 _The innocent girl in her was still there whenever he kissed her._

 _"_ _I'm sure." Snape whispered back into her mouth._

 _He licked her lips and she giggled letting his tongue roll inside hers._

 _Hermione moaned at the exchange and then she broke the kiss and stared up at him._

 _"_ _If there is something wrong you will tell me, yes?" she asked him._

 _Snape nodded at her._

 _He always would just nod at her._

 _She never really knew if there was something wrong or whatever was really bothering him._

 _In the ten years that they were together she knew he still kept things from her._

 _But she learned to let them all go knowing that she wasn't going to get answers anyway._

 _She learned to know that there were boundaries in their relationship and she learned to accept these rules and lines she couldn't ever cross._

 _"_ _Go back to sleep." Snape whispered pulling her down in his arms. "Go back to sleep."_

 _"_ _Wake me up before you leave in the morning." Hermione sleepily said turning away from him and letting him take her in his arms and embrace her for the night._

 _"_ _I will sweetheart." Snape promised kissing her dark tresses and closing his eyes as he let himself slowly go down in the depths and peace of sleep._

 _He would never tell her ofcourse that he was beginning to be consumed by guilt._

 _He would never tell her ofcourse that he was being consumed by his thoughts and worry that he might never be good enough for her._

 _He would never tell her his constant worry up to now of waking up one day and she would be taken from him._

 _He would never tell her of the hours he thinks of her and how he could make her happy in the every moment they lived, they were living and would be living together._

 _He would never tell her that he was extremely fearful of losing her._

 _He would never tell her that he loved her so deep that the guilt of what he has done all these years might one day just blow up into their faces and fate would suddenly take her back from him and bring her to where she really belonged._

 _No._

 _He would never tell her any of these things that worried and consumed him and his soul every single night that they go to bed together with her happy enough to blissfully sleep in his arms that she once in her life despised so much._

Hermione entered the trial room a few moments before Draco did.

They thought it would be wise to enter the room with time lapses.

She quickly found Lupin and walked towards the row of chairs where he sat.

He had saved two chairs – one for her and for Harry.

But Harry was still nowhere.

She looked around the room and did not find him.

She wondered where the head had seen Harry.

Across the room, Draco had entere and his eyes quickly roamed around the room obviously also looking for Harry.

Hermione quietly sat on her chair with Lupin taking hold of her hand for a moment.

Snape had just been brought inside the room and the jury was in full attendance just as the twelve members of the Wizengamot.

The court room was quite full for the day.

Everyone was obviously intent and interested to the decision of the court.

People from the Daily Prophet were all ready in one full row at one side of the room.

Governors of Hogwarts were also present there and Hermione spotted McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout and Slughorn – the Heads of Houses of Hogwarts in the same row of chair as them.

Some Order members were scattered around the rows of chairs and by the four doors in the atrium.

Ministry officials and Azkaban wizard guards were also all over the room.

It was a heavily secured day at the trial.

Hermione stared across the room and Draco was avoiding her gaze as usual.

He didn't want to look at her in fear of distraction and he didn't want to see her pained expression.

She was aware of his actions by now.

He sat next to Snape who was silent as he always was anyway.

He was dressed better and was cleanly shaven as she has noticed.

He looked way better than the many times she's seen him or last seen him at the cottage.

The attendee asked everyone to stand up for his usual opening remarks for each trial and asked if the court room was in full attendance as everyone slowly got back to their seats at his request.

He announced that they were about it begin in a few moments and that the doors would soon be closed as per the usual rules of the court room.

Lupin slowly stood up and raised his hand to make Harry's absence in the room known.

The attendee was just about to say something when the double doors opened at that exact moment before they were sealed.

Everyone's eyes went to the doors and Harry entered bringing in some sort of letter in his hand.

It was a rich parchment paper folded and was bearing a special kind of ribbon around it.

"Mr. Potter?" asked the attendee as Harry walked inside the room without looking at anyone else.

He had the parchment clear in his hand to let everyone see it even if he didn't say anything.

His eyes didn't stray anywhere else but straight towards the 12 members of the Wizengamot.

"I would like a request." Harry clearly said without blinking and handing over the letter straight towards the long row and table where the Wizengamot was.

The full jury and the room looked surprised at his request.

But the Wizengamot didn't look as shock as they were.

They seemed to be advised ahead that Harry was to use his special turn for a request just as Draco had done so a few trials ago when he asked for Opus Contrarium.

Hermione craned her neck up to see what he was handing the head of the Wizengamot.

Draco looked curious but he also looked like he was contemplating and tried to act passive at what was happening.

Snape was silent, his head down and not even the slightest disturbed on what was happening.

"Your request, Mr. Potter?" the head of the Wizengamot asked him as he extended his hand in order to receive Harry's parchment.

Harry handed it over and nodded curtly in a business-like manner.

The old man opened the parchment and the whole room held their breath in curiosity and intensity of the situation.

He read the parchment thoroughly without changing his expression.

The slightest bit of crease appeared in his forehead but completely vanished as he turned back to Harry.

"This is where you're going to use your term of request?" he asked him slowly. "This is your request, Mr. Potter?"

"Yes." Harry said in a confident and serious tone. "I would like to request for 'The Writ of Clemency.''

Whatever it meant, Hermione wasn't sure but soon enough, the whole room began bursting into an intense debate and clamor.

Hermione quickly looked across the room towards Draco.

He looked as perplexed as she was as if it wasn't the kind of thing he expected Harry to do.

There was worry around his face that Hermione didn't miss.

"Profess0r-" she quickly turned to Lupin and trying to hear him out inspite of all the noise that was coming from the people.

"My god." Lupin gasped. "Harry, what are you doing.."

The worry over Hermione's face increased upon seeing Snape looked up for a moment towards Harry.

But Harry didn't look back at him nor at anyone else.

He kept his face passive and his eyes towards the head of the Wizengamot.

"Are you sure of this?" he asked Harry again. "Once this is given, you are given only twelve days, Mr. Potter."

"Yes." Harry answered. "It is more than enough time for my request."

Hermione tugged over Lupin's arm, looking over at him to explain what was going on.

She has never heard of that kind of court room request before.

"What is it?" she asked him in panic. "Professor Lupin, what is Harry asking for? What did he-"

"He's asking for the trial to be suspended." Lupin explained turning to her. "Harry's asking for the trial to be suspended just before they give Snape their final decision and judgement-"

"What does that mean?" Hermione said. "I thought he promised-"

"He wants to hold whatever decision they have." Lupin said looking back at her with worry over his face. "Harry wants to hold the decision until a certain amount of time."

"Amount of time?" Hermione repeated still very much bewildered by what was going on.

Lupin nodded and gently took hold of her arm.

"He obviously doesn't trust your word, Hermione."

"My word?" Hermione repeated loudly over the noise that was consuming the room. "What's going on?"

"Harry is suspending the decision until an amount of time is given. Twelve days Hermione." Lupin said. "You would marry him within the twelve days before the trial gives the decision."

Hermione opened her mouth to say something but her brain was seemingly working double time.

Her eyes lit up and widened and she looked back down the chaos around them.

"He's suspending it because he wants us to get married first." Hermione said in worry. "He doesn't trust I'd marry him so instead of ensuring that Severus evades the dementors-"

"He wants your marriage secured. He wants to make sure that you would do first what he ask before he gives in to what you ask-"

"You mean if I don't marry him, he can change or not change things?"

Hermione felt like the world has fallen down.

She would then have no way out of marring him.

Harry was beyond _brilliant._

He wanted things secured, he wanted some sort of insurance that he would get what he want before he gives in to what she wanted.

If she doesn't marry him in twelve days, the court would give the final decision without his interference.

And without Harry's interference, the decision was already nailed down and sure – the Dementor's Kiss would be the punishment to Snape what with all the evidences laid out and the cases against Snape.

"Yes." Lupin answered her with worry over his face. "I basically think that's the idea of his request. He would suspend the decision until the both of you are married within the twelve days that the writ works in. Until then, until he is sure that you're married to him – he could easily change his decision about Snape's fate."

Hermione felt like throwing up right then and there.

She thought things would change for the better after today.

She thought that at the least, Snape would be able to evade the Kiss.

But in this decision of Harry who was more than determined to marry her and have her back and punish Snape severely – she knew that the twelve days that would begin today would be the hardest twelve days of her entire life.

She would marry him – she intended to – but just in twelve days?

 _Twelve days?_

Because there in the twelve days, Snape's fate and life after all did not really depend on the Wizengamot's decision nor just in Harry's hands – but in her hands as well for she has the decision to marry or not marry Harry and have the choice to lose Snape forever or have him live and be with Harry for the rest of her life.


	47. Chapter 47

**_Chapter Forty Seven_**

 ** _Losing Faith_**

 _Twelve days without the privilege of using the small library or access to Snape's bookshelves was something she can absolutely deal with._

 _But his promise of teaching her some 'Defensive Spells' went flying out of the window as quickly as the opportunity had come._

 _They were having a good time the other day – he was teaching her a couple of friendly or easy to make potions especially for healing and a couple of trivial facts about potions and books._

 _He had never seen her as excited nor as happy in a long time at his pronouncement of these little activities he planned for them._

 _There were these kind of days that Snape seemed to be in a good mood to teach her a thing or two that normally she wouldn't think possible for him to do given their situation._

 _And then there came an opportunity where she actually managed to make him say yes into teaching her some Defensive Spells using a wand._

 _She has not touched a wand for a very long time and she knew that one way or another she must touch one soon even if it isn't hers._

 _She had noticed it – her powers were growing weaker by the days._

 _She's not stupid._

 _She's read that somewhere that when someone wasn't using magic – wand or wandless magic – there was the possibility of losing one's magical abilities or completely weakening it to the point that it was hardly even there._

 _She feared that above everything that she has endured by far in the cottage with Snape._

 _There were the first few days where she felt she was losing her magic and so she resorted into using wandless magic and practicing it inside the bathroom whenever she took a shower or she had the privilege to use the bathroom or any time that there was privacy from Snape or whenever he wasn't around._

 _She managed to survive that for weeks and months but recently, she's notice that even that was fading from her._

 _Her simple flicking and snapping of her fingers to bring about a shampoo into her hands were emitting very lowly and disappointing results._

 _She was completely losing her magic._

 _That couldn't happen – it could never happen._

 _What would become of her?_

 _She needed to touch a wand – even just for a moment – even just for the briefest moment._

 _And that's what she managed to brilliantly think of a plan to manipulate Snape into allowing her an access to one even under his watch._

 _Ofcourse he had disagreed on it with all his heart and might._

 _They had argued about it every now and then but Hermione wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing._

 _She tried._

 _She kept trying and trying until she managed to make Snape say yes to her little request._

 _He told her that he would allow her and would teach her only one Defensive Spell and that was it._

 _Ofcourse he was reluctant to give in to her request – but she had been very docile and sweet recently that he thought a little reward more than a book would suffice._

 _And she was more than happy to give into him or whatever he had asked of her in exchange for it._

 _Hermione was a good businesswoman as she would tell herself._

 _Snape wasn't stupid though._

 _He knew that she was asking this for some reason but he had tried time and again to check what may be for her gain seeing that he was always around and there was absolutely no need for her to learn such spells._

 _Bu there was nothing wrong in his opinion._

 _So he agreed._

 _He agreed to teach her a simple spell or two on Defensive Spells that wasn't taught at Hogwarts._

 _After all, what was a little favor to be given to her if it would mean that she would trust him further and would slowly forget all other things that she usually had a tantrum with or argued him about?_

 _But all those plans and good mood went flying out of the window when they argued two nights ago that resulted her to spoiling a fully brewed potion for Narcissa that took him twelve hours to prepare and brew._

 _Ofcourse Hermione thought that he was angry because of the potion that she accidently knocked over and destroyed but what she didn't know was that it wasn't that way._

 _He was angered by the fact that he had worked so hard for hours to create the potion for Narcissa who was in desperate need of it._

 _For some reason, she had been getting terribly sick and it worried him a lot._

 _He decided to create several potions for her in order to gain her strength and help the two of them understand exactly what was happening with her so he could find the right potion to brew for her._

 _She had sent him an emergency message in form of her Patronus that she had been having nosebleed episodes for the past consecutive days and her magic had been very off and wary._

 _Snape panicked._

 _He quickly brewed a handful of potions to bring to her and one of the most important one was the one that Hermione accidentally knocked over in his laboratory._

 _Hermione apologized, explained and cried and repeatedly told him that she was very sorry and it was an accident._

 _Ofcourse his impatience and anger got the better of him._

 _He yelled at her and locked her out of the laboratory and told her that their little deal was off._

 _Hermione cried and begged outside the door for hours but he ignored her._

 _He completely ignored her for hours to the point that he has forgotten that she hasn't eaten yet._

 _It was dinner time already when he remembered that fact._

 _He had been overcome by his emotions and her worry of Narcissa's conditions that he admitted to himself that he might have overreacted on what happened._

 _He must admit it to himself that it was indeed and accident but he was too pressured already and in total panic that he couldn't immediately find a cure or first-aid remedy for Narcissa when she was in desperate need of it._

 _His frustration and exhaustion in the situation rose his temperament and thus, Hermione was the one who received the blow of it._

 _"_ _Come in." Snape said flicking his wand and opening the door._

 _It was nearly nine in the evening and he had just arrived._

 _He was unpacking his things._

 _The good thing about his trip was that Narcissa was feeling better._

 _He had given her the rest of the bottles that were left and explained to him that he would need to see her again in three days in another motel where he would be able to brew the potion that he didn't manage to bring her._

 _Narcissa was ofcourse as ever patient with him._

 _She gave him an amount to use for the potion for her and even if he was reluctant to take it, he did accept it._

 _It was another to make potions for her and another to have enough emergency savings for the two of them at the cottage._

 _Hermione entered carrying with her a tray of sliced loaves, some creamcheese with tomatoes and parsley and bits of canned tuna she found in their storage._

 _Snape could smell the food the moment she entered but he didn't say anything._

 _He let her enter and heard her settle the tray at the other end of the room._

 _"_ _I know you told me that I'm not supposed to go around the house and just touch things and all but I thought that you might be hungry since you haven't eaten today."_

 _Snape didn't say anything and Hermione stood before his desk unknowing if she should leave or not._

 _She was apologetic already – very apologetic indeed._

 _She was trying so hard, so very hard to win his attention and forgiveness again._

 _She couldn't lose the chance of holding a wand after all these months that has passed._

 _She was willing to do just about whatever it takes to be able to hold a wand again even just for the briefest of moment just so she would not lose her magic._

 _She needed the little most contact with a wand for a chance to ignite the powers in her that was slowly dying._

 _"_ _Severus?" Hermione called out to him._

 _He continued cataloguing something over his desk that he purposely ignored her._

 _"_ _Severus-"_

 _"_ _I'm not hungry." Snape simply said. "You can bring that tray away as it is making unwanted smell in this room."_

 _Hermione's eyebrow creased but she didn't say anything._

 _She had placed more than enough effort for him and yet he was acting this way towards her._

 _But she wasn't about to give up on that chance of touching a wand._

 _Not a chance in the world._

 _"_ _Please talk to me." Hermione quietly said walking nearer his desk._

 _"_ _We have nothing to talk about." Snape said. "I suggest you leave."_

 _"_ _You can't dismiss me just like this." Hermione said raising her voice slightly._

 _Snape momentarily stared up at her as if daring her to yell at him again._

 _He didn't say anything as he looked back towards his desk again._

 _"_ _I'm sorry." Hermione said breathing heavily and trying to gain control again. "Please talk to me."_

 _"_ _I believe there is nothing to talk about."_

 _"_ _I'm trying to apologize to you for what I've done in the lab." Hermione desperately said. "I'm really sorry. It was an accident and-"_

 _"_ _I told you that you can't just go in there, did I not?" Snape asked her. "Have you not learned your lesson?"_

 _"_ _I have!" Hermione pleaded at him. "I have – please, forgive me – I'm really sorry – it was an accident and I wouldn't go near or in the laboratory again without your permission-"_

 _"_ _We both know that already be the case in the first place."_

 _Hermione bit her lower lip not knowing what to say anymore._

 _He was dismissing her like she didn't matter._

 _He was simply dismissing her when he did not want her nor had any use of her nor had anything he wanted from her._

 _"_ _Please, I'm really sorry." Hermione said. "I'm really, really sorry-"_

 _"_ _You've already been forgiven." Snape simply said filing a couple of parchments inside his drawer._

 _"_ _But Severus-"_

 _"_ _I'm busy right now. I can't deal with you right now." Snape simply said._

 _"_ _You can't deal with me right now?" Hermione repeated disbelievingly. "But – but you said-"_

 _"_ _I said a lot of things and I intend to always keep my word, Hermione." Snape said. "But you – you keep on doing things that I told you not to do despite you giving your word-"_

 _"_ _It was an accident! I was just – it was – I got-"_

 _"_ _Got over excited?" Snape said. "Overexcited over things? You see, that's the very reason why I put rules in this place." Snape said. "Because when you get too emotional and overexcited you tend to forget your place – you tend to forget the rules and where exactly does that usually lead you and end you?"_

 _Hermione didn't say anything._

 _She was tearful already._

 _For everything that she has done, she had to pay for it._

 _He had a point – she always ended up in trouble and he always has to be the one to clean all the mess she'd leave behind._

 _"_ _Tell me, what were you looking for in the lab?" he demanded with his eyes glinting._

 _"_ _I wasn't looking for anything." Hermione answered. "I wasn't looking for anything-"_

 _"_ _You were there for a reason. You were obviously looking for something. And now you have the gut to lie to me about it after the damage you've done-"_

 _"_ _Severus, please!" Hermione cried walking to the other side of the desk and clinging at the end of his black robes._

 _She went down on her knees, clutching the ends of his robes very tightly as she cried._

 _"_ _Please.. please, I'm sorry.. Severus, please I'm really sorry – please forgive me-"_

 _"_ _I already told you that you have been forgiven." Snape spat looking down at her. "Have you not noticed that you have not even been punished for it?" he asked her._

 _Hermione shook her head._

 _Ofcourse she was being punished for this._

 _But she had to sound grateful to get what she wanted._

 _"_ _Yes, I know please but –"_

 _"_ _But you want more?" Snape asked her. "You always want more, don't you?" he asked her._

 _Hermione looked up at him with her eyes filled with tears._

 _Ofcourse she couldn't just admit that._

 _It would lead him to conclude that she was only apologizing to get something she wanted._

 _"_ _Severus-"_

 _"_ _If you think that your apology would change my mind into giving in to your little request then you're wrong. You must learn your lesson."_

 _Snape tried to move away from her but Hermione clung tightly and continued to cry._

 _"_ _Please, Severus.. please.." she cried at him. "Please, there must be something to change your mind-"_

 _"_ _I'm not gullible and I'm not someone who you can just persuade. If you think in your school days you can just persuade people into doing things because you're going to help them with their assignment-"_

 _"_ _I'm not like that-" Hermione cried kneeling and crawling around the floor as he stood from his chair and walked around at the other side of the desk._

 _Snape closed his eyes and tried to block out the sound of her cries._

 _But he knew that he couldn't._

 _It was a sheer pure accident and she was right about it._

 _But he was angry that she was in his laboratory not just of the accident that caused her to destroy the potion for Narcissa but the simple reason that she was there for something._

 _She was obviously looking for something in there that led him to conclude that she was still scheming against him for something._

 _She still wanted to leave._

 _"_ _I'm not like Potter." Snape angrily spat down at her. "I'm not like him who would teach you how to manipulate people to get what you want-"_

 _"_ _It's not like that – Severus, please – and Harry's not like that-"_

 _It angered him even more but Hermione was too preoccupied at the present situation to realize it._

 _"_ _Get your hands off me!" Snape angrily said picking her up from the floor and handling her wrists tightly._

 _He dragged her from the floor and painfully led her to the door._

 _"_ _Get out – " he angrily said. "Get out – out! There's nothing to talk about! There's nothing to chance my mind in my decision-"_

 _"_ _I'll do anything!" Hermione cried struggling against him as she went back over her knees._

 _She clung tightly around his legs for dear life._

 _"_ _Hermione-" Snape began getting really irritated now at her consistent defiance to get what she wanted._

 _"_ _Please – please, I'll do anything – anything-" she cried at him. "There must be something that can change your mind – please, Severus – anything-"_

 _"_ _I've made up my mind." Snape simply said. "Get out of this room now or you would receive severe consequences."_

 _"_ _Please.." Hermione pleaded still ignoring his warnings and threats. "Severus.. please.. my magic is starting to fade.. I can't.. I can't do magic anymore.. please.. I need to touch a wand.." Hermione cried._

 _Snape stared down at her._

 _He finally understood why she was so desperate in getting him to agree into that deal._

 _She needed to touch a wand because her magic was dying away due to the longest time that she wasn't in contact with her wand or anything that physically needed or demanded her to use magic._

 _Her magic was obviously dying away._

 _He didn't know what to do at that very moment._

 _Ofcourse he didn't want her to lose her magic because it was her essence – a part of her – a part of the Hermione Granger that he always admired._

 _But he also couldn't let her have an access to a wand for two reasons; one being that she could begin having ideas and use it against him and secondly, it would give her the idea that any time she begged and cried for something he would give in just because she begged._

 _He suddenly wasn't sure what to do._

 _He couldn't decide at that very moment but he didn't want to give her hope or any promise because he didn't want her with a wand in the first place._

 _"_ _Please." Hermione begged by his feet. "Severus.. please.. don't let my magic die.. I'll do anything.. anything you ask of me.."_

 _Snape stared at her for a long time before coming into a short decision for the mean time._

 _"_ _I have things to finish, Hermione." Snape said bending forward and picking her up from her crawled up form on the floor. "Go to bed and I will follow later."_

 _"_ _Do you forgive me?" she asked slowly looking up at him._

 _Snape gently ran his fingers along the messy hair that was all over her face and the tears that were all over her face as well._

 _He gently drew the hair and tears away with his long fingers while Hermione stared expectantly at him._

 _His actions were very gentle and it gave Hermione hope that she was being forgiven and that she could touch a wand._

 _"_ _Severus.. please.."_

 _"_ _Go to bed." Snape simply told her. "I don't want to hear you cry. I want to finish my work tonight and then we will talk."_

 _Hermione looked at him for a moment._

 _There were no promises there but there was the tone of his voice that told her that there may be hope._

 _Without warning, she quickly placed her arms around him and jumped into his arms._

 _Snape was too surprised, too taken aback to do anything as she clung tightly over him and cried harder._

 _"_ _Please, please.. please think about it.. " she murmured in his chest, breathing heavily and stuttering through her tears. "_

 _"_ _Severus, I'm sorry." Hermione continued to cry. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry.. I wouldn't do it again.. just please.. please allow me to touch a wand.. please.. I can't lose my magic. I'll do anything.. anything you want. Please don't let me lose it.. please don't let my magic die away.."_

The door opened and slammed shut with a bang.

Harry and Ginny looked up from the couch in the witness' waiting room.

"What were you thinking?!" Hermione demanded striding inside the room with Lupin next to her.

The trial had ended ceremoniously and Hermione viciously excited it with Lupin at her wake.

She immediately met with Draco outside who told her that they would talk the following day because he needed to tend to Snape and the Ministry officials who were placing him in a different cell place due to the decision that has been made.

He had twelve days in his hands to await what would become of his fate.

The jury and the Wizengamot was going to give the case 12 days of rest.

It was usually given in the midst of a case when either party was going to present some important document that needed time to wait, some witness from either side that would take time to arrive from another country to attend the hearings or some other reason where the cases needed an emergency time suspension due to the great need of either one of the sides.

It wasn't allowed to be used at the last trial just when the court was about to give its decision.

But it was Harry Potter who requested for it and everyone voted to allow him a grant upon his request.

The trial that day was dismissed and would commence with the same verdict after twelve days.

Hermione and Draco could only stare at one another after the decision has been made and chaos broke further.

Draco and his assistant and some of the guards tended to bringing Snape out of the court in the middle of the chaos while Harry had quickly disappeared from the crowd.

Hermione and Lupin quickly went back to their waiting room in hopes of finding Harry there and they weren't disappointed when they found him with Ginny in the room talking.

"Oh, they you are." Harry said with a smile as he greeted her. "Come, I've made some reservations."

Harry took her hand to his but Hermione angrily pulled her hand away and shoved his away from her.

Harry's eyes glinted but he tried to continue with the façade of a smile he was showing them.

Lupin was there by Hermione's side and he didn't like the idea of that.

"What were you thinking?" Hermione repeated. "We had a deal Harry – I'm going to marry you and you're going to make sure that he isn't sent to the Dementors-"

"Was he sent to the Dementors?" Harry quietly asked her. "Did you hear them giving the verdict?"

He was so calm that it angered Hermione further.

"That's not the plan- that wasn't the deal-"

"Who says so?" Harry asked her in an innocent tone. "The deal was you're going to marry me and that I would make sure he evades the Dementors. I ask you, was he given the verdict on that?"

Hermione raised her hand in anger to hit him but Harry was quicker as if he was expecting it.

He raised her arm and painfully caught her arm to the point that Hermione's face was turning red in pain.

Lupin and Ginny quickly reached for them but his free hand had quickly drawn out his wand and pointed it at the two of them.

"Harry, please." Lupin said alarmed by Harry's actions.

His hand slowly made contact to his pocket for his wand but Harry pointed it directly towards Hermione's face.

"I would not do that." Harry said quietly. "I really wouldn't do that. Hands away from your wand, if you please, professor Lupin."

Lupin stared at him with a defeated expression and raised both his hands up in the air.

Harry smiled and turned to Ginny and gestured her to do the same.

Ginny looked hurt and perplexed but she did as he asked her to.

"Now if you please." Harry calmly said with the same smile as his other hand pierced Hermione's arm. "I will just take Hermione to the restaurant I had reservations."

"Harry-"

"You're free to join us for dinner later. I had made another reservation – for twelve actually – incase the Weasleys would like to come."

Hermione struggled against his grip but he was pinning her painfully that she could barely move.

"Harry, don't hurt Hermione." Lupin said as he slowly dragged Hermione out of the room backing away step by step from the two of them.

"I'm not going to hurt her." Harry said with a hurtful look over his face. "I'm going to take my fiancé out to some tea. Right?" he asked turning to Hermione who was still struggling against him.

"Hermione?" Harry gently asked back.

"Go to hell Harry!" Hermione angrily yelled at him.

Harry ignored her and with his control of the situation, he managed to reach for her and kiss her on the cheek.

Hermione looked stricken and he only smiled at her.

"If I'm going, sweetheart – I'm going to have to drag you with me. Now come on." Harry said pulling to the door.

"Harry – my arm-" Hermione cried strangling herself away from him.

"Now, we're going to get out of here and I'm going to let your hand go. One wrong move Hermione and everything about the deal is off-"

"Harry, please stop hurting Hermione-" Lupin said walking forward them with Ginny. "Please stop hurting-"

"Shut up, professor!" Harry mocked pointing his wand at him.

Nobody moved because a spark had already emitted from its tip.

"Harry, don't hurt them." Hermione said through gritted teeth. "Don't you hurt them-"

"Then we're going out, yes?" he asked her hopefully.

There was that scary smile over his face again.

One that was too friendly to look at that was at the point of being creepy.

Hermione nodded at him.

"The moment we are out there in the public, people would be swarming especially those from the Daily Prophet and all you would do is smile for the pictures and tell them that we're about to have lunch and have wedding preparations to attend to-"

"They're not thick Harry-"

"No." Harry said. "But you're going to tell them the same thing anyway. And if they ask what has happened or what I've done simply tell them that you don't want to talk about it and that I'm going to be the one to answer on it. Do I make myself clear?" he asked her as he pushed her against the wall.

Hermione stared up at him with pure hatred in her eyes.

"I was wrong when I thought you could be saved, Harry." Hermione spat at him.

Harry only laughed at her but he looked murderous.

"I wasn't asking you to save me." Harry said reaching for the door and grabbing her by the arm again. "That's my job and that's exactly what I'm doing."

"You're not saving anyone." Hermione angrily said. "You're only thinking of yourself-"

"Shut up, Hermione." Harry said angrily grabbing her by the nape of her clothes. "Now, smile for the world or you're going to sorely regret it. Or rather, Snape will."

Hermione gasped as he opened the door of the room and painfully pushed her out of the room by the neck.

 _"_ _Mother?" Draco asked entering their vast library._

 _Narcissa stood at the midst of the room staring around the vast high-ceiling shelves of books in their library._

 _Draco was in his dark pair of pajamas as he entered the library._

 _It was two in the morning and he couldn't sleep._

 _It may not have been a known habit of Draco Malfoy, but he tended to read a book or two whenever he was bothered by something or he couldn't sleep._

 _Tonight was both as he tossed and turned for hours in his bed only to find himself nowhere near getting the sleep he desperately wanted._

 _He decided a visit at their library and in great surprise to find Narcissa there._

 _She was still in the clothes she wore that afternoon from wherever it was she came from._

 _He wasn't sure where she had been, but the elves who took her shoes and coat told him that her boots were littered with mud and sand and the smell of her coat smelled like dry salt._

 _Draco demanded to see the boots but it had already been washed but he managed to ask for her coat and it smelled a lot like the sea._

 _It looked as if she had come from some sort of island or seashore._

 _Ofcourse he attempted to question her only to receive an answer that he didn't like._

 _He didn't like the idea as well that she was no longer sharing things with him and was dismissing him like he didn't matter to her._

 _"_ _Do you want tea?" she asked walking to her desk and taking her eyes off for the first time from her vast collections of books._

 _"_ _Tea?" Draco repeated._

 _"_ _It will help you sleep if you couldn't." Narcissa said settling herself behind her desk._

 _Draco walked to her desk and sat before her._

 _"_ _I was just finishing a couple of work that needed my signature." Narcissa said nodding towards a bunch of parchments over her table._

 _Lucius was the one who tended to all of these and the one who slept very late each night finishing transactions._

 _He may have been a Death Eater and a bastard to be a father and husband but one thing he was very good at was being a very responsible and effective businessman._

 _After all, the growth of the Black and Malfoy businesses wouldn't have flourished that well without him._

 _At the young age for which he married Narcissa, they had already reached the first stages of a billionaire's worth._

 _Draco only nodded at her and began to unconsciously reach things around her desk._

 _Narcissa ignored her and continued to sign a couple of things over the pile of parchments._

 _Draco's mind was tired but he still couldn't sleep._

 _He tinkered with her quill, touched the old and magical lamp over her desk, toyed with some of the books over the table and reached for an empty box._

 _His eyebrows creased upon seeing the familiar box._

 _He reached for it and stared at it._

 _It was the box of the Christmas gift he had given her before._

 _"_ _Where's the journal?" he asked her staring at the empty box._

 _Narcissa looked up at him and stare at the empty box in his hand._

 _"_ _What journal?" she slowly asked returning her gaze to her work._

 _"_ _The one that was inside this." Draco pointed out staring at the linings of the box. "I gave you this gift if you don't remember."_

 _"_ _I remember." Narcissa said._

 _Without warning, she reached forward and snatched the empty box away from Draco's hands._

 _Draco stared up at her, bewildered at her actions as she magically kept it then inside her drawer with a lock._

 _"_ _What's wrong?" he asked her. "What did you have to do that?"_

 _"_ _Do what?" Narcissa asked him back._

 _"_ _That." Draco pointed nodding towards her drawer. "I asked you where the journal is."_

 _Narcissa's eyes flashed in anger._

 _She folded her arms over her table and stared up at Draco._

 _"_ _Do I have to account to you everything I do?" Narcissa asked. "Couldn't it just be that I cleared things today and I have left that box lying around?"_

 _"_ _Lying around?" Draco repeated. "Lying around or maybe you mean you're lying to me again?"_

 _"_ _I have no time for this, Draco." Narcissa simply said waving her hand towards the door. "You're free to leave if you would like to."_

 _Draco's fists clenched at the way she dismissed him again._

 _"_ _I only asked where is the journal I've given you. I've never seen you use it."_

 _"_ _Do you want it back?" Narcissa asked coldly. "Do you want me to give it back to you, Draco?"_

 _Draco didn't say anything._

 _He hated it whenever she rejected him on anything let alone, give him back something he had given her._

 _"_ _No." Draco answered. "I was just curious where it is because I've never seen you use it and now the box is around and I was just wondering."_

 _"_ _I was just about to throw the box away." Narcissa said going back to her work. "I've seen it earlier when I was looking for something."_

 _"_ _So where is the journal?" Draco asked her unable to stop himself._

 _Narcissa looked up at him with anger in her eyes._

 _"_ _By all means Draco." Narcissa said sitting back in her mahogany chair. "Do your best to turn this library upside down and look for it if you're so desperate to take it back."_

 _"_ _I'm not about to take it back!" Draco argued with her. "I'm never going to take back anything I've given you mother. I'm not like that-"_

 _"_ _I don't have time for this, Draco." Narcissa said standing up from the desk. "I'm too tired to deal with you right now. I'm going to sleep."_

 _Draco watched as Narcissa pointed her wand towards the parchments and they slowly organized themselves into another spot in the library._

 _Draco stared without a word as she walked out of the library without turning back to him._

 _The double doors closed with a bang behind her and Draco was left in the library staring by the drawer that she had magically locked to keep its contents out of anyone's reach._

 _Hermione was curled up into a ball in their bed._

 _The hours had ticked by the rain spattered loudly against the windows and the roof of the cottage._

 _The fireplace was lit in their living room to emit a warm condition for the rest of the cottage._

 _She barely had any sleep._

 _She had tossed and turned on the bed and knew that Snape was still mad at her for what has happened in the laboratory and the potion._

 _He told her that he was going to follow her upstairs and sleep soon enough._

 _But it was already somewhere two in the morning and he still hasn't come up to their room yet._

 _She was sure that he was still angry and she couldn't even cry out loud about it because he told her that he was going to work on something and he didn't want to be disturbed._

 _Hermione could only cry so hard under the sheets biting off on the end of her pillow in her pain and sorrow._

 _She was groggy and somewhere in the middle of a nightmare when she felt Snape enter the room._

 _She could hear movements but she was too exhausted and too confused in her semi-sleep and semi-nightmare that she wasn't sure if Snape was already in the room._

 _She felt the room grow warmer and a flicker of light from the fireplace told her that he was indeed in the room._

 _She moved over the bed and tried to see him through the darkened view of the room._

 _She could smell fresh shampoo and knew that it wasn't a dream awhile ago when she heard the water streaming from the bathroom._

 _"_ _Severus?" Hermione said slowly waking up and moving across the bed._

 _"_ _Ssh. Don't get up." Snape whispered as he gently moved at the edge of the bed._

 _Hermione's nose crinkled._

 _He might smell of fresh shampoo and shower but she could still smell the strong smell of whiskey._

 _He was drunk again._

 _She force her all her senses to stay up and alert given this fact she had just learned._

 _Nothing ever comes out good whenever he was drunk._

 _"_ _Are you alright?" she asked him and he slowly reached for the blankets. "Have you eaten?"_

 _He only murmured as he gently moved under the sheets next to her and he began pulling it gently off her._

 _Hermione moved around the bed to give him space but he reached for her and began kissing her._

 _She closed her eyes and prayed that this was her chance to redeem herself._

 _She didn't want to do it but she wasn't going to give up on that chance with the wand._

 _"_ _Are you still mad?" she slowly asked him as he moved forward her and started to press small kisses over the side of her arm._

 _"_ _Hmm.. I don't know." Snape answered her as his fingers tinkered with the thin lace of her sleeping gown._

 _Hermione breathed heavily and moved to his will and let him take her clothes off._

 _"_ _Please don't get mad." Hermione whispered as he laid her back down on the bed with his mouth pressing kisses everywhere it could reach. "Severus, I'm sorry."_

 _He continued to ignore her as he continued to kiss her._

 _He continued to kiss her and Hermione could only move at whichever direction he wanted her body to move about._

 _"_ _I'm not mad." Snape softly whispered then. "I'm just disappointed that you keep defying me like you don't trust me."_

 _"_ _No, no – it's not like that – ofcourse I trust you-"_

 _"_ _Do you?" Snape asked her as he halted from kissing her. "Do you trust me, Hermione?"_

 _Hermione slowly sat up on the bed and stared up at him and nodded._

 _She reached for him to start unbuttoning his crisp shirt as he let her do so._

 _His black eyes observed her carefully and Hermione tried her best to avoid that gaze that may be reading her thoughts._

 _"_ _I trust you." Hermione quietly said. "You're the only one I have."_

 _"_ _Tell me, do you still want our deal?" he asked her slowly._

 _Hermione's eyes quickly lit up and her mind was suddenly clear of everything she had been morose of the whole night._

 _"_ _Yes." Hermione quickly answered moving herself closer to him. "Yes, ofcourse – I'm – I still want to - please, let me – let me touch a wand – even just for the briefest moment – I just – please don't let my magic die away."_

 _Her tone was so frustrate and desperate that Snape could tell that she was more than willing to comply and do anything he would ask of._

 _"_ _Is there anything you want?" Hermione slowly asked knowing the answer already. "Anything you need me to do?"_

 _Snape stared at her, touching the side of her face with his fingers._

 _Hermione closed her eyes and let him, letting him touch her in places he wanted and letting him access to her body was the only thing she could ever offer him._

 _She didn't have anything but herself to offer him._

 _"_ _I'm not sure." Snape slowly replied with subtle look in his eyes. "I'm really not sure if there's anything.."_

 _"_ _There must be something you want?" Hermione asked him and her tone was that of worry._

 _"_ _Hermione.."_

 _"_ _No, Severus… please.." Hermione said touching both his cheeks with her hands and nuzzling her nose to his face. "Please.. there must be something.. anything.. that you would want."_

 _"_ _There's something." Snape slowly said reaching for her hands over his face. "Something.. but I'm not sure you would want it.. or would want to do it."_

 _Hermione's eyes quickly turned up to him and she stared at him in question._

 _"_ _Do?" she asked slightly confused. "I'd do anything-"_

 _"_ _I'm thinking you wouldn't do it because you already denied it of me." Snape slowly told her moving away from her._

 _Hermione quickly reached for him – she was not about to lose his interest._

 _"_ _Wait, no – what is it – tell me – please, Severus-"_

 _"_ _I'm not going to waste my time if you wouldn't do it-"_

 _"_ _Just tell me." Hermione begged him moving her mouth to his. "Please Severus, tell me what it is.."_

 _"_ _I asked you the other day.." Snape slowly said reaching back down to her. "About something I'd like to do with you.. something I'd like to try but you said that you didn't like it.."_

 _Hermione was confused for a moment until she felt that his hands had slowly come around her body and gently rested at the cheeks of her bum._

 _He gently pressed and caressed them as he stared down at her._

 _"_ _Do you remember?" he slowly asked her._

 _Hermione tried to shake her brain to remember what it was that he wanted for which she denied of him._

 _It was the price he would want if they would to continue their deal._

 _Hermione stared, thinking very hard for what it could be as Snape continued to gently caress her behind._

 _It took her a moment to remember and when she did, her eyes widened up at him._

 _He gave her a curt nod in an understanding._

 _"_ _But-" Hermione said fear quickly crippling her whole body. "But I – you said – you said you wouldn't force me to do it-"_

 _"_ _I'm not forcing you to do anything." Snape said quickly letting her behind go. "Since when did I ever force you to do anything, Hermione?"_

 _His voice was laced with coldness that Hermione didn't like._

 _No, she was not about to allow him to do that to her and yet she couldn't allow to miss the chance to have a go with the wand._

 _"_ _Severus-"_

 _"_ _I'm not going to waste my time, Hermione." Snape told her moving away from her on the bed. "You're already forgiven as we've discussed this evening. I just wanted to offer you this because you said you were willing to absolutely anything to get our deal back."_

 _Hermione stared as he slowly turned from her and began reaching back for his shirt._

 _She kept biting her lower lip as she contemplated and calculated the situation._

 _Either way, she was at the losing end and she wasn't about to lose her magic just because she didn't want to do something that he asked of her._

 _She had given him so much already – too much sometimes in her opinion – why was she backing away now?_

 _No, she wasn't about to lose that chance._

 _Snape was already dressing himself back again when he felt her hands settle around his waist._

 _She embraced him from behind and began kissing him around the neck._

 _"_ _Will it hurt?" Hermione asked with obvious worry in her voice. "Will it hurt, Severus?"_

 _She settled her hands back around his shirt and began unbuttoning the first few ones he already closed._

 _Snape sighed and let her unbutton and undress him again while she kissed him._

 _"_ _It will hurt a little." Snape honestly answered her after a moment. "But don't you trust me when I tell you that I wouldn't do anything that will completely hurt you?" he asked her._

 _Hermione looked up at him with obvious worry in her face._

 _There was evident fear in her eyes at what he wanted to do and she wasn't even sure she was ready for it._

 _But she wasn't going to lose this chance._

 _"_ _Sweetheart, if you don't want it, nobody is forcing you." Snape softly whispered kissing the back of her hand. "You can go back to sleep-"_

 _"_ _No –" Hermione said placing her hand around him. "No – I'll – I'll do it-" she stammered._

 _Snape looked up at her and could tell that she didn't want to do it and she was scared._

 _Hermione was dead scared to do it._

 _"_ _No Hermione, we're not going to do something you're uncomfortable with – we already talked about that-"_

 _"_ _No, it's alright- " Hermione said taking his hand and placing it around her naked waist area. "I mean – if you said that it's not going to really hurt – that you'll control yourself-"_

 _"_ _Ofcourse I'll control myself." Snape answered her. "Since when did I ever lose control of myself around you?"_

 _Every time you were drunk, Hermione thought miserably._

 _She shook her head at him._

 _"_ _Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked her and he gently reached for her behind again._

 _"_ _If you say that it's not going to hurt much and you're going to be careful-"_

 _"_ _I'll be gentle." Snape promised her. "But I want to know that you want me to do it and that you trust me when I do it because that's the first time you're going to endure it."_

 _Hermione nodded at him._

 _"_ _I t-trust you." Hermione stammered as he gently moved her body back on the bed. "I trust you, Severus-"_

 _"_ _Are you sure you don't feel forced to do this?" Snape slowly asked her but he was already moving the pillows around them to place her in position._

 _Hermione bit her lower lip._

 _"_ _No." Hermione quietly answered. "No, I don't feel forced – I want – I want to do it with you."_

 _Snape stared at her and saw the fear flicking back and forth in her eyes in her uncertainty._

 _"_ _I won't let you feel much pain." Snape assured her touching her around the area again. "I wouldn't cum inside you if you don't want me to cum in there."_

 _Hermione didn't say anything._

 _She was already tearful and her heart was beating very fast._

 _"_ _Please don't hurt me." Hermione begged him. "I heard stories before – the girls were talking about it and – and they said it hurts-"_

 _"_ _They are girls, Hermione." Snape pointed out matter-of-factly. "They might have been doing it with the wrong choice of people or what I call 'boys'."_

 _Hermione didn't say anything._

 _She was still looking scared to death._

 _But she didn't have a choice._

 _She was going to stand up and live up the title of a Gryffindor._

 _"_ _I'll – I'll do it but please promise that – that it's not going to hurt – that you're not going to hurt –"_

 _"_ _Don't you trust me?" he asked her again. "Look at me and tell me that you trust me."_

 _Hermione's tears already fell in place._

 _"_ _I trust y-you." Hermione sobbed uncontrollably. "I trust you when – when you ask me if I – I trust you."_

 _"_ _Sweetheart-"_

 _"_ _You're the only one I have." Hermione cried at him. "I trust you.. please .. please just do it now."_

 _Snape stared at her with observant black eyes._

 _He slowly nodded at her and Hermione closer her eyes and slowly turned from him._

 _She tried to control her tears to keep herself from shaking and making unwanted sounds and movements as Snape resumed into kissing her as he placed her in position._

 _He quietly put pillows atop one another and asked Hermione to lay over it on her stomach._

 _Hermione's breathing was so loud and labored that Snape had to take a moment or two every now and then to calm her down._

 _He kissed her gently over the spine, her shoulder blades and kept whispering words of comfort as he moved her into place._

 _She was laid over her stomach on the pillows that aligned her to his will so that her behind was exposed to him._

 _He gently touched her there, letting his hands pressed back and forth around so that she could have the feel of her skin there being pressed and stretched around._

 _She was still sobbing but she was trying her best to control herself so he could keep her in place._

 _"_ _Breath through your mouth." Snape whispered as he moved behind her and ready to begin what he had been dying to do for months now._

 _He had asked her time and again if he could take her from behind but she had always denied him and always cried whenever they were about to do it when he had a way of making her do it._

 _It always faltered and failed._

 _But tonight, he was finally going to get through with it._

 _She told him that she has never been taken there and Snape knew that to be true._

 _He closed his eyes as he position himself at the entrance._

 _He was so excited that even before he could push himself through her, he was already very hard and leaking at the very tip of his member._

 _Hermione breathed heavily, clutching the sheets tightly and biting the pillow as she closed her eyes very tight and waited for Snape to begin._

 _Her sobs were overthrown by the sounds of groan and moan that escape Snape's lips as he slowly entered her, giving in to the sensation with so much control that he could feel himself crashing inside her the moment he lose his senses and control at the feeling of himself getting inside her very tight entrance which has never been explored nor touched by anyone else before._

 _"_ _I need my magic back." Hermione thought to herself again and again as she felt Snape slowly enter her. "I need my magic back.. I need it back.. I need to get back to Harry.. I need to get back to Harry.."_

 _In places he's caressed, kissed and fucked her, there was always the stigma of her innocence, reluctance and inexperienced movements and reaction._

 _He was her first in everything._

 _And he reveled in the thought of that._


	48. Chapter 48

**_Chapter Forty Eight_**

 ** _Time of Fifteen_**

 _"_ _I need to know you're happy with me." Snape whispered to her._

 _They both laid down over their large bed after long hours of Snape taking a very intimate time with her._

 _"_ _I'm happy with you." Hermione answered looking up at his worry-stricken face. "Is something wrong?"_

 _Was something wrong?_

 _They were about to be married in three days._

 _Three days._

 _And here he was, unsure if this was something that should happen in the first place._

 _No, he should have thought of that three years ago._

 _He had taken certain steps and measures to ensure that this day would come and now that it has, he wasn't even sure._

 _Dawn has arrived for another day and it ticked a few more hours closer to the day he has always hope for to come._

 _"_ _Nothing." Snape said kissing her forehead and grabbing her closer into his arms._

 _Hermione smiled at him and kissed him before laying her head back down his bare chest._

 _Her legs were tangled against one another under the sheets and Hermione's lips rested at the small part of his chest he always wanted her to kiss._

 _Her warm breathing was comfort to his body._

 _It made him feel alive despite everything._

 _His warm arms around her comforted her all these years._

 _His embrace gave her assurance and security that she was never going to be alone every again._

 _"_ _Don't tell me you want to back out?" Hermione asked in a giggle looking up at him._

 _His black eyes met her brown ones and Hermione was sure that there was something wrong and fearful in them._

 _"_ _Ofcourse not." Snape quietly replied. "I wouldn't do that."_

 _"_ _Well you shouldn't." Hermione said with a charming smile. "I don't want to be standing alone in my wedding dress you know."_

 _Snape sighed at her and took a tighter embrace around her._

 _"_ _I feel there's something you want to tell me." Hermione quietly said._

 _He took hold of her hands and held them._

 _His long fingers touched and caressed her very carefully._

 _"_ _There are many things I would like to tell you." Snape quietly said. "But there is a time for everything."_

 _"_ _We'll never run out of time, right?" Hermione asked him._

 _There was a strange tone in her voice._

 _His black eyes strayed down on hers as he hoped the same thing._

 _He would never want their time together to ever end._

 _But he knew deep inside him, that fate would soon take back what isn't his._

 _It was his choices that led them to this day._

 _"_ _I will give you and dedicate only to you all the remaining time in this world, sweetheart."_

 _Hermione smiled quietly and returned her head to rest in his arms._

 _"_ _And I will stay with you for as long as I can." Hermione answered quietly._

 _Snape sighed again._

 _Hermione felt the same strange feeling again._

 _There was something very peculiar about him that day._

 _He left very early and had come home very late._

 _He told her that he had sold a lot of his creations that day and so he came home with a very large bouquet of red roses for her._

 _He even brought her a very sumptuous dinner that was filled with all her favourite dishes._

 _It was like a small celebration for something._

 _But Hermione felt the whole dinner to be some sort of farewell for her for some strange reason just because Snape gave her something out of the blue._

 _He even took her hand and they danced a little by the fireplace while he opened an old bottle of wine that she had been nagging him for years to open for her._

 _"_ _I have something for you." Snape said quietly moving her a little from him. "I planned to give this to you in our wedding night but for some reason I want to give it to you now."_

 _Hermione's eyes lit up at the sound of gifts._

 _She has never been disappointed by anything he offered and gave her._

 _She quietly watched as he flicked his wand from under his pillow and appeared a small package over the bed._

 _It was neatly wrapped in red and gold._

 _She giggle at the way the gift looked like._

 _"_ _Very Gryffindor, are we not?" she said as he pulled the square box towards her._

 _"_ _Open it." Snape said kissing her forehead and handing it to her._

 _Hermione excitedly grabbed the box and untied the ribbons and unwrapped it._

 _Inside was a special edition book of some magical spells she's never ever heard or read of before. A very thick black journal and then another box._

 _A box that held markings that were very familiar to her._

 _It was a long box._

 _In fact, it was about eleven and a half inches._

 _Her eyes widened at the sight of it as she looked up at Snape with shaking hands._

 _Snape nodded at her._

 _He gently took the longer box from the square package and handed it to her._

 _"_ _It's for you." Snape whispered handing it carefully to her. "I've used the marks you had in your old wand to be comparable to this one. It's specially crafted for you."_

 _Hermione's eyes quickly filled with tears and her heart beating very fast._

 _Her hands were shaking as she slowly opened the box._

 _It had a black silk cloth around it and soon it fell and revealed an eleven and a half inches of a and made of sandalwood essences, powdered rosewood and a phoenix feather._

 _It was a specially sculpted wand for her and a powerful one._

 _"_ _You're giving me a wand?" she asked in both surprise and delight and question._

 _"_ _It's my gift to you." Snape said staring at her tearful expression._

 _"_ _But why?" Hermione asked as she carefully held the wand._

 _It quickly gave that electrifying feeling as magic ran through her veins the moment she held it._

 _She looked grateful and yet she was crying._

 _"_ _Why are you giving me this?" she asked him tearfully._

 _"_ _It's my wedding gift." Snape simply said. "And the journal are instructions for potions that you would like to-"_

 _"_ _No, no-" Hermione asked him moving herself closer to him. "Why are you giving me a wand? Are you going somewhere? What's this?"_

 _Panic was obvious to her voice as she reached to him._

 _Snape blinked and looked away from her._

 _He carefully placed all the other things inside the box as he explained to her._

 _"_ _Don't you like it?" Snape asked. "I think after all this time you deserve to have a wand again-"_

 _"_ _Yes – but no," Hermione said. "No, you said – why would I need a wand when you're here with me – you've always taken – you're making me worry, Severus."_

 _"_ _Shush." Snape said puling her into his arms._

 _He held her and gently ran his hands at the small of her back while whispering words of comfort._

 _"_ _You need a wand not just for protection, sweetheart." Snape said avoiding her gaze as he merely touched her and kept his eyes around her but not straight to her eyes._

 _"_ _But – no, something is wrong – what's going on?"_

 _"_ _Nothing is going on." Snape said with a small smile._

 _His black eyes met hers and Hermione knew immediately that something was going on._

 _"_ _You're lying to me." Hermione said._

 _"_ _I'm not lying to you." Snape patiently answered her. "I just need you to have a wand so you can protect yourself at all times and so that your magic will not die."_

 _"_ _You've never thought about it that way." Hermione pointed out and there was sudden surge of irritation in her voice._

 _Snape looked quietly back at her._

 _He didn't look like he wanted to take it back but he looked like he didn't expect this kind of reaction from her._

 _"_ _With our wedding comes a lot of things, sweetheart." Snape said pulling her to him and kissing her to keep her from worrying. "And above all things, your freedom comes with it. And with it comes choices – choices Hermione-" his black eyes confirmed hers. "-from which I can no longer protect you from."_

Hermione felt that she has spent a full fifteen minutes of her life into nothing but waste.

She stood by their table in the restaurant that Harry made reservations for the two of them that afternoon.

People from the Daily Prophet swarmed around them taking photos here and there and ambushing them in an interview.

Ofcourse, Mr. Potter was all cool about it – answering most of the questions and gaining a nod and a smile from Hermione as form of her approval and validation to everything he told the people around them.

There were bystanders and people who wanted a photo or two and an autograph even from 'the Chosen One'.

"I've never imagined that this could feel this good." Harry said as the waiters from the café ushered all the press outside after the short span of time that Harry had given them.

"You're _enjoying_ this, aren't you?" Hermione muttered under her breath as he kissed her as one of the tables were staring at them and happily smiling.

"Ofcourse." Harry said helping her in her seat. "I should have taken these fame lessons from Lockhart _seriously_."

"You disgust me, Harry." Hermione muttered watching him settle opposite her on the table.

A waiter came by and handed them over a menu from which Harry kindly ordered and asked if the larger room at the second floor was already ready for the dinner for 12 reservation he had asked a few days ago.

Hermione's eyebrows quirked at the thought of it.

"You've been planning this." Hermione said once the waiter was out of earshot. "You've been planning this all along, haven't you?"

"Planning it?" Harry asked her. "Ofcourse I have to plan things. It's nearly our wedding and I've got to be organized. I don't want my bride stressing out, right?"

Harry smiled and reached for her hand across the table.

Hermione was about to withdraw it but Harry nodded at an old couple who were a few tables away from them and were smiling and admiring them.

Harry had made himself a name in this world after he had saved it.

He was basking in that fame right now like the Harry Hermione knew would never do so.

"I don't know you anymore." Hermione muttered in gritted teeth. "You're no longer the Harry I know of."

"And you're no longer the Hermione I've had." Harry quietly answered staring at the goblet that the waiter filled with the champagne he already ordered earlier on.

Hermione stared at him with hopelessness all over her face.

"When are you ever going to stop?" Hermione asked him.

"When I've got my Hermione back." Harry answered her settling the glass goblet down. "And when I've got that bastard down and completely locked up at Azkaban."

"Sirius wouldn't want you to do this."

"Oh yeah?" Harry said with a raised brow. "I don't see Sirius around. In fact, I don't ever hear him complain about anything that was to be against Snape-"

"That's different." Hermione said. "They bullied him and we both know that-"

"And this?" Harry asked her. "This, Hermione? I've never bullied him. I've never done anything against him even if I wanted to-"

"There were circumstances that put us in that place. When will your bloody head get that-"

"And when will that head of yours go back to its normal position to understand that he abducted you and forced himself to you and fucked you mercilessly?"

Hermione didn't say anything.

She was both tearful and very angry at that moment.

If only they weren't in a public place, she would have thrown the bottle of champagne right over his head and leave him.

But they were in a public place and anything she does would immediately be reported, everything she would do against him would have an unwanted results and effect on Snape's case.

Hermione watched as he slowly opened his small black bag and pulled out what looked like a thick notebook or planner.

It was filled with thick pages of parchments and a couple of other papers stashed on every other page.

"If I were you, I'd just focus on preparing for the wedding. We've got 12 days 'Mione and this isn't going to be easy."

"Nobody told you to prepare the wedding in 12 days." Hermione lashed back at him. "I was going to marry you –"

"When?" Harry asked her. "In a few weeks? Months? Or maybe a year or two? Perhaps five years?"

"I gave you my word-"

"I need to be assured that you were going to marry me, 'Mione." Harry said opening the organizer and flicking through the pages. "I wasn't about to be made stupid by empty promises-"

"You know I've never broken my promises to you." Hermione said. "Anything I've told you had always been true –"

"Forever yours?" Harry suddenly said. "How about that, Hermione? Have you forgotten that?" he asked her.

Hermione felt both insulted and hurt.

Her eyes were already turning red.

Ofcourse she hasn't forgotten that.

She's loved him for as long as she could remember.

She's waited and cried for him and begged to the stars to let Harry hear her cries and plea and desperate call for him to hear her and for him to come back and find her.

 _If only he knew those earlier days she suffered deeply._

But he didn't understand the years that brought and tore them apart.

"I've waited for you." Hermione softy said reaching for him across the table. "I've waited.. Harry, you didn't know how I waited.. I cried for the day that you'd come and rescue me. I've – Harry, you have no idea-"

"No idea?" Harry asked in a mocked tone. "Me? No idea what it felt? I was crazy every day 'Mione – knowing you might be out there waiting for me – crying for me – do not tell me that I don't understand!"

His voice was beginning to be raised and Hermione slightly panic at the attention they may gain.

"Harry, please-"

"And how about what I felt?" Harry asked her. "Have you thought about how I felt?"

"Harry, your voice – please-"

"No, you don't know the feeling that I was the only one who felt stupid all those years waiting for you – looking for you – everyone else believed you were dead!"

A couple of people started to stare at their direction but Harry didn't seen conscious nor aware of it.

"Harry, please." Hermione said. "Keep your voice down-"

"You don't want them to hear my suffering?" Harry asked her. "You only want them to hear what you've endured? Why Hermione, because you're the only victim here? Do you know how it felt – to be waiting everyday – to be wondering and crying every night because I don't know if you're still alive – that I know you're somewhere out there and I kept hoping and wishing for the best when I know that I was the only one left believing you were still alive?"

"Harry – "

"You felt abandoned? Do you know how abandoned and alone I felt even if they were all around me?" he raged at her. "You know the feeling that I was the only one who still believed that you're still out there and alive and waiting to be rescued – no, Hermione, do not tell me – you know how I felt when they discuss about you behind my back They've neglected the thought that you might still be alive – do you know how painful that is for me to endure all by myself?" he was almost yelling at her.

His fists banged over the table.

"Harry-"

"Do you know how painful that felt – to wait every goddamn day for something that may never even come anyway? Do you know how it feels like to believe in something when the whole world no longer did?"

"Please, Harry-"

"You feel abandoned because you were alone with Snape? Try the feeling of being around all of them and yet I felt so alone in my thoughts and I endured all those pain every single day – because I couldn't cry to them, I couldn't whine to them about how painful it was losing you – the pain that I had to endure all by myself because nobody else believed that you were out there – still alive and waiting to be rescued!"

Hermione closed her eyes as Harry banged his fist again over the table.

People were now openly staring at them.

She reached out to him but he stood up and stared angrily down at her.

Harry blinked and realized that he had drawn attention to them.

He suddenly felt conscious and he tried to straighten his robes, fixing his hair consciously.

Hermione opened her mouth to say something but he suddenly pulled something from his neck and threw it over the table on the journal.

"I'm going to use the washroom." Harry said forcing himself to calm down. "When I get back here I hope you've remembered your promises enough to give time and thought for this wedding-"

"I haven't forgotten-"

"Kindly pick the final layout for our final invitations from the journal. I've already written choices of colours you've always wanted."

And without another word, Harry turned away from their table leaving Hermione staring over the Golden Snitch necklace she gave years ago that he threw over the journal that held all the wedding plans he prepared for them.

 _There were loud crashes, screams and lights of spells from every direction._

 _It happened so fast and yet the pain and trauma of it felt more than fifteen minutes than they had actually endured._

 _Hermione wasn't sure what exactly has just happened but there were several things she's seen and heard happened very clearly all at once._

 _There were loud crashes as all their boarded up windows exploded from what sounded like very strong spells that took down the left wards Snape had around the grounds and cottage._

 _Strong jet lights of red, gold, and blue and simultaneous voices screaming spells told Hermione that there were atleast more than twenty people that hailed them with these spells._

 _They were under a very heavy attack._

 _She was jaunting towards the door with excitement when she heard Snape yell at her._

 _He suddenly grasped her tightly around the waist just as the door that was only a very few feet from her exploded._

 _She yelled as he moved her head away and dodged her from a spell that missed them very closely._

 _She gasped as she staggered all over the floor in her long wedding gown._

 _In her confusion, she halted and turned to find him screaming at her and then next thing she knew, there was another thunderous explosion and he created a strong force field that protected her from the first blow._

 _She fell back over the floor face down; Snape screamed a couple of protection spells around her and then he dragged her away from the door as spells, screams and glasses shattered around them._

 _"_ _Severus!" Hermione gasped as one of the bookshelves toppled over and missed her but had fallen at the very end of her long down._

 _She gasped and tried to pull the gown away from the fallen wooden case and it ripped apart completely as Snape came down to her rescue and she held onto his arm very tightly as he dragged her away from the bookshelf._

 _Next thing, he has momentarily Petrified their guests as fast as he could and with what looked like Dark Magic, had them Disapparated from the cottage._

 _She didn't have time to figure out where he could have taken them because the next moment, he had dragged her by the neck backwards while sending out protection and defensive spells all around them._

 _She was too shock and confused to clearly see what was happening._

 _It was a one against twenty-something attack that she was sure they weren't going to survive._

 _She had hit herself painfully over the floor at the first attack that her visions slightly blurred._

 _She only moved and followed Snape's movements and way as he dragged he backward by keeping a very tight hold of her around the waist._

 _She wasn't sure who were attacking them but they were persistent and determined to bring the whole house down by the looks of it._

 _The chaos brought upon them was something she was never going to forget._

 _Soon she found herself dragged down at their basement laboratory with Snape continuously yelling spells in defense of them._

 _"_ _Damn it." Snape cursed looking for something around the wells._

 _They could hear footsteps now at the upper floor and voices that were commanding one another._

 _Snape found what he was looking for and he pointed his wand over it and chanted something._

 _It quickly opened to what looked like a secret room._

 _"_ _Severus – what's going on-" Hermione cried as he pulled her and quickly pushed her inside it._

 _It was a very small and caved in secret passage and it looked like Snape had only hand-crafted and magically created this passage._

 _She has never seen it ever before and never new it existed in their basement._

 _"_ _They've found us." Snape gasped as he completely ripped the ends of her gown to make sure that it was short and even should they need to run again._

 _"_ _Found us?" Hermione asked in confusion and looking down at his panic-stricken and shocked face._

 _"_ _Yes." Snape hurriedly said. "The Order."_

 _"_ _Order?" Hermione asked in shocked. "You mean-"_

 _"_ _They found us, Hermione. The Order." Snape admitted to her with his black eyes filled with fear she has never seen of him before. "And Potter. He has found us."_

 _"_ _Harry?" Hermione asked suddenly looking up behind him from where they've come from._

 _Hermione felt her head spun in pain at the revelation of that._

 _Her heart was racing and she was suddenly torn at what to do._

 _Harry was just a few steps from her._

 _Harry Potter._

 _Harry Potter was there after all these years._

 _He had come to her rescue after all this time._

 _She could hear their loud footsteps above them and a couple of spells that were still being shouted up the stairs as they continued to look for them._

 _"_ _What are we going to do?" Hermione cried at him seeing the same fear and panic in his eyes._

 _"_ _I don't know." Snape said as he continuously muttered something against the wall that sealed them away secretly._

 _"_ _Severus." Hermione said grabbing his arm. "Let me – let me talk to them – let me talk to him –"_

 _"_ _No." Snape said although he didn't look like he was still thinking straight. "This should not have.. this wasn't what was-"_

 _"_ _What?" Hermione asked him in her tear streaked face. "What do you mean? What's going on, Severus?"_

 _Snape looked up at her with that same fear in his eyes._

 _He was never fearful._

 _He never feared anything for as long as she could remember._

 _But at that very moment, he looked like he didn't know what to or worse than what she was feeling._

 _"_ _This wasn't supposed to happen-" Snape repeated more to himself than to her. "This shouldn't have – this wasn't what was-"_

 _"_ _Let me talk to him." Hermione begged him._

 _She grasped his arm very tightly and that seemed to have called Snape's attention._

 _"_ _Hermione-"_

 _"_ _Let me go up there and speak to Harry." Hermione said as they continuously heard the commotion at the upper floor. "Let me speak with him – I will talk to him and explain-"_

 _"_ _You can't explain this to him, Hermione." Snape said. "You can't just explain the ten years –"_

 _"_ _Let me." Hermione repeated. "Let me – he would understand-"_

 _"_ _The moment they find us Hermione it's either we both die or we get separated forever-"_

 _"_ _I won't let that!" Hermione wailed at him. "I won't let that – I won't let them harm you-"_

 _"_ _You can't deny what happened." Snape said taking hold of her arm and placing his hand on either side of her cheeks._

 _Hermione stared at him in protest but there was something in his black eyes that she feared even more._

 _"_ _Did you know-" Hermione gasped in fear. "Severus – did you-"_

 _Snape cursed._

 _They heard the footsteps just above them now._

 _"_ _I found it!" screamed a voice. "It's a secret passage – it can be opened by magic-"_

 _Hermione stared up at the recognition of the voice_

 _It was Lupin._

 _"_ _Let me-" she soon heard another voice._

 _Her heart raced at that very familiar second voice._

 _"_ _Let me do it professor-"_

 _"_ _No, Harry." Lupin's voice echoed down at the basement. "Together."_

 _Snape shook Hermione's panic and tear-stricken face back at him._

 _"_ _Severus, tell me what you did-" Hermione cried at him placing her hands at either side of his cheeks._

 _He looked back at her with such sorrow and remorse in his black eyes._

 _He gently kissed the inside of her hand and tears seemed to be forming at the side of his eyes._

 _"_ _Severus!" Hermione cried at him. "What's going on – what did you do-"_

 _"_ _You will tell them the truth," he whispered. "You will tell them the truth and nothing but the truth Hermione, you hear me? LOOK AT ME!"_

 _He held her arms, shaking her violently._

 _"_ _You will tell them nothing but the truth no matter how much it hurts, no matter what it takes."_

 _"_ _No, I can't. Please, don't make me do this. I can't do it."_

 _"_ _Do you trust me?" he asked her gently._

 _She stared into his black eyes – those black eyes that had been her windows to the outside world for the past ten years._

 _"_ _Hermione," he repeated warmly, tracing the side of her cheek. He made sure that her eyes were fixed on his. "Do you trust me?" he asked her softly._

 _Hermione stared at him with a tearful face._

 _She wasn't sure anymore what was true or wasn't._

 _She wasn't sure why of all days this had to happen._

 _She wasn't even sure what would come out of it once in an hour or even in a moment and in a blink of an eye._

 _She couldn't bear the thought of losing Snape and yet at the same time, the thought and Harry and the others were just a floor away from her._

 _Hermione felt her insides exploding in emotions._

 _Ten long years it has been._

 _She has more than waited for the day that Harry would come and rescue her._

 _Ten long years it has been._

 _She has cried and begged to be back in the world she was taken from._

 _Ten long years in the arms of the man she barely even knew before._

 _Ten long years that he took very good care of her and had given her a life she never dreamed nor asked of having._

 _And just when she felt she was finally happy again and about to have a peaceful life this would come to happen – this, after the ten long years she has waited for it to happen._

 _"_ _I trust you." Hermione answered him tearfully. "I trust you, Severus."_

 _She closed her eyes and cried and pushed her face to him._

 _Snape captured her lips with his and savored her mouth in his._

 _She kissed him like she has never done so before, her hands tight around him and her tears leaking down at the side of her face._

 _Snape kissed her back like never before – it was sweet, warm - urgent, yet filled with a powerful longing._

 _"_ _I love you." Snape whispered against her lips. "Remember that. I will always love you no matter."_

 _Hermione closed her eyes as Snape had pushed her back down over the floor in order to protect her from the crashing walls of the basement._

 _Hermione opened her mouth to say something when they heard the walls crashing as it was bombarded with spells._

 _"_ _Protego!" Snape screamed and the force of the spell pushed her backward away from him at the very end of the basement._

 _Snape created another protection spell to keep the broken bricks and walls to fall over Hermione._

 _"_ _I found her!" screamed Harry. "I found her!"_

 _Hermione wasn't sure what exactly came next but she heard the endless steps of people coming down at the basement and then she felt a pair of arms grasp her tightly._

 _"_ _Hermione!" screamed the voice in disbelief and shock._

 _She looked up and barely understood what was happening._

 _There were atleast thirty people in the basement and all had wands._

 _It wasn't just Harry nor Lupin nor the Order of the Phoenix but also Aurors in full uniform and Ministry of Magic officers that were there surrounding them and securing the place._

 _"_ _Hermione-" the voice called out again and she felt being taken into those familiar arms._

 _She inhaled that familiar scent._

 _"_ _I'm here, I'm here – 'Mione – I'm here-" the voice kept repeating as she felt the tug of arms around her._

 _"_ _Remus she's here!" the voice cried out lou. "She's here – she's here! We've found her! I've found her! I've found her!"_

 _"_ _I can't breath-" Hermione gasped out loud unable to stop the heavy feeling in her chest._

 _"_ _Mione, I'm here – I'm here – don't worry – you're safe now, you're safe now – my god, I've found you – I'm here – I've found you – I'm never going to leave you – I'm here, 'Mione I'm here-"_

 _Hermione slowly opened her eyes to find a pair of emerald eyes staring back at her._

 _They were tear-stained and filled with a mixture of shock, pain, gladness and disbelief._

 _She struggled and screamed against his tight hold of her as she tried to free herself to get to Snape who was being held down by about a dozen Aurors._

 _Words were continuously being spoken to her by the man with emerald eyes behind spectacles and a thunder-bolt lightning scar over his forehead._

 _She could only feel his arms tight around her shaking and crying form but she couldn't comprehend the words he was telling or the words he was crying right before her._

 _All she could hear were strong and firm voices of the Aurors around her and a voice that echoed atop them all that was owned by a Ministry Official._

 _"_ _By the power bestowed upon by the Ministry of Magic – you, Severus Prince Snape, is hereby being arrested for the crimes committed as a Death Eater, for the deceit and treachery to the Order of the Phoenix, treachery and unlawful acts from the Ministry of Magic London and the Wizarding World Community and for the abduction of Hermione Jean Granger for ten years – you sir, will henceforth at this very moment stripped of your rights to use your wand. A Defense Council shall be granted and requested for you at the Ministry of Magic but until then, you have the mere right to remain silent until you are taken to Azkaban with further orders from the high court of the Wizengamot."_

 _Her visions blurring as she felt her senses giving away._

 _The last she saw was Snape being held down on his knees but no less than seven Aurors, his hands being magically bonded behind him as his wand was taken from him and an enchantment that stripped him from the magic that bonded him to his wand._

 _A pair of emerald eyes looked down at her in worry and a scream of help for her were being shouted._

 _And then her eyes closed, her heart beating painfully and she wished for nothing but all of it to be a mere nightmare that should end soon._

"Young Master," Draco's assistant came inside her mother's office. "I believe you have to eat. You had missed dinner lastnight and breakfast and lunch this morning."

Draco looked up from the scattered things all around him.

He had missed all those meals as he was too occupied turning the library, her mother's room and office and her father's old office in order to find whatever in hell it was that the key opened.

Snape had eleven days to go before the verdict is given.

He had eleven days to find it and give a court appeal at the last minute.

But there was absolutely nothing in the manor that the key would fit to open.

Draco searching every possible space and place in the manor for which the key could open.

Drawers, doors, cabinets and he was even very desperate that he went to the kitchens for anything that it might open.

It absolutely did not fit on anything.

He highly doubted it was something at Grimmauld Place because it was Bellatrix who was there more often than her mother for the years that came after the place was completely empty of the Blacks.

He had sent his assistants and any left connection at Gringotts to check any and every possible account that was connected to the Malfoys and to the Blacks that may have been keeping something for which a key could possibly open.

Nothing.

There was absolutely nothing in the accounts that kept a certain secret account that only a key could open.

In his desperation, he even wrote a legal letter for the bank to allow him access to the Lestranges' account to search for the possible account that may only be opened by a key.

He had expected a vault of some sort but there was nothing of the sort that could be opened by the key they had.

They were reluctant to give him access but given that he was a Defense Council and had the rights to search them not because he was related to the former owners but because he had the right for the case process for which he was handling.

But there was no luck.

If there was nothing in the manor nor at Gringotts' nor at Grimmauld Place – then what could it possibly open?

"I'm running out of ideas." Draco told his assistant. "I'm running out of ideas."

The servant laid down the tray of foo and handed him a small note.

"This just came in." he said handing it to Draco.

Draco stared at it and immediately recognized Hermione's handwriting.

He tore the envelope open and read through the small parchment:

 _"_ _Harry and I are staying at the Weasley's. Harry couldn't say no to her given that she is planning a celebratory dinner for us tonight. I'd be out downtown at exactly three in the afternoon to buy things for the wedding. Harry, Bill and Fleur would be with me today. Professor Lupin and Fleur would ensure I have a fifteen minutes of privacy for Harry. I'll be at back of old Burgin and Burke's. They said that it has been burned down years ago and is now an empty space. Mrs. Weasley is sending this letter to keep from being intercepted by Harry. I'll see you later, Draco. If you're in doubt if this is really me, I've drawn below something extremely insulting and funny at the same time back then."_

Draco's eyes quickly ran down at the end of a parchment where an enchanted drawing of a ferret with an emerald scarf was bouncing up and down.

He couldn't help the laughter that escaped his lips.

"Is everything alright, Young Master?" the servant ask him.

Draco smirked and nodded as he folded the parchment and quickly stashed it inside his robes.

"Everything is." Draco replied as he hurriedly crossed the room to the door leaving behind all the mess he had scattered all morning. "Everything would be."


	49. Chapter 49

**_Author's Notes:_**

 ** _Hello dear readers.  
So here's a chapter for all of you. _**

**_But ofcourse, I'd like to thank everyone taking their time to open their laptop or mobiles to check every now and then if I've updated. So much love from all of you. It makes me feel really happy that people out there are reading what I'm writing on an almost daily basis._**

 ** _Which leads me, that after this chapter, I may be away for a few days. Some adulting101 needs and taks are calling for my attention and so I might be away. But don't worry, when I get back there will surely be great chapters ahead. As remember, we're nearly there at the very end!_**

 ** _I'd like to know as I was writing/editing this chapter, I was listening to basically two songs - one was the song in DH where Harry and Hermione were dancing at the night that Ron abandoned them._**

 ** _There's just something in that song that keeps me moving foward into writing this especially the parts where there are Harry and Hermione scenes and memories._**

 ** _I'm also fond of listening to 'One More Cup of Coffee' version of Steve Earle and Lucia Micarelli. Please, if you love music, by all means - listen to that one._**

 ** _I always find music lines or just the sound and move of it to be inspiring enough to help me make a chapter or even plot a whole fanfic. Seriously._**

 ** _Anyway enough of this talk as I know you're dying for this chapter._**

 ** _Please do leave some love and reviews._**

 ** _Lots of love._**

 ** _xx_**

 ** _PS_**

 ** _No, I couldn't really find a chapter title so fit for this except what's already written above. And I think you'll make a good guess why._**

 ** _Chapter Forty Nine_**

 ** _The Snake and the Gryffin_**

Old Burgin and Burkes had indeed been burned down several years ago at the time from which Harry had become Head Auror in the Ministry of Magic.

The establishment had been left dilapidated to the point of collapse and had been vacant ever since. Most of the shops at Knockturn Alley that sold dark artifacts or anything illegal had been closed down and burned and the owners paid in thousands of galleons and had been exiled from the city or sent straight to Azkaban if they go beyond the list that could pay the government for their illegal dealings.

Harry had made sure though that each shop that was transacted with by the Malfoys were burned down to the ground.

"Hermione?" Draco's voice called out as he lit his wand and entered the empty establishment.

The place was empty and littered with what were left of the burnt place.

He felt slightly bothered by being there.

And wherever Hermione was, she was taking a long time.

They only had fifteen minutes and by far, she was already five minutes late from their deal.

He hated the place.

Not for its appearance but because of the memory of his last visit of the place many years ago.

"Draco?" asked a voice.

Draco quickly turned and found Hermione come out from a darkened corner.

She had a wand held in her hand that was also lit at the end.

"Thank god." Draco muttered. "I've been here for minutes – "

"Don't come near me-" Hermione said raising her hand with the wand.

Draco's eyes narrowed at the sight of her as he took a few steps forward.

"Hermione, it's me-" Draco said raising his wands to show her that he wasn't going to attack her.

Hermione emitted a spark from her wand and Draco stopped making steps.

His eyes widened at her.

"Are you kidding me, Hermione?" he asked eyes wide. "We've only got a few minutes – we can't waste it-"

"Give me proof you're Draco." Hermione demanded of him breathing hard. "I want proof."

"Proof of what?" Draco asked back.

"That you're really Draco-" Hermione answered unwilling to lower her wand.

"Bloody hell." Draco muttered making another step forward her.

Hermione sent another warning shot at him.

"Bloody hell, Hermione!" Draco yelled at her. "It's me! You asked me to be here and now I'm here –"

"I wrote the letter but we're not sure if it was intercepted." Hermione breathlessly said. "I need proof-"

"Well bloody hell what proof do you need of me-"

"Say it." Hermione quietly said. "Say it Draco –

"Say what?" Draco asked in bewilderment.

"That word." Hermione quietly said observing his every move very closely. "That word that you say."

"What word?" Draco asked her deciding to take his wand out for defense in a just incase moment.

Hermione looked slightly concerned the moment he raised his wand out.

Her features relaxed a little however when she saw that he handled it in a form of defense and not of attack.

"You know!" Hermione impatiently called back at him. "That word Draco-"

"What freaking word-" Draco said. "Hermione, this is stupid – it's bloody hell me – you asked-"

"I said not a step towards me!" Hermoine screamed and another jet of spark came out of her wand.

It hit what looked like an old wood and it quickly lit and started burning.

Draco's eyes widened at her action.

He lowered his wand form her and pointed it directly to the burning woods.

" _Aguamenti!"_ he yelled panicking at the sight of fire before him. "Bloody hell 'Mione – It's me, what proof-"

"Just say the word, Draco!" Hermione yelled at him with her wand hand shaking. "Just say it – we're running out of time I need to hear it from you-"

"What bloody word are you talking about-"

"Draco, you know that word that you say-"

"Bloody hell!" Draco angrily said clearing the fire and the mess it made around them.

He looked up at her frightened expression with her hand shaking with a wand.

It looked though like she has forgotten how to use or rather control a wand and was at the verge of attacking him with an unplanned spell that would make her actions more dangerous.

"Hermione-"

"Say it!"

"What the hell Hermione-" he angrily spat at her. "Why do you want me to say –"

"Say it!" Hermione screamed at him. "JUST SAY IT!"

"Why you filthy little Mudblood!" Draco angrily screamed at her pointing his wand directly at her.

They stared at one another for a whole moment with wands directed at one another but without emitting any spell.

Draco stared, breathing nervously as he stood there in defense incase she suddenly attack him.

Hermione's features then softened and then she burst out into tears and lowered her hand.

"Hermione-"

"I'm sorry!" Hermione ran into his arms and clung very tightly around him.

Draco was both perplexed and surprised at her action that he barely realized that he had lowered his wand and had automatically placed both his arms around her and had kissed her over the head.

"It's alright, it's me." Draco said whispering over her dark tresses. "It's me – bloody hell, 'Mione-"

"I'm sorry." Hermione cried at his arms. "I'm sorry – I had to hear you say it Draco – it was my only way to know –"

"How would that verify-"

"I'm never going to forget if you say it." Hermione said. "I never forget how you said it to me."

She looked up at him and Draco was just staring at her with a sudden apologetic look over his face.

"I'm sorry I said that to you before." Draco said quietly thanking himself for remembering what exactly she might want to hear in order for her to trust him.

It took him a long time to realize what she was actually asking of him.

"Forget it- I just needed to make sure it was you-"

"I never meant to say it to you before." Draco whispered drying her tears in her face with his fingers. "I'm sorry if I ever embedded that feeling in you-"

"It doesn't matter." Hermione said. "I just needed to verify that it was you."

Hermione moved herself from him and pulled his arm.

"Where are we going?" he asked as she moved back towards the end of the burnt shop and made way at the dilapidated back door.

He truly hated the place.

The alleyway was narrower at every corner they turned.

"I thought you said we only had a few minutes-"

"Half an hour." Hermione said. "Professor Lupin will pick me up."

"Pick you up where?" Draco asked as she pulled him in front of what looked like a very old shop.

"Here." Hermione said entering what looked like a very old café at the end of Knockturn Alley and first corner of Diagon Alley.

It was the shop at the very corner of the two streets that divided them.

Draco stared at the old café as they entered.

It was a nice looking place or perhaps it was many years ago.

There were few people and it was dark and almost very quiet.

The place gave him chills.

There were a few witches and wizards hunched on different tables drinking coffee or brewed teas and alcohol behind their books or talking to one another in whispered.

He really didn't like the place.

"This is an old café – " Hermione said as an old witch motioned towards them for their order.

"Yeah, I can tell." Draco mindlessly said looking around.

"It's one of the oldest here in London - -" Hermione motioned at the counter for two cappuccinos for them to be served at the very back of the café.

"Right." Draco said following her lead.

He was too preoccupied with observing the place and stashing his wand with his other hand inside his robes that he didn't notice that they were still holding hands as they entered the coffee shop and settled over a table.

He only realized it when they were about to seat at the very corner of the shop and Hermione was tugging her hand back from him.

"Sorry." Draco said letting her hand go and consciously looking away.

He didn't know why but he quickly looked away from her the moment he let her go.

He wasn't sure if it was just him or was the very corner or back of the café where they sat was a very hot spot to stay in.

Draco's eyes roamed around the place as he tried to look for a good ventilation.

Hermione drew back his attention by placing her hands over his.

He looked down reluctantly at her and cleared his throat.

"It's Ginny's wand." Hermione explained pointing at the wand before them. "They're just at the other end of the alleyway."

A wizard came over and served their cappuccinos and Draco quickly took his because for some reason he couldn't look her in the eye and he needed a reason to not have physical contact with her.

He was very conscious of her today for some reason.

"Professor Lupin told Harry that Fleur and I are off to buy things to buy me time."

"He believed it?" Draco asked sipping carefully at the hot cappuccino.

"Yes." Hermione said. "He told Harry that Fleur was about to teach me to buy some wedding night lingerie-"

Draco suddenly coughed and sputtered cappuccino all over his clothes.

Some people looked at their direction and Hermione quickly handed over a napkin towards his and cleared the rest with a spell using Ginny's wand

"Are you alright?" she asked concernedly.

"I'm fine." Draco said trying to put the image off his head. "I'm fine – I'm fine – It's alright-"

Hermione stared as he wiped his robes with the napkin from the table and moved the cup of cappuccino aside.

"So what's the plan?" Hermione asked him in a hushed tone.

"Uh – plan – right, yes." Draco began staring as she pulled out what looked like an organizer or notebook from the bag she had around her body that he only just noticed.

"Sorry, it's Harry's." Hermione said flipping over the pages and trying to find a blank page she could rip from.

Draco stared at the writings on the notebook and noticed that it had some designs and markings and parchments and every other thing that made it look more than a normal notebook.

"What the fuck is that?" he asked in a disgusted tone reaching for it.

Hermione found a blank page and quickly tore it from the journal.

"It's Harry's wedding plans book." Hermione muttered as she started scribbling something over the page she tore.

Draco took the notebook as Hermione muttered and wrote her time away.

He almost laughed at the things that Harry had written over it until he noticed the small necklace inserted at the midst of it.

It was a Golden Snitch with an embedded carving of words.

"Forever yours." Draco muttered staring closely at it and touching the shape of it.

Draco smirked at it but Hermione just ignored him.

"What's funny?" she asked after a while.

"Potter gave it to you?" he slowly asked her.

Hermione didn't answer.

He was silent as he observed her expression.

"Or you gave it to Potter?" he asked moving his face closer to see her reaction.

"I gave it to him." Hermione muttered without looking up at him.

"Right." Draco only said withdrawing himself a little farther from her. "I see."

He opened his mouth to ask something else when Hermione suddenly snatched it out of his hand and shoved the journal before him.

"What did I –"

"Let's plan this." Hermione said pointing over what looked like a drawn up timeline. "We've got roughly ten days, Draco."

"Got that." Draco sighed staring over the timeline and trying to put his head back into what they were supposed to do in the first place.

"Right." Hermione said kicking him under the table.

"What?" Draco asked perplexed.

"Draco, your head in this please." Hermione snottily said.

"My head's in it." Draco answered with another smirk.

He was trying hard not to laugh and for some reason, Hermione seemed to be doing the same thing.

He smiled despite their situation.

Something about her at the moment was making him feel both excited and happy at the same time.

"Right, so what do we have?" he asked again trying to be serious.

"About ten days." Hermione said pointing over the timeline. "I've got to be in these places-" she pointed at various of things and errands that Harry had planned for them.

"So at most, you'd be with him or with Fleur and Ginny?"

"And with professor Lupin." Hermione pointed out. "But I'm not sure that Harry trusts him that much. I don't think he's written this just recently. Reading through it last night makes me think that he has written it quite some time ago."

"Alright." Draco said trying to put his brain into good use of planning as he read through the journal and pages.

There were dates and time and places to buy things and go for fitting or anything they had to reserve.

Harry had things planned thoroughly as he could see in the page entries.

"That means that I get to work less with you." Hermione said. "You've got to do the working at the outside Draco. The best I could do is stay closely with him and make sure that his attention is with me – not with Severus or the case but mainly with me-"

"I can do that." Draco said taking the parchment Hermione tore apart from the journal and writing some details on it herself. "Keep him occupied and I'll deal with the rest."

"Draco, have you found out anything about what the key opens?" Hermione asked suddenly looking up at him.

He looked uncomfortable to answer that.

"No." Draco admitted.

He had tried so hard but he didn't want Hermione to know that he had not yet found anything abot it in fear that he might look like he was not working hard enough.

Hermione looked slightly concerned.

"I'm sorry. I've tried looking at the manor and even at Gringotts – nothing even in aunt Bella's accounts gave me any information on what it could possibly open-"

Hermione bit her lip as she tried to think and think hard on what it could possibly open.

"Do you have it?" she asked. "Do you have it right now?"

"Yeah." Draco said rippling through his robes. "I've placed it with my pocket watch so it's with me at all times."

"Let me see it again." Hermione said placing her palm up across the table.

Hermione patiently waited as he shuffled through his robes and pulled it out after a moment.

The key was chained directly at the pocket watch and he handed it to her.

Hermione took a closer look at it.

"Are you sure you've never seen it?" he asked her for the nth time.

"No." Hermione said. "I think I would remember something as beautiful as this one."

"Yeah, it's pretty." Draco sarcastically said staring at it as well. "And it's prettily giving us a headache too."

"It's small but not too small for a door." Hermione observed as she touched it at every side of it and stared at it.

"And it does not look anything ancient." Draco pointed out. "I mean, let's admit it – my family owns artifacts of sorts and it could open one of those things but looking at it- "

"It has a touch of modern abstract over here." Hermione pointed at the edge of it. "It does look like something modern to me and yet there's intricacy in it-"

"Like it opens something special or intricate like its design."

They stared at the key for a longer moment but Hermione really couldn't remember seeing anything as such at the cottage.

And Draco himself couldn't remember seeing something or anything at the Malfoy Manor that could possibly be opened by the key in their hands.

But what they were both sure at that very moment was that it was the key in saving Snape's fate away from Harry's wrath and the only way that they could save him without Hermione having to sacrifice herself as the unwilling bride to marry the Chosen One.

 _"_ _Have you heard about their Chosen One?" Bellatrix asked in a lazy tone. "What has become of him after the ambush?"_

 _Narcissa was greeted by her sister's crazy laughter as she burst in entrance into the manor's vast dining hall._

 _A Death Eater's meeting was to commence soon at the said room the moment the Dark Lord arrives with the rest of the Death Eaters._

 _"_ _What did you do, Bella?" Narcissa asked in a strange and constricted tone. "What did you do to him?!" she angrily demanded._

 _"_ _What did I do?" Bellatrix replied in an innocent tone as she put back on the table a silver knife from the pieces of silverware that were being prepared by the elves for the dinner that will be before the meeting._

 _Narcissa walked to her sister with such anger in her eyes like she had not seen before._

 _She opened her mouth to answer when the doors opened and Draco entered wearing mournful look over his face._

 _"_ _They're here, mother." Draco simply said staring at the two women in the room. "Father asked if it's prepared for-"_

 _"_ _Tell your father that I shall call him when the hall is prepared." Narcissa spat not leaving Bellatrix's gaze. "I'm talking to your aunt Bella, Draco. Please leave us for a moment."_

 _Draco stared at the two women and he could sense the tension between them._

 _Something was amiss for sure because it was the first time that Narcissa seemed beyond angry at her very own sister._

 _Draco gave Bellatrix a look before leaving the room as if begging her to tell him what's happening._

 _The moment Draco was gone Bellatrix yelled for the house-elves to leave the two of them in the room._

 _The elves quickly disappeared by their magic seeing the rage in Bellatrix's eyes and the tension in Narcissa's face._

 _Something was about to happen that was for sure._

 _"_ _What did you do?" Narcissa repeated with her hands shaking at her sides._

 _"_ _I don't understand what you're talking about Cissy-"_

 _"_ _What did you do to him!" Narcissa angrily yelled taking a step forward Bellatrix._

 _She stared at her for a moment as if reading her thoughts and the smile she gave him was beyond insulting that Narcissa charged forward her own sister._

 _She only halted when Bellatrix had raised her own wand and pointed it at her in defense._

 _"_ _I said," Bellatrix whispered in a silky tone. "I do not understand what you are talking-"_

 _"_ _What did you do to Severus!" Narcissa demanded again taking another step forward her own sister._

 _"_ _Cissy is going to yell at her own sister because of that-"_

 _"_ _I asked you!" Narcissa yelled yet again. "What did you bloody do to him!"_

 _"_ _I didn't do anything to him!" Bellatrix yelled back at her._

 _There was pure loathing in Bellatrix's eyes that angered Narcissa even more._

 _"_ _I am not like them. I am not an idiot, Bella." Narcissa breathed out taking her wand out as well. "Tell me what you did to him-"_

 _"_ _Tell you what-" Bellatrix repeated with a smirk. "Tell you what exactly-"_

 _"_ _You know what exactly I am talking about!" Narcissa angrily said and a jet of spark came out of her wand._

 _Bellatrix's eyes widened in surprise._

 _And then her expression changed into anger at her own sister's attitude._

 _"_ _I'm not daft, Bella!" Narcissa said. "Do not underestimate me – I am not like the rest of them – "_

 _"_ _You dare yell at me-"_

 _"_ _I want you to tell me right at this instant what you did to him!" Narcissa's voice was getting more violent by the moment she spoke and advanced towards Bellatrix._

 _"_ _You dare defy me and talk to me like I do not matter-"_

 _"_ _I want to know what you did – after everything he has done for this family – after all the-"_

 _"_ _He has done nothing good to this family!" Bellatrix yelled angrily back at her. "He has done-"_

 _"_ _You walk freely into my home because you are in the Dark Lord's good graces because of him!"_

 _"_ _The Dark Lord has forgiven me because I deserved to be forgiven-"_

 _"_ _I do not care what the Dark Lord has bestowed upon you – I want you to tell me what you did to –"_

 _"_ _I gave him what he deserved!" Bellatrix suddenly yelled at her. "I gave him what he deserves after all the betrayal he has done to our cause!"_

 _Narcissa had heard enough of what she had wanted to hear._

 _She whipped her wand in a quick motion and before Bellatrix could defend herself she flew right backward and almost hit the wall._

 _It was halted by another spell casted by Narcissa._

 _Bellatrix floated a few feet from the ground under Narcissa's dark spell._

 _She only laughed at her sister as she struggled against the invisible bond that was around her and was slowly choking her._

 _The spell was getting stronger as Narcissa's anger raised._

 _Bellatrix Lestrange is the Dark Lord's greatest lieutenant not just for her skills in feistiness or skill sat duel and dark magic but because she was quite agile in combats._

 _But Bellatrix Lestrange had been long in Azkaban and without practice and a sister who was just as good as she was as match in duels and was extremely angered at the moment, she stood without a chance._

 _"_ _How dare you do this to me-" Narcissa whispered. "I have taken you back – I have taken you back from whence it is-"_

 _"_ _My little sister is getting really mad at me because I've played my cards right and gave her favourite puppet what he deserves-"_

 _"_ _Tell me what you did to him or you will sorely regret it, Bella."_

 _Bellatrix only laughed at her._

 _Her cruel laughter still echoed despite the magic bonds that was choking her._

 _Narcissa's fists clenched and it was as if she was literally choking her around the neck as the invisible rope around her neck tightened by the moment._

 _Air started to constrict and fade from Bellatrix's throat and she struggled to speak and to keep her eyes wide open._

 _"_ _Little Cissy is getting mad because I gave her favorite puppet a little something to enjoy!" she laughed out loud, her voice echoing all across the vast dining hall._

 _Narcissa was shaking in anger and she half thought that she really wanted to kill her own sister at that very moment._

 _"_ _Take it back, Bella." Narcissa quietly said. "Take it back or –"_

 _"_ _Or what?" Bellatrix asked her. "Or what, Cissy?"_

 _Her voice changed._

 _The laughter was gone and it was dark and deep now._

 _Her eyes also flickered in a way that there was more than hatred in them._

 _She pointed her wand from her awkward position straight down at Narcissa._

 _"_ _You're going to kill me, to defy our family – to defile the name of Black and Malfoy for that filthy Half-Blood-"_

 _"_ _He's helped us more than you know, Bella. He's done more than what he is expected of this family-"_

 _"_ _He's a traitor." Bellatrix pointed her wand at her sister's face. "He's a traitor and he should get what he deserves."_

 _"_ _Take back whatever you did to him." Narcissa commanded._

 _"_ _You think I don't know?" she cackled at her. "You think I don't know his little secret – I have no evidence but I know that he is still in their side!" she screamed crazily._

 _"_ _Bella-"_

 _"_ _I know he has her!" Bellatrix screamed at the top of her lungs. "I've not seen it with my own eyes but I know – I could tell that he has her and I swear that he's going to suffer with her!"_

 _"_ _Take it back, Bella-"_

 _"_ _No, Cissy." Bellatrix softy said. "He will suffer it but I assure you that he will thoroughly enjoy every bit of it-"_

 _"_ _Severus has done nothing to you." Narcissa quietly said her spell getting stronger because Bellatrix's eyes were widening and closing back in pain as she struggled to speak to her sister._

 _"_ _No – on the contrary, he has taken everything from me!" Bellatrix yelled at her. "The highest position that he has – what my husband should have had-"_

 _"_ _Your husband messed up big time that's why he has not been-"_

 _"_ _And yours?" Bellatrix smiled angrily at her. "Yours has just done the same at the Ministry of Magic, isn't that right? No Cissy – Severus is the reason why your family has lost its status at the Dark Lord's graces-"_

 _"_ _Severus has saved our lives many more times than you've ever been a sister to me." Narcissa whispered._

 _Whatever she might have said was more than enough to truly anger Bellatrix._

 _She screamed at Narcissa and had tried to avenge herself with a dark spell but nothing happened because whatever Narcissa was doing to her was way stronger than her own magic._

 _Bellatrix breathed deeply, her eyes focused on her sister and then she suddenly laughed._

 _Narcissa wasn't taken aback._

 _It seemed that she was used to her sister's sudden changes of mood in a blink of an eye._

 _"_ _You dare Cissy to care for him when anytime he could betray you just like what he's done to-"_

 _"_ _He will never betray me." Narcissa said taking a step forward her sister and ensuring that her spell got stronger by the moment. "I assure you, Bella, that Severus will never betray me."_

 _Bellatrix gave what sounded like half a growl of anger and laughter at the same time._

 _"_ _You are willing to hurt, to betray and kill your own sister for the filthy Half-Blood?!"_

 _"_ _I am willing to do whatever it takes to protect my family."_

 _"_ _He isn't your family." Bellatrix spat at her. "He isn't your family."_

 _"_ _He has been a family to me more than you and Lucius put together-"_

 _"_ _I assure you that once this war is over, I will have your little puppet's head delivered on a golden platter-"_

 _"_ _I assure you that before this war is over you will not live to see the end of it- "_

 _"_ _Why you little ungrateful- "_

 _"_ _Give me what I want, Bella." Narcissa quietly said gripping her neck harder by the moment with her spell. "Give me what I want-"_

 _"_ _What I had done Cissy is irreversible." Bella quietly said her black eyes glinting in mock._

 _Fear suddenly passed Narcissa's face but it had vanished as soon as it had passed._

 _"_ _What did you do to him?" she quietly asked her._

 _"_ _What I did to him is what he deserves." Bellatrix only repeated._

 _"_ _You take back what you did to him."_

 _"_ _If he truly serves the Dark Lord he will remain unharmed but if his loyalty lies somewhere as I've always expected-" her smile turned more evil and scary than ever before. "- then it is a punishment he will thoroughly enjoy."_

 _Bellatrix proudly smiled at her._

 _Narcissa's eyes flashed in danger._

 _She whipped her wand and the spell broke and spell choking her sister vanished._

 _Bellatrix gasped for a moment in relief but it was just momentary as soon enough, it was Narcissa's bare hands that clung tightly around her neck._

 _"_ _Cissy-" she gasped eyes wide at her sister's action._

 _She still hung a few feet from the ground due to the spell but it was already Narcissa's clawed fingers around her neck that kept her raised in a painful angle._

 _"_ _Cissy – you're choking-" Bellatrix beg eyes wide in fear and pain._

 _"_ _If something happens to Severus-"_

 _"_ _If something happens to your little Sevvy, what are you doing to do?" she gasped angrily. "Choke me to death, Cissy? You're going to forget I am your sister-"_

 _"_ _I am willing to forget anyone who gets in my way in protecting my family-"_

 _"_ _He isn't your family!" Bellatrix angrily screamed at her._

 _"_ _You're just as bad as any murderer in this place-"_

 _"_ _I am your sister! You dare to harm your own sister for that foolish-"_

 _"_ _You are the only fool around here-"_

 _""_ _He isn't your family! My little sister dare hurt her own blood for some filthy Half- "_

 _"_ _Careful, Bella. Remember that your dear Dark Lord does not differ-"_

 _"_ _How dare your mouth say such vile things to the merciful-"_

 _"_ _I will not be merciful Bella if you hurt any of the ones I care about-"_

 _"_ _I am your sister!" Bellatrix yelled wildly at her trying to kick her through the spell but she was just as helpless as when the spell had her by the neck. "I am your family!"_

 _Narcissa's fingers were deepening around Bellatrix for a full moment that the colour over her face was draining already._

 _"_ _Severus is family to me!" Narcissa breathed back to her with her eyes glinting at each moment that passed. "I am not going to let anyone harm-"_

 _"_ _I am your family!" Bellatrix wailed at her. "I am your only family Cissy! That man is going to betray you the moment he realizes that he has no use of you any longer!"_

 _"_ _He will never betray me-"_

 _"_ _If we lose in this war he is going to abandon you!" Bellatrix screamed at her struggling against her grip._

 _"_ _Severus will never abandon me nor Draco-"_

 _"_ _He is a fool! You are a fool, Cissy! I have done you a great favor –"_

 _"_ _You know nothing of a man's loyalty Bella-"_

 _"_ _He will abandon you!" Bellatrix screamed at her face with her whole body shaking in anger now. "You hear me?! You hear me Cissy – he is going to abandon you the moment that he finds no use of you-"_

 _"_ _Severus is not just any man!" Narcissa deepened her fingers around her neck. "He is like a brother to me and if something happens to him –"_

 _"_ _I am not about to lose another sister because of some stupid man!" Bellatrix fiercely yelled at her as she tried to struggle with her hands to free herself from Narcissa's lethal claws._

 _Narcissa was unmoving._

 _She stood there with her eyes transfixed at her own sister that was slowly choking to death as she held her tightly by the neck._

 _"_ _I am not about to lose the only man who ever truly cared about me and Draco-"_

 _"_ _And I am not about to lose you the way I lost Andromeda!"_

 _For a moment, Narcissa's eyes softened at the mention of the sister they had a lost a very long time ago._

 _A momentary expression of pain passed through her features as she recalled the sister they've lost – the sister she missed so much._

 _Her fingers dug deeper around Bellatrix's neck._

 _"_ _I rather you lose me forever Bella than if I ever lose Severus." Narcissa softly whispered and in Bellatrix's blurring visions, she could almost swear that she saw a flicker of tear passed through Narcissa's beautiful eyes._

 _There came movements and voices and then Narcissa's spell that hung her above the ground had broken._

 _Bellatrix dropped on fours on the carpeted dining hall gasping and choking for air._

 _There was silence as Narcissa stood before her sister with her hand still half raised up in the air._

 _The double doors opened and she knew that the Dark Lord was to arrive._

 _She chose to stand straight and remain quiet until she felt Lucius' arms behind her._

 _They both stared at Bellatrix who was on the floor gasping like some fish who has been taken out of the waters._

 _Draco entered the scene and Bellatrix quickly raised her arms for his help._

 _Draco moved forward and bent down to help Bellatrix but stopped at the last minute._

 _"_ _Draco." Narcissa's very soft voice came._

 _His name was softly spoken and yet there was that tone in it that made Draco stop in mid-action of helping his aunt._

 _He looked up at his mother's face._

 _She was unmoving and her eyes were unblinking as she stared at her own sister on the floor._

 _She didn't say anything else nor did she show any expression towards her own son, but Draco slowly retreated from Bellatrix and walked back behind Narcissa and Lucius._

 _There was a slow commotion as chairs moved and the rest of the Death Eaters soon arrived and took their places as the Dark Lord Voldemort's presence was to arrive._

 _Narcissa and Bellatrix's eyes met for the last time._

 _And then Narcissa turned away from her without a word and with eyes straight towards her chair at the dining table._

 _No words were spoken, but Draco soon followed her mother with Lucius at his wake without turning to help Bellatrix seething and breathless on the floor._

"Come, Draco." Hermione said as she handed Draco the piece of paper for which she has written the places and time she would be that coming week for the wedding errands that Harry had planned for them.

"I'm going to help you out of this." Draco said placing his hand over hers.

Hermione's eyes settled on his hand over hers and she only nodded.

"Come." Hermione only said. "Professor Lupin will arrive any moment."

Draco withdrew his hand back from her and watched as she packed her things back.

She couldn't help but remember the Hermione Granger he knew back from Hogwarts days.

If only he wasn't such a prick he had realized that she wasn't bad at all.

She was beautiful and intelligent and far more than caring than anyone else he has ever met.

And she was a Muggle-Born.

If only he wasn't such a bastard back then.

He would have liked her perhaps more than the fondness he felt towards her right now.

She was still beautiful and brilliant.

What more back then when she was untainted by dreadful circumstances that has forever changed her memory and whole life?

He momentarily wondered what life would have been like if they had been friends way back in their Hogwarts days.

"Are you alright?" she asked him as she took the journal from across the table and started putting the pages back together.

"I'm fine." Draco said unconsciously reaching out for the Golden Snitch necklace across the table and untangling its lace from his pocket watch and chain of the key.

"I gave this to Harry so he would always have me." Hermione said with a small smile over her face. "And that felt a very long time ago."

Draco's brows creased as he tugged slightly harder to disentangle that laces that latched around one another.

"I know he's not the boy you fell in love with right now." Draco slowly said. "But I believe that he may still be reprieved."

"He can't be helped if he doesn't want it." Hermione said almost more to herself.

Draco looked up at her as she reached forward to help him removed the chains he had been struggling to untangle around one another.

"You mean like when I helped you and you finally wanted to be helped?"

Hermione didn't say anything but her eyes were so focused and brows narrowing as she struggled too with the chains.

"This is stupid." Hermione muttered taking Ginny's wand across the table and pointing over the chains.

"Careful." Draco said letting go of all the chains and letting her handle the situation. "You don't want to destroy the good memories that these things gave."

Hermione rolled her eyes as she pointed the wand over it and muttered something.

"Don't be ridiculous Draco." Hermione said shaking her head. "The memories are not almost as gone as Harry is."

Draco didn't say anything as they both watched the glow from the wand slowly disengaged the chains of the key, the pocket watch and Hermione's necklace.

"They're still memories, 'Mione." Draco said as he finally was able to pull his pocket watch first from the object over the table. "Whether you like it or not, they were still existing memories that has happened and which you cannot deny."

"Yeah, whatever you may mean." Hermione muttered taking the necklace back from the table and stashing it back inside the journal.

"So when do I see you again?" Draco asked reaching for the key across the table.

"Oh my god." Hermione said placing her hand tightly over his hand across the table.

Draco stared up at her across the table.

Her other hand was mid-way stashing the necklace inside the journal and her other was over his that was holding the key in mid-action of taking it back from the table.

"What's wrong?" Draco asked her in alarm.

Her facial features told Draco that her brain was working very hard and fast right at that very moment.

"It's brilliant." Hermione said. "Why have we not thought about it?" she asked him.

"What?" Draco asked as Hermione quickly pulled the key from under his hand.

"Memories. That's it. Draco, it's brilliant." Hermione muttered breathlessly. "You're brilliant."

"Wait, what's going on?" Draco asked as she pulled the necklace out from the journal again and moved it across the table.

"Draco." Hermione breathlessly said her eyes widening. "That's it. That's what it could open?"

"Could what?" Draco asked still perplexed.

She moved the key and the necklace over the table with the journal.

It took a moment for Draco to realized what she was trying to say as she was also too excited and to voice out her thoughts in one sentence.

"Fuck." Draco loudly said eyes widening.

They both moved closer the table, hunched together in the thoughts and possibilities.

"That's it, isn't it?" Hermione asked as her and Draco's hearts raced.

"It couldn't – but it makes sense-" Draco muttered.

"It's too small to open any door." Hermione said as they both held the key over the table.

"And it doesn't open any vault at Gringotts." Draco muttered as his eyes travelled across the chain and design of the key.

"Because it doesn't open any door nor any vault Draco-"

"It opens something else-" Draco said his brain working very hard. "It opens something that what the design tells us – something intricate and yet modern-"

"And small." Hermione added as she raised the key a little over their faces so Draco could clearly see its size.

He held it closely in his hand and it was as if some lightning bolt had struck the two of them.

They looked at one another with their eyes meeting in an understanding.

Then they both looked down over the journal that was just above the necklace over the table.

"But could it be?" Hermione asked him with worry. "But what is it? A book? A secret place to keep-"

"A secret place to keep memories." Draco answered her.

Draco's eyes kept running around the key as if trying his best to recall if he had indeed seen it in his life.

"A diary?" Hermione asked him as she stared closely at the key trying.

Draco's eyes suddenly lit and it was as if his heart stopped beating for a moment.

"This key was found at the cottage." Hermione slowly said. "If this key was found there –"

"Then whatever it opens shouldn't be there. Fuck. Why didn't I see that!" Draco said quickly standing up from the table and grabbing the key from Hermione.

"What is it?" she asked as she quickly stashed all her other things back inside the bag. "Where is it?"

"Fuck. Fuck. So stupid." Draco kept repeating as he helped Hermione with her things and out of her chair.

"Draco, wait-" Hermione said as took her by the hand and pulled her out of the table.

"What's going on?" she asked as he started dragging her out from the café.

They held one another's hands as they walked at the other direction to the other door and exit of the café that would lead straight to Diagon Alley instead.

"Do you know where it is?" Hermione asked gasping for breath as they made fast paces. "Do you know what it is-"

"My mother's diary." Draco said as his brain tried to work double time trying to envision parts of the manor that he hasn't double check for the journal.

"Your mother's diary?" Hermione repeated aghast at what he said. "But why would the key be at the cottage?"

"Because she always had the intent from the beginning for it to be found." Draco muttered wanting to curse her mother at that very moment.

"Then why isn't the diary at the cottage?" Hermione asked perplexed. "Why isn't the diary back there?"

"Because she wants it found at the right time only." Draco said unable to explain himself to her.

Hermione looked even more bewildered but he didn't have the time at the moment to explain her mother and her way of thinking.

But he knows her – he knew her beyond anyone else.

Narcissa was truly beyond brilliant.

Always thinking way ahead of the game.

Always a step ahead of everyone else.

"So do you know where it is?" Hermione asked him as they reached the door of the café.

"I hope it is still where I think it is." Draco said as they walked down an alley.

He turned to her, breathless and almost shaking.

"Draco?" Hermione asked concerned.

Draco placed both his hands on either side of her arm.

"I'll find it." Draco promised her. "I'll find it before you get married. I'll keep you safe. I promise you that I'll protect you."

There was a glimmer in her eyes as if it was the first time that someone has told her those words.

She suddenly placed her arms around him and embraced him tightly.

Draco stood transfixed on the spot.

"Hermione-"

"Be careful." Hermione said. "Just be careful, Draco. I know you're trying very hard to help me and help Severus but I don't want you hurt-"

"I won't be hurt. I'll just find the diary and things will be better-"

"Your mother kept it for a reason, Draco." Hermione said letting him go and looking up at him. "And it has a key for a reason. Whatever may be inside that journal could be more than what we need-"

"I'll find it. What's important is that I help you and Severus out of this-"

"We both know Severus can't be helped." Hermione suddenly said. "What we're doing is more than futile. We're taking on chances and sometimes chances are not things we can really depend on."

Draco stared up at her.

It was one of those moments when he felt that he was talking to the Hermione Granger that he has known in their Hogwarts years and not the Hermione Granger that had been abducted.

She was making sense.

And when she made sense, there was life and pain in her eyes that he didn't want to see.

"I'll fix this." Draco said holding her hands closely. "I'll figure things out. We'll sort this out together."

"Together." Hermione agreed and she embraced him again and very tightly this time.

Draco closed his eyes and reveled at the feeling of her arms around him.

It was as if someone was really scared to lose him.

Someone didn't want him to go out there and risk his life for something trivial.

Someone truly cared about him that the embrace felt like he neither wanted to let it go.

"Go." Hermione said breaking their contact. "The half an hour is almost over. Professor Lupin and the others will be here."

Draco nodded and he looked down at her.

They just stared at one another for a split moment as if wanting to say something else, as if wanting to do something else.

But Draco quickly moved himself a little away from her.

"Don't let anyone else know about this for now." Draco said as he took out his wand and ready to Disapparate.

"I won't." Hermione nodded at him as he took steps backward from her. "Be careful, Draco."

"I will." Draco said with a smirk.

"I don't want to lose my ferret friend, Malfoy." Hermione said in an almost tearful smile.

Draco smirked at her.

"You're such a Know-It-All, Granger."

And with a whip and whisper of a wind, Draco had Disapparated and vanished right before her eyes with that same glimmer and cocky Slytherin smirk in his face.

Hermione didn't know why but for a moment his mischievous grin made her think for a moment what life would have been like for them if they had been friends in their Hogwarts days.


	50. Chapter 50

_**Chapter Fifty**_

 _ **Black and Malfoy Secrets**_

 _"_ _She's not a Know-It-All." Narcissa said as she lit the fireplace with a slight and elegant movement of her wand. "She's just curious for answers."_

 _"_ _Or rather desperate." Snape said as he opened the large paper bag over the wooden table. "What's this?" he asked her._

 _"_ _Food." Narcissa answered without looking up from the fireplace._

 _"_ _I'm not daft." Snape said looking through the large paper bag._

 _Narcissa glared up at him but she didn't say anything._

 _Snape went on checking the paper bags._

 _"_ _And neither is she. I told her I'm off to buy something to eat –" Snape looked sarcastic. "I didn't tell her I'm going to buy food for camping."_

 _"_ _Isn't that what you two are having?" Narcissa said with a sarcastic smile._

 _Snape made a cold face to her but he didn't look as insulted as he should have been._

 _"_ _I'm not in the mood for jokes, Cissy." Snape stiffly said._

 _"_ _How is she?" Narcissa asked after a while._

 _She kept her eyes over the burning hearth while listening to Snape's fidgeting over the table for the contents of the paper bag as if sorting which to bring and leave behind._

 _"_ _Nothing has changed." Snape replied as he then bent forward and opened the black bag he had with him. "She still whines and cries every night and defy and question everything I say and tell her."_

 _"_ _Do you expect her to just accept things as they are?" Narcissa asked with a sarcastic glint in her eyes._

 _Snape didn't say anything._

 _Narcissa could hear him taking out bottles and jars of sorts over the wooden table._

 _"_ _She's not daft, Severus." Narcissa pointed out with almost a smirk._

 _Snape looked murderous but he didn't say anything._

 _"_ _Where will you put these potions I've brought you?" he asked her seeing that Narcissa had nothing but a purse with her._

 _"_ _I told you I'm fine." Narcissa said. "You didn't need to bring all of those things."_

 _"_ _I told you as well that my diagnosis of you is not yet over." Snape said and his voice was filled with authority._

 _Narcissa's pursed lips slowly turned into a smile._

 _He was always very authoritative over her when it came to her or Draco's well-being._

 _"_ _You take care of me as if I'm a dying woman." Narcissa said with a smile over her lips that was rarely every there anyway._

 _"_ _I'm not exactly going to wait for that to happen before I take action." Snape pointed out._

 _A crease appeared over Narcissa's forehead that Snape obviously didn't see._

 _"_ _Come over here and see these." Snape called out to her._

 _Narcissa stood rooted to the spot and it has taken her a few moments before sighing heavily and deciding to walk to the other end of the room to meet him._

 _The table was filled with small bottles of sorts and some jars of suspended gooey paste._

 _"_ _For Draco's burns." he pointed out. "How is he coping?"_

 _"_ _He is stronger than I imagined." Narcissa simply said taking the jar from the table._

 _"_ _Would you like to talk about it?" he slowly asked her._

 _"_ _No." Narcissa said with a definite firmness. "It's enough that he's learned his lesson. It will help him understand the seriousness of the situation from which I have tried so hard to keep him from."_

 _Snape didn't say anything._

 _Usually, he would have protested but then again, it was Draco's fault why he was suddenly lined up at the punishment ring of the Dark Lord about a week ago._

 _"_ _He'll be better." Narcissa said. "It's nothing serious. But the lesson he learned is that if he's not allowed in a meeting, he's not allowed then and if he's not supposed to know an information, then he's not supposed to poke his nose and ears around."_

 _Snape didn't say anything._

 _He knew how afraid Draco was and given his bearing and what has transpired since he was marked by the Dark Lord._

 _But he couldn't do anything._

 _He has already warned him beforehand and had even asked Narcissa to twist her will in order to scare Draco and stop him from doing what he's done._

 _But he was a proud Malfoy._

 _He wanted to avenge his father for what Harry Potter has done to him at the Ministry of Magic._

 _And because of it, he had been marked and now he has no way out of anything that the Dark Lord asks of him._

 _"_ _Why was he poking around?" Snape curiously asked her._

 _Narcissa looked away._

 _He moved to her and stared closely at her._

 _"_ _Tell me, what was he trying to know about?"_

 _"_ _Oh, you know Draco. He just wants to know everything-"_

 _"_ _Draco wouldn't be insistent and consistent on something until he demands to know something specific."_

 _Narcissa avoided his gaze._

 _"_ _What was it that Draco was trying to get information about?"_

 _"_ _The girl." Narcissa after a moment unable to lie to him. "He's heard that she's missing since the ambush. He thinks that our side has her."_

 _"_ _Don't we?" Snape quietly said._

 _Narcissa shook her head and walked away from him._

 _"_ _Cissy-"_

 _"_ _We both know whose side you are deep down, Severus."_

 _Snape clenched his fists at his sides._

 _"_ _I don't understand what you're talking about."_

 _"_ _You look like you have not seen daylight lately."_

 _Snape didn't say anything._

 _It made Narcissa even more serious._

 _"_ _The Dark Lord asks about you." Narcissa slowly said. "I think he has found out that you no longer stay at Spinner's End when you're not here. He shall soon ask you why you are not home."_

 _"_ _It's not a home." Snape bitterly said. "It was never a home."_

 _"_ _Severus, is there something that is wrong?" she asked concernedly._

 _Snape turned and began packing the things she's given him._

 _"_ _Nothing is." Snape said. "I'm just a little tired lately."_

 _Narcissa's eyes furrowed._

 _She stood from her chair and slowly walked towards him while Snape tried his best to remain busy and avoid her gaze._

 _"_ _Is there anything you wish to tell me?" she quietly asks her looking deep into his eyes._

 _Snape didn't say anything but Narcissa caught the very brief moment for which he had halted over his movements as if thinking if he should answer it._

 _He remained quiet and passive as he resumed his packing._

 _"_ _I will make a good excuse for you." Narcissa offered._

 _"_ _Thank you." Snape simply answered her. "But that's not necessary. I can tell him I'm staying at Hogwarts from time to time which is."_

 _She observed him, worried of everything that was happening to him but she knew that she couldn't help more than what she was currently giving him._

 _"_ _Severus, I am concerned about you. But I know you can do this." Narcissa whispered softly._

 _"_ _Thanks." Snape curtly said. "But pep-talks will really not help at the moment."_

 _"_ _It's not like that." Narcissa said. "But you're the only one who can deal with this."_

 _"_ _Thanks to your bloody sister." Snape said angrily zipping the bag he was packing._

 _"_ _We'll find a way out of this, Severus."_

 _"_ _Yes." Snape sarcastically said. "I'm quite sure after ten years you'll be able to find something."_

 _"_ _If there's anything I can do for you-"_

 _"_ _Keep your sister-" Snape suddenly said grabbing her arm with his eyes glinting. " .Me."_

 _"_ _Severus-"_

 _"_ _She's done more than enough damage. If she does not keep her nose out of my business I'll make sure that the Dark Lord's best lieutenant spills blood even before this war is over."_

 _"_ _Please." Narcissa claimed her arm back and then grasp his painfully. "I'll deal with her."_

 _"_ _You better." Snape roughly said. "Or else I will."_

 _There was silence between them._

 _Narcissa's fingers were kept firm around his arm as they stared at one another._

 _Snape's features then softened and he slowly looked apologetic._

 _"_ _I don't know anymore what to do with her." Snape said. "She's desperate to go back. She's desperate in finding answers – she's getting by but hardly. I can't give her a wand because it may harm her – she might do something that would harm her and the others-"_

 _"_ _Don't you ever dare give her a wand-"_

 _"_ _But her magic will die!" Snape angrily spat at her._

 _There was a different gleam in his eyes that Narcissa feared._

 _It was a mixture of fear and anger – and remorse._

 _"_ _Severus, I'm telling you-"_

 _"_ _Tell me what?!" he angrily yelled at her as he advanced. "Tell me what-"_

 _"_ _Severus- wait-"_

 _"_ _Do you understand how important it is for her to have her wand – do you understand what a waste it would be – she would be - if she loses her magic completely-"_

 _He was angry but she looked angered by his words._

 _"_ _Do something about it!"_

 _"_ _I'm doing everything about everything!" Snape angrily yelled back at her. "I'm always doing everything!"_

 _Narcissa blinked._

 _She looked completely taken aback and offended._

 _He didn't mean it._

 _He didn't mean to be rude and blunt to her._

 _She was, after all, helping him get through it._

 _"_ _That's not what I meant." Snape said quickly realizing it and reaching for her._

 _"_ _I know what you meant." Narcissa said as the hurt had gone away as quickly as it had come._

 _If any, she looked firm and passive as always._

 _"_ _She's confused and desperate and emotional-"_

 _"_ _And you shouldn't be." Narcissa cut him out. "You should be in control at all times."_

 _"_ _She thinks I don't know – she's trying every day to keep her magic by doing magic when I'm not around she thinks I'm not aware that she's desperately practicing at the other room when I'm not around-"_

 _"_ _Let her be as long as she does not do any powerful magic-"_

 _"_ _What do you think the wards are for? It's to suppress her magic- not just to fucking keep her from getting out and letting the Death Eaters find her-"_

 _"_ _You're doing your job well in my opinion. Just keep it that way."_

 _"_ _So easy for you to say these things." Snape softly said._

 _Snape let her arm go and Narcissa stared back at his glinting eyes._

 _"_ _It's not like that-"_

 _"_ _So easy for you to instruct me into doing these things after what your demented sister has done."_

 _"_ _I'm trying to help you-"_

 _"_ _Your help will never be enough. She's destroyed the life of that girl – "_

 _"_ _Don't be overdramatic." Narcissa said turning away from him. "She's going to be fine – she's under your watch-Severus! "_

 _She suddenly screamed._

 _Snape grasped her arm so painful that she knew that she was going to earn a bruise over there._

 _Her eyes were glinting and daring him to hurt her more._

 _"_ _Severus-"_

 _"_ _Find an answer to this." Snape threatened her. "Find a way out of this or I swear to you that I'm going to kill your sister the first chance I get."_

 _Narcissa didn't say anything._

 _She was staring at him as if she couldn't hear him._

 _"_ _I'm more concerned of you." Narcissa slowly said. "You're more of my concern at the moment, Severus. Not the girl. Not Bella."_

 _Snape let her arm go with an utmost look over his face._

 _He didn't understand her but she looked indifferent at the moment._

 _She looked like she was trying to find something farther and deeper and beyond his black eyes._

 _"_ _I have to go." Snape suddenly said moving away from her and taking his things from the wooden table._

 _"_ _Are you sure you're feeling well?" she suddenly asked him taking a gentle hand over his._

 _Snape looked down at her in question._

 _"_ _Other than feeling murderous because of what your sister did-"_

 _"_ _No, I'm serious." Narcissa slowly said. "Are you not feeling – somewhat.. different?" she curiously asked him._

 _Snape stared at her trying to study her gaze._

 _"_ _No." Snape answered after a while. "I don't feel anything that you should be alarmed with."_

 _Narcissa let his hand go and watched him move towards the other bag and watched him carry them around his shoulders._

 _"_ _When will I see you again?" Narcissa asked him._

 _"_ _Until you need me." Snape simply said getting to the door. "Send me message about your health in three days."_

 _"_ _I will." Narcissa answered. "Take good care, Severus."_

 _"_ _I will." Snape answered her._

 _Without turning back, Snape reached for the door and slowly opened it._

 _He stayed there for a moment as if thinking._

 _Narcissa stared and she could almost feel that he wanted to say something but didn't pursue it._

 _Narcissa took a step forward him in her haste and change of heart but at that very moment, Snape pulled and closed the door behind him without turning back._

"Oh, here they are." Harry excitedly said as he saw Lupin and Hermione arrived at their reserved area for dinner.

"Harry." Lupin said raising his hand in greeting.

Harry quickly walked towards them.

He walked past Lupin as if he wasn't there and went straight for Hermione.

He grabbed her hand and kissed her over the cheek before pulling her towards the table with his arm around her waist.

"So what did you buy?" he asked as he helped her settle next to him over the table.

Fleur and Ginny soon followed Lupin who was quietly watching Harry and smiling at the others.

They already knew Harry's indifference but it wasn't the priority at the moment.

"Oh. Just some things." Hermione answered pointing towards the small paper bag that Lupin handed him the moment he picked her up from where Draco had left her.

Harry's eyes strayed over the bag to read the label of the store.

He reached out for it to see its contents but Fleur quickly grabbed it before he could.

Harry stared up at her in surprise and annoyance.

Fleur said something in French as she rolled her eyes at him.

"You can't see it ofcourse before the wedding night." Fleur said quickly keeping the bag out of his reach.

Harry stared at her then a smile appeared over his face.

Fleur kicked Bill under the table and he laughed and drew out a joke about it which the table quickly took as a sign to laugh to pull his attention.

Harry smiled and laughed.

He kissed her on the cheek and kissed the back of her hand that he had been holding the whole time.

Hermione was silent and she kept things and thoughts to herself.

Draco could only help her if she would remain quiet and passive as much as she could no matter what Harry does.

Right now, the goal is to keep herself 'the docile Hermione' in order to keep Harry's attention away from the trial and from Snape.

Menus were ritually handed and passed around the table and Hermione quietly took hers and Harry's while Bill tried to keep a conversation with the other Weasleys across the table to keep the table busy.

Hermione gave Lupin a miniature look before breaking eye contact and turning to the part of the menu book that Harry was holding out for her.

Lupin quietly nodded and turned to the menu that he was sharing with Ginny.

Harry looked as excited as he could possibly be as he chose dishes after another while Hermione wasn't sure what to pick from the selection.

"We can try this." Hermione said pointing at a bottle over the menu.

Harry took a closer look and saw that it was one of the cheapest wine in the selections.

"I don't think so." Harry said. "How about this one?" he pointed at the most expensive one at the menu.

"It's too expensive, Harry." Hermione said. "I don't think we need something that much-"

"I think the best should always be the choice, Mione." Harry said signaling for the waiter to give them three bottles of it.

"The best choice isn't always really the best." Hermione said staring at the waiter as if daring him to write down the order over his small notebook.

Harry brushed his hand up in the air and pointed at the waiter to write it down.

"Why not?" he said pointing a couple of cheese and crackers platter to go with the wine.

"It's just isn't always." Hermione said.

"Well what do you want?" Harry asked her closing the menu before her face. _"Second_ best?"

Hermione was quick to understand what that meant.

She opened her mouth to say something but someone across the table made a really good joke that made a loud noise and ramble of laughter across them.

Harry's attention was quickly taken off the subject.

Hermione looked away from him and pretended to be interested in something Fleur was telling her and that kept Harry relaxed.

Seeing Hermione busy and interested in their wedding preparations despite all the problems and arguments arising between the two of them calmed him down.

Their wedding was going to happen and that was all that was important to him _– no matter the consequences_ and the people around them.

A wedding was going to happen by hook or by crook.

 _"_ _Well?" Bellatrix screamed behind her sister. "Don't tell me you didn't feel that!"_

 _"_ _I didn't feel anything." Narcissa calmly said as she changed into her usual dress robes and out of the travelling cloak she had donned upon herself for the past several hours._

 _Bellatrix was fuming in anger._

 _"_ _We've travelled very – and I mean very, very far - and you tell me you didn't feel any magic?"_

 _"_ _I said, I didn't feel anything." Narcissa said taking her own travelling cloak off._

 _"_ _It was practically littered with wards and other protections spells!"_

 _"_ _If someone owns it Bella, I think it makes sense that someone will put wards and protection spells all over its groudns.." Narcissa said staring at her reflection as she began removing her gloves and her earrings._

 _"_ _No!" Bellatrix angrily said._

 _Narcissa's eyes widened at her own sister._

 _Bellatrix was very hysterical._

 _"_ _No, no, no! No, Cissy! I felt it – there was magic – great magic embedded in those grounds! Sacred – protected – littered with magic to ensure that it is not an area to be passed!"_

 _"_ _By all means." Narcissa said rolling her eyes at her. "Go back there then and check for yourself."_

 _Bellatrix didn't say anything._

 _It was a very far and long journey and she wasn't willing to go back there until she had the Dark Lord to ambush the place and catch Snape red-handed._

 _"_ _You know I am right." Bellatrix said. "You know I am right, Cissy. He's hiding something from us."_

 _"_ _If you think this will help you and your dear husband in the Dark Lord's ranks I'm not going to stop you from reporting this." Narcissa quietly said._

 _Ofcourse Bellatrix wouldn't dare do something like that._

 _If she was wrong, she and her husband would be punished severely._

 _But deep down she knew she was right – Snape was still on the other side._

 _But she didn't have any evidence – no, nothing to hand to the Dark Lord as proof to her statement._

 _"_ _You're my sister!" she wailed at Narcissa. "Why wouldn't you help me with this!"_

 _"_ _Did I not help you?" Narcissa asked turning coldly to her. "Did I not just travel with you for that long to find nothing?"_

 _"_ _You stopped me from exploring the place!"_

 _"_ _No, I didn't." Narcissa said. "I absolutely let you-"_

 _"_ _I felt it!" Bellatrix said. "Something is wrong! Something is in that place!"_

 _"_ _Something like what?" Narcissa asked her. "Something like what?"_

 _Bellatrix was fuming in anger._

 _She look demented and murderous at the same time._

 _"_ _We were there – in his grounds – I felt it, magic so strong – it was there-"_

 _"_ _Nothing was there." Narcissa dug into her. "Nothing was ever there, Bella."_

 _"_ _I felt her magic." Bellatrix said with a crazy glint in her eyes. "I felt it. That Mudblood's magical trace was there!"_

 _Narcissa didn't say anything._

 _Her face was so passive it didn't give anything away._

 _She had hoped against hope that the girl managed to go back through the path she had just taught her to thread to get back to the cottage._

 _She had felt it too – the magic Bellatrix was describing._

 _It was quite strong for her kind._

 _She could almost literally smell her magic waft through the air._

 _It was too powerful, too strong – too desperate to go back home._

 _"_ _Stop it, Bella!" Narcissa angrily screamed turning to her._

 _Bellatrix stopped and was looking stricken._

 _She was taken aback as Narcissa barely ever lost her temper – let alone to her._

 _"_ _Cissy-"_

 _"_ _There was nothing there!" she angrily screamed back at her. "There was nothing there! By all means – if you want to go back I'm not going to stop you but let me out of it!"_

 _"_ _Cissy, all I wanted-"_

 _"_ _All you want is to get back at Severus!" Narcissa was already shaking in anger. "You're relentless and reckless! You just want something against him because you think that Rodulphus deserves the position from which Lucius once had and Severus had been given!"_

 _Bellatrix didn't say anything._

 _She now looked dubious of her own sister._

 _"_ _You speak to me like –"_

 _"_ _Like you're not the eldest?" Narcissa helped out. "Don't be a fool, Bella. You were never a real sister to me nor Andromeda."_

 _Bellatrix stared for a moment._

 _She looked petrified._

 _Then she angrily screamed and pulled out her wand and pointed it directly at Narcissa._

 _"_ _Aunt Bella!"_

 _They both turned._

 _Draco was standing by the door, eyes wide at Bellatrix's wand pointed at his mother._

 _He quickly crossed the room and placed himself before Narcissa._

 _"_ _Draco. It's nothing." Narcissa quickly said holding him over the arm._

 _Draco moved her hand from him and stared up at Bellatrix._

 _"_ _I would appreciate if you leave her room now, aunt Bella." Draco quietly said._

 _He kept himself between them and Bellatrix looked beyond confused._

 _She was shaking in anger – she wanted to hurt Narcissa and at the same time she didn't want to cross Draco._

 _She had always considered Draco her favourite member of the family._

 _"_ _Keep a close eye on your mother, Draco." Bellatrix silkily said lowering her wand and keeping it away as she walked to the door. "I'm telling you that one way or another her protection over your beloved godfather will bring you all to your doom."_

 _And with that, she walked out and banged the door behind her leaving Draco looking perplexed as he stared back at Narcissa who kept an unreadable cold expression._

Draco had come back to the manor screaming his lungs out.

He had ordered his assistant and servants alike to turn the library, his father's office – and every part of the manor that has a bookshelf, drawer or cabinet of any sort – that could possibly keep something – of a diary.

They all looked perplexed at his instruction.

He had described to them what they were looking for and had instructed to immediately come to him for anything of the sort that may be found.

Despite all this, he had kept in his head only one place to look for what he was looking for.

It was the only place he could remember and he was bagging in his cloudy memory to find what he had been looking for.

Since the death of his mother all her things had been transferred inside her vast room.

Everything that the lady of the manor owned had been kept inside her own room.

Clothes, jewelries, bags and all sorts of things that she had been garbed and surrounded with had been placed upon her room.

When she had passed away, Draco had immediately become the owner of everything left that of the Black that was Narcissa and the Malfoy that was Lucius.

An only child and only heir – he became one of the wealthiest bachelor in the Wizarding world of Europe.

His wealth was so vast that he could live for ten more lifetimes without enduring any poverty in any of his lifetime.

He was so wealthy that he could atleast buy himself a country or two.

It was extreme and extravagant that only a Malfoy could possibly be.

But he was never happy – _never._

He was alone and was still tainted and stigmatized to be the son of a highly-classified and high-convicted murderer and loyalist of the Dark Lord.

No matter what he does, like the Dark Mark burned over his left forearm – he was never going to be able to change people of their thoughts of him.

He will always be a Malfoy.

He used the sacred key to his mother's room and entered quietly.

He looked around the room – he rarely ever visited it.

Her dresser had been moved aside to make room for the cabinets and some drawers taken out of her old office and library to be placed in this room.

He wasn't sure if he wanted to see all her belongings and so he ordered them to be kept.

And being there at that moment, he felt a surge of strong emotion.

His eyes were almost at the verge of tears but he had to control himself.

He had a mission.

He was in a time frame.

Remembering this, Draco quickly went to work.

He walked further into the room.

"Lumos!" his wand quickly lit and he looked around him.

Everything seemed in place – orderly and almost clean like the days when his mother was alive.

Here lies everything that had been owned by the lady of the Malfoy manor.

Draco could almost swear that he could smell her very scent in this room and her gentle but cold voice and whisper of his mother as if desperately wanting to tell him something.

Her ghostly apparitions in Draco's mind will forever haunt him.

Draco set to work.

Trying to focus in his mission – recalling Hermione and how much she's suffered and was trying her in this – he tried to stay on track despite the emotions that were crawling and drawing him from beneath.

At the very edge of the room he had found what he was looking for.

The old mahogany desk that had been transferred there and had been used by Narcissa in her healthier days when she worked and when she meets people in her office.

It was old and slightly dusty but nevertheless it still held its elegance and beauty.

Draco had to move a couple of things around in order for him to find the side that had the drawers.

He wasn't sure why it never occurred to him that what they were looking for had always been there.

He had always been curious of that drawer that her mother openly discusses as something she held close and private.

She had warded off her own drawer and not even Lucius could dare touch it.

She was the only one who ever had access to it using her own magic.

Lucius never minded for as long as he could keep certain things and artifacts of his away from Narcissa's prying eyes.

But Draco felt different.

Something had always been kept in that drawer and now he was sure of it.

Her mother had definitely used that journal he had given him years and years back.

Ofcourse she would use it – no matter how passive and cold she had always been, Narcissa always loved him most.

Why did he ever doubt her mother's love of him?

He felt slightly guilty as he reached for the drawer and tried to pull it several times knowing it wouldn't open that way.

He felt _guilty_ that he doubted his own other on her love for him.

Ofcourse she had _always_ loved him.

That's why she kept a secret as this only for him to find out and answer.

Well, he wouldn't have figured it out all by himself if it wasn't for Hermione.

 _Hermione._

Draco's eyes lit as he was reminded again of their timeframe.

He slowly knelt before the drawer's ancient and intricately designed structure.

He stared at it and touched its metal handle and tugged.

It didn't open ofcourse.

He tugged several more times over the snake-like figure of the handle.

Nothing happened.

He knew he was wasting time.

Snape needed him.

Hermione needed him.

Draco felt slightly nervous for some reason.

Their lives suddenly seemed to depend upon him.

Finally, the answers they had been looking for – the answers that would eventually save his godfather in the hands of the Dementors at Azkaban.

The answer to everything that has been in that cottage.

His hand was slightly shaking as he took out his wand.

He drew his breath and whispered, " _Alohamora."_

He sighed heavily and nervously touched the handle and pulled.

Nothing happened.

He pulled again.

It was still locked.

"Alohamora!" he called a little louder and tugged.

There was no click.

It remained locked.

 _"_ _Alohamora!"_ Draco said now slightly impatiently.

Nothing still.

It was completely locked.

He sighed heavily, breathing fast and brain running fast.

He was thinking – _thinking hard_.

Could his mother use something else to keep this lock and closed?

"Think, think." Draco told himself his eyes running around the lock and the drawer for something that might inspire his head.

He was tugging and pulling but there was nothing.

He pulled several more times to the point of marking his hand painfully.

Nothing.

He pointed his wand and tried several other spells and even two dark spells.

He was growing impatient as sweat flooded his head.

"Damn it." Draco muttered tugging again. "Fuck. Fuck it."

His brain was working triple time.

What could be the spell or enchantment to be casted to open it?

Was it _that_ important – whatever Narcissa kept there – was it worth all this wards and enchantments?

He sighed heavily and stood up.

He wildly looked around the room looking for inspirations.

He tried to shake his brains all over on something – anything – that may be the sort of spell or password.

There was seemingly _nothing._

Narcissa had favourites but this didn't make sense.

Narcissa wouldn't put or cast a protective and secret charm on something that will easily break.

It has to have something to do with her that barely anyone knows about.

Something only she knew about.

Or something very few people knew about.

"Fuck." Draco angrily said kicking the drawer so hard that it pained the tip of his foot and a small dragon and snake figurine toppled from it.

It broke into half and Draco's eyes widened in sudden fear and anguish.

"Seriously!" Draco angrily spat bending over and picking up the broken piece.

It was made of a glass-like figure of a dragon and a snake entwined together.

He remembered that her mother had bought it for him from a trip in Scotland where stories of dragons were quite known.

He stared at the now broken glass and figure.

It was one of her mother's precious gifts to him that he had abandoned in his room and growing up years that her mother finally decided to take it back and keep inside her office.

He stared at it almost tearful and unknowing what to do.

The glass figure of the dragon and snake used to be shimmery and very beautiful and now it was gone.

He missed his mother so much.

Draco was at the verge of tears until something suddenly hit him.

"Fuck." Draco said realizing something.

It was so sudden that he felt his head spin and his heart race again.

"Fuck. Fuck. Damn it. So stupid."

Draco quickly let go of the figure and returned to the drawer.

He pointed his wand back at it with his heart thumping very fast.

It was worth a try.

He held his breath and pointed directly at the handle.

 _"_ _Draco Dormiens."_ Draco quietly whispered.

He waited in batted breath.

There was a _click._

There was the sound of the _unlocking_ drawer.

He was gaping for a few moments at it and realized that it actually opened up.

His heart was thumping as he held the handle.

Draco slowly pulled up the drawer to reveal the caved inside of it that had been locked for so long and had been kept from him for many years that has been.

He pulled it fully open with his other hand and pointed the tip of his lit wand over the drawer to see its contents with his heart thumping and jumping fast.

Finally the answer.

And as the wand's tip lit the inside of the drawer, Draco's brows furrowed at the sudden realization.

The drawer had been sacredly kept and warded carefully, protectively.

It was very obvious at the way it was locked and the only way to open it.

But as he draw his beautiful eyes beneath the gleaming wand's tip he saw nothing but darkness.

He already knew something was amiss before he could even fully pull open the drawer.

The drawer that he had hoped against hope to have all the answers had nothing.

Draco pulled it open.

The inside of the drawer was completely _empty._


	51. Chapter 51

**_Chapter Fifty One_**

 ** _Somewhere Safe_**

 _"_ _Aguamenti!"_

 _The jet of water exploded from the tip of his wand together with a purplish light that came from the secondary spell he kept muttering nonstop under his breath as they pelted forward the ground from their uncontrollable fall from the darkened London sky._

 _Snape's other hand continuously waved his wand as he manipulated the air and water produced from his wand to ensure a safe and protected landing ground from their free fall from the sky._

 _His other hand was barely grasping Hermione by the waist as he tried to control their unbreakable fall._

 _The split moment he had used his magic to form a magical rope to immediately catch Harry and Hermione the very moment they were hit by a strong spell cost him his control of his own broom and the chance to fully protect the two of them the moment they got separated from their broom and from one another._

 _He had managed to engulf Harry into a secure and protective spell to ensure that the impact of his fall would not kill him nor severely damage his already unconscious form._

 _But the moment he prioritized Harry's life, he had lost time and had not managed to secure another spell for Hermione thus, forcing him to halfway abandon his own damaged broomstick from an attack from the Order's side to literally catch her from their inevitable skyfall._

 _He tried to save the both of them but with the anti-Apparition spells that the Death Eaters secured in the airborne area and perimeter of the attack, he knew the idea was quite futile and therefore he would have to resort into another way of securing protection to the pair of them the moment the Death Eaters signaled to attack._

 _Just a few seconds and feet from the waters of London, he managed to grabbed Hermione fully around the waist and had broken free from the perimeter of the anti-Apparition spell._

 _He grabbed her and fully covered her unconscious form and twisted their formation to ensure that it would be him to catch the full force of their impact to the water to evade the possibility of breaking any of Hermione's bones by the impact._

 _The sharp impact of their fall through the waters disabled him to fully comprehend and estimate their dangerous landing that they pelted deeper into the waters without much control._

 _Blinded by the darkness of the waters and severely coughing from the ice-like water, Snape had to move through and around using nothing but his instincts and his mind to fully focus on only two things:_

 _To not let his wand slip from his grasp._

 _To not let Hermione breakaway from his grasp._

 _Kicking and moving through the waters, he tried to steady the both of them through the crashing waves trying to swallow and drown them._

 _Knowing he was going to pass out soon enough and the knowledge that he couldn't possibly float them back to the surface in fear of being seen, Snape had to painfully force himself to use magic beneath the shuddering cold waters._

 _Snape breathed through his nose and opened with a non-verbal use of magic, it took him great effort to manage Dispparating them from beneath the waters to bring Hermione and himself back to a safer location thinking of nothing else but saving her life._

 _The familiar tug and pull of the Apparition charm took place and in his struggling and dazed form, he felt the strong pull and the next thing he knew they both landed painfully on soft ground._

 _Sands._

 _He landed painfully facedown while Hermione landed next to him on her back in an almost disfigured angle._

 _They landed by some old gates whereas a small and lone cottage stood a few feet from them._

 _The one and only little place he could think of at the very moment he had to decide take her away and bring her somewhere safe._

 _He had his wand in his other hand while the other was holding Hermione by the forearm._

 _"_ _Hermione.." he gasped coughing out both water and sand from his mouth._

 _He tugged his hand around her but there was absolutely no movement._

 _She was unmoving._

 _It alarmed him but he could barely move himself._

 _Visions still blurred, head still with a twinge of pain and whole body heavy and sore, he forced to crawl nearer her to feel her pulse._

 _"_ _Hermione.." Snape whispered again tugging around her arm._

 _She remained still._

 _Gasping, he forced himself to get up as he fretted around both her arms for pulse._

 _There was the slightest and smallest hint of a pulse._

 _It was barely there, but it was still there._

 _He looked down at her form._

 _She was soaking deeply from their cash, whole body pale and cold and he could see a trail of blood._

 _Ofcourse it worried him upon seeing that she was thoroughly hit by the attack._

 _But as he fretted around the sands for his wand to close her possible wound he stopped in mid-action upon seeing something else._

 _Something more horrible than what he and the whole Order of the Phoenix endured tonight at the ambush of Harry Potter's transfer._

 _There were losses in the Death Eater's ranks but nothing was comparable to the possible loss of the Order that he had witnessed and took part of tonight._

 _He knew that they know he was part of the army that ambushed them and he knew that at this very moment, they may already be mourning at the loss of their number._

 _And their loss is heavier because they weren't just 'one another' – they were friends, they were family for each other._

 _But it was none of these truths horrified him as much._

 _Not even the fact that despite he had secured Harry Potter's landing he knew that his fall might still have damaged the boy._

 _Not even the fact that he had to trouble himself the following day how he was going to bring back Hermione Granger to the Order._

 _Not even the fact that he had to quickly report at the Malfoy Manor with having to abandon Hermione Granger there at his point of Apparition._

 _No, it was the horrible, horrible fact that something dark and almost insidious was now slowly taking the life of Hermione Granger._

 _It wasn't just the spell nor the impact of their fall that kept Hermione bleeding and unconscious._

 _But it was the very familiar dark object that was glimmering before him._

 _He had seen it before._

 _A silver and emerald stone plated double-edged dagger was struck deeply at Hermione's side._

 _It wasn't deep enough to cause instant death but it was struck deep enough to cause severe harm by slow death._

 _It was struck so perfectly – just at the side to ensure the slow death but too close to her internal organs that one wrong move in an attempt to remove it, will surely cut out her life support._

 _There was only one person in the Dark Lord's ranks that could do such a strategic move._

 _Bellatrix Lestrange._

 _But it wasn't the way it was embedded in Hermione nor the mere fact that it was a dark object she had used that troubled and horrified him at that very moment._

 _It was the dagger's design._

 _It was a well-structured design - it was well planned – it could be taken out to save the life of the bearer but in doing so, the savior would have to hold it in a particular way and angle that will not only make him suffer its danger – but could also kill the very person who would take the futile attempt of saving Hermione Granger's life._

A twinge of hopelessness passed through Snape as Draco arrived an hour later to tell him the news.

The key was not found

It was nowhere to be found.

And in the place where he had expected it to be, it wasn't there.

But there was one thing that was for sure – the key had existed and somehow they both felt and knew that it had been kept in the very drawer that Draco thought it would be.

 _"_ _Little Dragon_ " as she would also refer to him. ' _Draco Dormiens'_ was a secret deviation they had.

He was her little child – precious but fierce in the heart and flesh.

"Your mother wouldn't have kept that password for only you to understand and find if it wasn't there – or anything that important."

"But it could be random." Draco suggested knowing he believed otherwise.

They sat across one another in the visitor's room in the midst of the night.

Despite that visiting hours had been far from over, Draco had sought permission to his uncle to be able to talk to Snape.

Time was of the essence as they both knew and understood.

"We both know and understand that your mother had never been merely random about anything."

Draco didn't say anything and couldn't agree more.

"Your mother had always been steps ahead." Snape commented dryly.

Draco knew he was very right.

He had found out upon the claim of his inheritance that Narcissa, as a Black, owned certain accounts, lands and properties and even businesses that the Malfoys never knew about.

All these had come down to her will and testament to be given solely to Draco Malfoy.

She was rich beyond tenfold of a lifetime.

"But where is it?" Draco asked him. "Where could it be?"

"I have no idea, Draco." Snape answered him.

He didn't like it.

The sound of his voice spelled nothing but bare hopelessness.

His case was a losing one but Draco didn't really need it repeated at his very face.

He wanted to save his life.

He wanted to do something good – even just one good – in the whole of his life.

"It could be anywhere." Draco said thinking hard. "It's not at Gringotts and definitely not at the manor. Should I check Grimmauld Place?"

"The place is inhabited by Potter's magic as it had been passed onto him."

"But I'm a Black." Draco interjected. "I have rights to it that Potter only has because of his godfather's words."

"It's useless, Draco." Snape said. "We both know that Narcissa wouldn't keep it there – he wouldn't place it laying around to be found by Order members or anyone. I would assume she would keep it somewhere safe."

"But it's not at the manor." Draco repeated almost impatiently. "It's not there! And it's the only place I could think of where she'd presume safe to keep and protect something like it."

Snape was silent.

Draco was quite right.

There was no way they would find the diary in time.

The verdict was to be given very soon and he will definitely run out of time by then.

He would definitely die sooner or later anyway.

If he gets out, Potter was likely to kill him with his own bare hands.

If he stays, Dementors were going to savor the moment they would kiss him.

It was after all, a matter of perspective.

"Draco." Snape quietly said. "I think we may have to consider the fact that I cannot be save. I know you've done your best-"

"I'm not giving up!" Draco banged his fist over the table.

His eyes were gleaming in anger.

Snape didn't say anything in his utmost surprise.

"Draco, please-"

"NO!" Draco yelled at him. "I'm trying to think, alright?!"

Snape stood stunned at him.

He seemed to have felt the same thing as he quickly moved and looked away from him.

"I'm sorry." Draco said. "I didn't mean to shout."

"I understand you."

"You don't" Draco said. "I need to get this right. There's something.. something I'm not seeing correctly. Something is amiss. We can't lose hope. Not now."

"Draco, there is nowhere else that your mother would keep that diary."

"No, it has to be out there somewhere." Draco said. "She wouldn't have just burned it or anything. She may have transferred its location from her drawer knowing it wouldn't be safe at the manor."

"Draco."

"No, come on, help me think."

Snape stared at his own godson.

He has never seen him that determined and broken at the same time.

"Draco, we must consider reality by now." Snape whispered. "I know you've done your best. I know you're only trying to protect me from the-"

"It must be a place that is protected." Draco said not listening to him. "Somewhere secret, safe and well-protected. She must have transferred and kept it in a secret place where only she would find or someone else - just an individual or so. She wouldn't keep it lying around. It must be somewhere safe and secure. Somewhere that barely anyone would be. Can you think of such a place?"

"Draco-"

"No, I ask you." Draco sharply said.

He halfway looked mad from desperation and lack of sleep and stress due.

"No." Snape answered him. "I cannot think of such a place."

There was silence between them.

 _Somewhere secret and safe._

 _Somewhere well-protected._

 _Somewhere that barely anyone would be._

"There must be something." Draco's voice came again in between their desperate silence. "There must be somewhere."

"Draco. If I know of a place from which is in existence this diary may be found, then I would have told you by now."

"It can't go down this way." Draco said unable to accept defeat.

He looked at his godfather in the eye, begging him to try with him – to take chance in the every ounce of second they still had left to save his life.

"You've known her most of your life together." Draco said searching his eyes. "There must be somewhere that she goes to from which no one else does. Somewhere, some place that only she must know about."

"Draco, as I've said, there is no such-" Snape stopped.

"What is it?" Draco asked him.

Snape blinked and quickly edged away from him but Draco was fast enough.

He grabbed him by the arm and steadied him near him.

"What is it?"

"Nothing." Snape quickly said.

"No, you're lying." Draco said. _"Where is it?"_

He was insistent.

And his eyes almost condemned him.

He was beyond determined to save his life.

Snape knew the consequences of the truth that may come out.

Draco could already smell the fear coming out from his breath.

But that would also mean one thing – revealing the very place and location he describes the diary to be found.

A certain somewhere, a certain place for which only Narcissa Black Malfoy knew about.

Ofcourse that was in existence.

Draco grasped his arm harder and unwilling to let go of his gaze he asked again.

"You know a place. Tell me. You have to tell me." his voice was low and serious. _"Where is it?"_

Ofcourse there was that one place that only she knew about.

That one place she had been in a considerable amount of time.

 _That one little somewhere safe place._

Ofcourse there was that one place for she held secret in her heart that she has taken with her to the grave.

Ofcourse there was that one place which only Narcissa knew and visited from which no other soul in the outside world knew about for so many years.


	52. Chapter 52

**_Chapter Fifty Two_**

 ** _"An Unforgivable Curse"_**

 _"_ _You are late, Severus."_

 _Snape continued walking forward the room with his head down in apology._

 _The other Death Eaters were all staring at his direction as he entered the large dining hall of the manor where the meeting was taking place._

 _Everyone was present._

 _The Malfoys sat at another side of the table while Bellatrix was tending to Rodolphus in their seat next to the Dark Lord._

 _One glance around the room was enough to tell him that they weren't done yet into tending to the injuries they procured from the ambush but they were summoned to this hall._

 _He quietly took his usual seat in the long table and was very aware that all eyes were on him._

 _He tried his best to avoid Narcissa's scrutinizing glare._

 _"_ _My apologies, my lord." Snape quietly said. "I had to tend to something."_

 _"_ _Tend to something?" his icy tone whispered. "Can you clarify for the whole room to hear?"_

 _"_ _I was taken into pursuit, my lord." Snape said "I had to deal with it by ensuring I wasn't followed."_

 _"_ _Deal with it?" he slowly asked him. "Do you mean you didn't kill these people who tried to take you down?"_

 _"_ _No, my lord." Snape answered in a straightforward manner. "I didn't engage in battle in order to escape faster."_

 _"_ _And yet you are late."_

 _The Dark Lord's voice gave chills in the whole room._

 _The silence in between was unnerving._

 _Bellatrix seemed the only one pleased with what was happening._

 _"_ _A slight injury, my lord." Snape said holding out his other hand and showing his palm up._

 _Bloodstained bandages covered his other hand_

 _"_ _I apologize for my delay, my lord." Snape said bowing down. "In my haste to escape and not engage myself into crossfire I was hit. I needed to tend to my hand immediately in fear of causing damage to it. I'm quite sure you know the importance of my hand for all the potions you would need me to procure."_

 _The Dark Lord didn't say anything._

 _He was staring at Snape as if calculating any lies or deceit from his words._

 _He saw none._

 _They heard him sighed heavily, ready to dismiss the situation at hand when Bellatrix spoke._

 _"_ _Show us your wand."_

 _It was barely a whisper._

 _Everyone slowly stared from Bellatrix to Snape and back to the Dark Lord who looked back at Bellatrix with uncertain eyes._

 _"_ _My wand?" Snape asked her with a raised brow._

 _"_ _Your wand, Snape." Bellatrix said spitefully. "The Dark Lord would wish to see your wand to see the last spell you might have casted. Isn't that so, my lord?"_

 _Her voice was sweet and laced with poison._

 _Snape didn't move nor did he say anything._

 _He tried his best not to blink as he looked back at the Dark Lord while everyone at the room waited for him to surrender his wand._

 _Bellatrix seemed the only person in the room who was very amused of the situation._

 _"_ _My lord?"_

 _"_ _I wish to see your wand, Severus." The Dark Lord whispered slowly lifting his arm and opening it palm up towards Snape._

 _He didn't move a muscle._

 _He kept his eyes and expression passive._

 _A sideway glance towards Narcissa who was looking back at him unblinkingly made Voldemort move his head a little sideways._

 _"_ _Is there a problem upon my request?" he slowly asked him._

 _Bellatrix smirked and slowly walked towards the side where Snape sat._

 _They stared and waited for Snape to surrender his wand across the table._

 _Bellatrix stopped and sat over the table in between Snape and Amycus._

 _She kicked Amycus aside so she can sit better on the table and smiled down at Snape opening her hand up towards him._

 _"_ _Your wand, Sevy." Bellatrix silkily said. "I'm going to hand it over."_

 _Snape gritted his teeth but he tried to remain passive._

 _He pushed his chair backward with the little most sound as possible and took his wand out._

 _He walked silently towards the head of the table and stopped in front of Voldemort._

 _"_ _My lord. As you wish." Snape whispered handing over his wand towards him._

 _Voldemort stared up at him with the same passive expression._

 _He was quiet and observant and there was a hint and tinge of surprise in his eyes that quickly vanished as it had come._

 _He slowly took the wand from Snape who took a few steps back and bowed down the moment he had his wand in his hand._

 _The room waited in batted breath._

 _"_ _My lord-"_

 _"_ _Quiet, Narcissa." the Darl Lord hissed at her without taking his eyes off from the wand._

 _He was holding it gently, staring closely at it as if feeling the magic within it._

 _"_ _It's been used recently." The Dark Lord commented. "Not very far long."_

 _"_ _Yes, my lord." Snape simply said knowing he meant that it had been used not for his Apparition towards the manor but for something else._

 _"_ _My lord." Bellatrix began. "Do you wish me to check which spell had been-"_

 _"_ _Silence, Bella." The Dark Lord said eyeing her venomously before returning his gaze back to the wand._

 _He gave Snape a glare before holding it out in front for the whole table to see._

 _"_ _Priori Incantatem." The Dark Lord whispered softly without taking his eyes off Snape's wand._

 _A jet of light shot out of the wand to slowly reveal what were the last spells that had been casted upon his wand._

 _Bellatrix's eyes were gleaming in excitement._

 _Narcissa was holding back her breath._

 _Draco was unmoving as he waited in silence like his father who stared with such fear in their eyes._

 _Snape remained unmoving as he stood near the Dark Lord, staring like everyone else at the lights that were shooting out of the tip of his wand._

 _The first spell that came out was the spell he casted to arrive safely back at the manor._

 _The second spell that came out was something that was to close severe wounds._

 _The Dark Lord's eyes momentarily glanced down upon his palm that was bandaged._

 _They waited with batted breath._

 _Only Bellatrix were creating unnecessary movements as she excitedly stared at the wand._

 _"_ _My lord-"_

 _"_ _I said, silence Bella."_

 _Another jet of light shot out from the wand._

 _It was another Apparition spell._

 _Narcissa's eyes shot up towards Snape but he remained his passive expression._

 _Another light and this time it revealed that he had used Aquamenti and a dark spell to control the wind._

 _Another light and it revealed a spell that was meant to create something that resembled of a rope._

 _Another light and it was his Sectumsempra._

 _Another spell revealed the Disarming Charm, Expelliarmus._

 _A few other spells followed that were nothing but Shield Charms and random spells that weren't really anything that harmful._

 _The last two spells were then revealed – one was the Anti-Apparition Charm the Death Eaters strongly casted in a specific location and perimeter and the very last one was the one the Dark Lord has commanded them to create and cast together to Apparate at the location point from which Harry Potter and the Order were to pass through._

 _The lights slowly diminished and nothing but the two fireplace's that were ignited lit the room._

 _The silence was unnerving but Snape remained silent and still._

 _He waited just like the rest of the Death Eaters in the room for the Dark Lord's judgment upon what they have witnessed._

 _"_ _Oooooh…Someone's in trouble." Bellatrix lazily said with a gleam in her eyes._

 _Snape ignored her while Narcissa kept her eyes firm back at Snape with her hands clenched tightly together beneath the table._

 _"_ _Bella." The Dark Lord warningly said without taking his eyes now from Snape._

 _"_ _I'm sorry, my lord." Bellatrix whispered in cowardice although she was smirking at Snape's direction._

 _"_ _Severus." The Dark Lord breathed out._

 _"_ _My lord?" he slowly asked with a slight bow as he was handed back his wand._

 _"_ _Would you care.." the Dark Lord's voice was filled with cold malice. "To explain the certain spells that you have casted – without my order?"_

 _"_ _Yes, my lord." Snape answered without a pause, without a second thought._

 _His eyes caught Narcissa's for a very brief moment before glancing away._

 _"_ _You have casted three spells to reappear in certain places." The Dark Lord slowly said. "I remember asking only two as the plan was from the manor to the location and back. Was I wrong to count?"_

 _"_ _No, my lord." Snape replied with another bow. "I went to Spinner's End. My home."_

 _"_ _Spinner's End?" he slowly repeated. "Such sentiment of yours to return when you are under a mission for me? Am I being neglected or taken into a secondary priority?"_

 _"_ _No, my lord." Snape quickly said raising his arm to him and showing his bandaged arm. "I had to tend to my wound. I apologize for the haste I have done and for seemingly being neglectful of my duty."_

 _"_ _Could you not have done it here at the manor?"_

 _"_ _I couldn't, my lord." Snape answered. "I needed to drink a potion that will aid to make its healing process quite fast. I cannot remain weak at your service. The ingredient is in my laboratory at home. I deeply and humbly apologize-"_

 _"_ _Why did you cast such peculiar charm as Aguamenti?" the Dark Lord cut him off._

 _The tip of Voldemort's wand shot out water that quickly turned into a gigantic snake._

 _It raised and swirled around them all without drenching anyone._

 _The Death Eaters gasped in both fear and awe as the gigantic snake stared down upon them as if choosing which head to take first._

 _"_ _He was controlling a downward impact." Bellatrix quickly answered for him. "The purple light, my lord. He casted it with that charm to manipulate the air – to control something that was falling without direction and in great and uncontrollable velocity."_

 _"_ _Thank you, Bella." Snape said in gritted teeth eyeing her for a moment before turning the Voldemort again_

 _"_ _Severus?"_

 _"_ _Bellatrix's theory is correct, my lord." he admitted. "I've indeed used both spells together I have been hit and I had lost control of my broom."_

 _Snape took a sideway glance at Narcissa who was breathing in a heavy pattern._

 _Although upon his answer, he could swear that she had closed her eyes momentarily as if she had passed something of great difficulty and was able to breathe again._

 _"_ _And your Sectumsempra?" he slowly asked him then._

 _Snape vaguely recalled why he casted it – he meant to the Death Eater tailing the Order but one of the Weasleys had created a swerve and he was almost so sure that he had hit the side of George Weasley's head._

 _"_ _For one of the blood traitors, my lord." Snape quietly answered. "He was getting in the path of my flying."_

 _The Dark Lord was quiet, seemingly calculating all the spells he had created and if he has castigated all of it already and extracted the answer he wanted._

 _"_ _My lord, is there a certain answer you seek of me?" Snape slowly ask._

 _It was too bold, too brave for him to ask that as it resembled something that of a death wish._

 _"_ _I seem to notice all the rest of the spells you have casted are – ones that mean no harm?"_

 _"_ _My lord?"_

 _"_ _A Shield Charm?" he slowly asked. "Disarming Spell? Severus, I was looking and expecting something that were under the category of the Unforgivable Curses."_

 _"_ _My lord-"_

 _"_ _Tell me, Severus as you are the professor in this room." Voldemort's voice was so soft that barely anyone could hear him clearly._

 _"_ _My lord?"_

 _"_ _Did the Unforgivable Curses not suffice for the needs of the ambush?" he slowly asked Snape. "They seemed to have been neglected by your skills and comprehension. Tell me, was casting one of those spells too hard for you? Do I smell weakness there?"_

 _"_ _No, my lord." Snape answered him._

 _He could almost smell Bellatrix's anticipation for him to make one wrong move, just one mistake at that very moment that will absolutely bring him down._

 _"_ _I would have love to cast these spells, my lord." Snape began as his eyes settled towards Bellatrix. "But you see, your great lieutenant here have been mercilessly and carelessly casting them all over the place that she could have killed even one of us."_

 _"_ _Why you little-"_

 _"_ _I was merely trying to take good measure into not adding up to her careless actions to avoid killing one of us."_

 _Bellatrix's eyes flashed in anger and she turned to the Dark Lord who was now staring closely at her._

 _"_ _Is this true, Bella?" the Dark Lord asked her. "You have been casting these spells carelessly?"_

 _"_ _My lord, let me explain myself-" Bellatrix shrieked immediately. "I have been-"_

 _"_ _Did you not think you could harm one of us?" he slowly asked her. "Do I safely presume that you disregard my army and care not if you kill one of them?"_

 _Snape smirked but he remained silent._

 _The colour from Bellatrix's face slowly faded._

 _She was at loss for words as most of the Death Eaters at the table – who were present at the ambush – have been there to witness how she ran amok casting these spells as Snape had relayed just now._

 _"_ _Bella?" the Dark Lord softly whispered._

 _Bellatrix coward in her chair, her lips slightly trembling and her face fuming in both anger and fear._

 _"_ _My lord – I was merely taking – good – good measures as well. I was ensuring that-"_

 _"_ _So Severus is correct?" the Dark Lord said. "You have been careless – shouting spells without aim, without plan – without thoughts?"_

 _Bellatrix looked like she was at the verge of crying._

 _She glanced sideways at her sister who didn't even look up at her for supports._

 _Her eyes roamed the table, seeking for someone to back her up, to tolerate her neglect and her careless actions._

 _Everyone saw how she had aimed spells after another, aimlessly aiming it towards anyone who got in the path of her flying._

 _"_ _My lord – I was - please, it was – I was only trying-"_

 _"_ _Silence, Bella!" The Dark Lord dangerously said._

 _His eyes were slits at her._

 _Snape was silent but deep inside he was beyond glad that he had made his point clear._

 _But Bellatrix wouldn't be stopped._

 _"_ _He used another spell!" Bellatrix shouted at the table standing up and pointing her long fingers at Snape._

 _Everyone stared at her then back at Snape and back._

 _"_ _I saw him cast those ropes!" Bellatrix shrieked wildly. "I saw something come out of his wand! Those ropes! He tried to use them for something! He was trying to save one of them!"_

 _Snape didn't move nor did he say anything but a slight twitch in his lips had passed._

 _The Dark Lord slowly turned to him, waiting for him to defend himself on this one._

 _"_ _Severus." Voldemort quietly said. "I want to hear your defense on this one."_

 _Snape was silent._

 _He was not quite prepared for the one._

 _He didn't think that Bellatrix nor anyone would have seen that spell._

 _It was careless but he had to use it to ensure that Potter and Granger would survive the first few hits._

 _He had not been thinking by then – he was acting on instinct._

 _"_ _My lord-"_

 _"_ _I saw him!" Bellatrix said pointing wildly at him. "He directed it towards Potter's direction! He was trying to save the boy! He is still on their side! He is trying-"_

 _"_ _Silence, Bella!"_

 _Everyone stared._

 _It wasn't Voldemort._

 _It was Narcissa._

 _She had stood up and was staring vindictively at her own sister._

 _"_ _Narcissa-" Lucius whispered trying to hold her by the arm._

 _She shoved his hand away and bowed to the Dark Lord._

 _"_ _My apologies, my lord." Narcissa said. "I would have to vouch for Severus on this one. I have taught him that maneuver."_

 _"_ _You taught him to save the boy?" Bellatrix angrily mocked her._

 _Voldemort stared at the quarreling sisters._

 _Narcissa ignored Bellatrix._

 _"_ _Your point, Narcissa?" Voldemort slowly said now interested in her._

 _"_ _The maneuver is indeed to save someone's life. I was the one who taught him that airborne spell."_

 _"_ _You taught him to save the boy?" the Dark Lord quietly asked her._

 _Narcissa was silent for a long time._

 _"_ _I did, my lord." Narcissa said. "I have constantly reminded him the way I've always reminded Bella and Lucius not to get overemotional over missions for you, my lord."_

 _"_ _I am not emotional!" Bellatrix angrily yelled at her own sister._

 _Her eyes were wide and nose flaring as she stared at Narcissa._

 _"_ _Elaborate." The Dark Lord said with his eyes glinting now at Bellatrix and Narcissa._

 _"_ _Your order was to ambush the lot. Kill as much as they can in order to take down and take the boy. You have never ordered to kill the boy." Narcissa explained in full confidence._

 _The room was silent as the Dark Lord kept his face passive as he stared at Narcissa._

 _"_ _Bellatrix attacked them." Snape suddenly said. "Potter had fallen off his broom."_

 _"_ _If Severus did not use the maneuver my lord," Narcissa continued. "Potter would have been dead by now. Taking away the glory and chance for you to kill him. Severus had only been agile to follow all of your orders even under the greatest pressure during a mission."_

 _"_ _Am I to understand that Severus evaded the boy to die by use of the maneuver?"_

 _"_ _Yes, my lord." Narcissa replied. "So he could be saved. So he could live. So you can have the glory of killing the boy yourself."_

 _The Dark Lord was staring at the pair of them._

 _He was staring at Snape and then back at Narcissa._

 _Obviously thinking, thinking hard on whom to believe – the wife of the Death Eater who has lost his trust or his most loyal lieutenant who was as demented as anyone he had ever known._

 _"_ _Are you willing to lay your life down Narcissa for this statement should it be found false?"_

 _Snape's black eyes slowly turned to Narcissa as if begging her to say no._

 _"_ _Yes, my lord." Narcissa said. "I have known Severus long enough to know and understand that he had always – always will be – loyal to you and your cause. He will never betray you."_

 _"_ _This coming from a wife of the Death Eater who has lost me something so great?"_

 _Lucius shifted uncomfortably in his seat._

 _He has never been forgiven then._

 _"_ _I speak as the mother who had a son who would have done anything to complete the mission of killing Albus Dumbledore."_

 _The Dark Lord's eyes settled on Draco._

 _He had known the boy's intention and the works he had done to accomplish the mission._

 _He had been delighted by what Draco had tried so hard to achieve despite that it was supposedly a punishment for Lucius._

 _The Dark Lord slowly nodded._

 _"_ _I believe your statement, Severus." The Dark Lord said eyeing Bellatrix as she opened her mouth to react. "And I believe in what Narcissa says."_

 _"_ _My lord, they're lying!" Bellatrix angrily said. "Cissy – don't you – how dare you-"_

 _"_ _I want silence, Bella!" Voldemort said pointing at Bellatrix._

 _Something deep and dark suddenly engulfed her throat._

 _She clutched over her neck as an invisible something seemed to be choking her._

 _Snape didn't say anything as they all stared at Belaltrix's choking figure._

 _Narcissa tried her best not to react upon seeing the colour fade from Bellatrix's face._

 _"_ _I'm sorry – I'm sorry – my lord-" Bellatrix begged as she gasped for air._

 _Voldemort lowered his hand and Bellatrix's breathing returned._

 _She stumbled across the table and fell backward onto the floor._

 _He eyed the table daring anyone to help her._

 _Nobody did._

 _Not even Narcissa nor Rodolphus._

 _"_ _Severus. I will not tolerate betrayal. Do you understand?"_

 _"_ _I understand my lord." Snape answered him with a bow. "I humbly thank you for your understanding of my decisions at the ambush."_

 _There was a long silence._

 _Across the table as the Dark Lord began instructing them in regards of another plan, Narcissa and Snape were quietly eyeing one another._

 _No words nor explanation were needed._

 _They knew one another beyond anyone else knew one another at the table._

 _Snape didn't need to know the answer to questions burning inside him._

 _For all he knew, Narcissa was someone he trusted beyond anyone at the moment._

 _He wasn't sure of his motives but he was sure of one thing – she had, despite not knowing why, just saved his life._

 _"_ _I had just saved your life." Snape spat as he continued to change the bandages around Hermione's leg._

 _It had been only a few days or two weeks – he was no longer sure – since the ambush._

 _He had been bestowed by something he didn't want._

 _"_ _I'm grateful." Hermione answered coldly. "But I'd like to go back, if you please."_

 _She was staring down at her professor with her nose flaring in anger._

 _He had been insistent in keeping her inside the cottage, inside the guilded cage._

 _She didn't understand._

 _Neither of them did._

 _Why she was healing but not quite fast enough._

 _Something was wrong._

 _Something terrible was wrong._

 _"_ _I'm not going to join this nonsense argument again." Snape merely answered as he pulled another set of bandages and began rolling it patiently and carefully around her leg._

 _Despite his cold and harsh words and way of saying them, he had been patient and gentle into tending to her wounds._

 _"_ _I want to go back." Hermione demanded this time. "I want to go back to Harry and the others."_

 _"_ _I already explained your situation." Snape spat bitterly grabbing another set of bandages and placing it by her side._

 _"_ _I want to write a letter then." Hermione carried on. "I want a parchment and a quill."_

 _"_ _Miss Granger." Snape impatiently said this time as he finished tightening the bandage around her other wounds. "I already explained this to you. You are weak, wounded – transferring you isn't that easy – do you know how many locations and perimeters are being closely watched by the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters?"_

 _"_ _I wouldn't." Hermione angrily said. "But I'm sure you would."_

 _Snape's eyes flashed at her._

 _She folded her arms across her chest and looked away from him._

 _She didn't want him to see the guilt in her eyes as she said those words._

 _They may or may be not true, but she was angry at him and she didn't care any longer of the words that came out of her mouth._

 _She wanted to go back._

 _That was all that was important for her._

 _"_ _What you're asking is impossible." Snape firmly said. "If I had a way, you would be gone by now. Do you really think I'd like to babysit you little twat?"_

 _He stood up and moved and turned away from her which only angered Hermione even more._

 _"_ _I want a newspaper then!" she screamed at him. "I want to see news of what's happening out there-"_

 _"_ _You know that news out there are no longer the same – they are all lies now – they are cover ups-"_

 _"_ _I don't care!" Hermione angrily said grabbing a bandage. "I want news of them!"_

 _Snape ignored her as he cleared up the things he used to tend to her wounds._

 _He turned away from her._

 _"_ _I want my wand back – I know you have it!" Hermione said but Snape ignored her._

 _She grabbed one of the fallen bandages and threw it right behind his back._

 _"_ _I'm talking to you!" Hermione angrily yelled at him._

 _Snape quickly turned back to her and raised his hand up in the air with the bandage she had just thrown at him._

 _Hermione closed her eyes and coward at the sight of him looming angry over her and ready to strike._

 _Snape stared down at her, shaking in anger and eyes glinting dangerously._

 _"_ _Foolish girl." Snape spat at her throwing the large roll of bandage back at her side._

 _Hermione slowly opened her eyes and looked up at him._

 _"_ _Change the bandage around your ribcage. That hasn't been changed for eight hours since you were sleeping."_

 _And then with that, he turned and walked away from her leaving her alone in the cage and out of sight._

 _Hermione's tears welled up in her eyes as she slowly reached for the bandage._

 _He had been patiently healing her, tending to her needs and her wounds and had made actual effort to ensure she was fed and kept well._

 _He had changed all the bandages around her except for areas from which he knew she would have to take her clothes off – he was still a gentleman despite of how he had been treating her._

 _But these weren't enough to comfort her._

 _She needed to see the others._

 _She desperately wanted to go back to Harry._

 _She wasn't going to be fully well until she finds out where they were and what was happening out there into the world._

 _She swore that she wasn't going to stay long there._

 _That she'd heal herself up fast and get her full strength back._

 _For with or without her wand, she was goddamn getting out of the place and get back to the war to help Harry and the others save the world from the Dark Lord and his band of Death Eaters._

It was very late in the evening already when Kingsley had to stay behind in his office because Harry requested for him to stay and wait for him.

Ofcourse he stayed and he waited.

It was Harry Potter's request.

They had been friends for as long as he could remember and he mourned with all the pain and losses the boy had endured before his eyes.

But he couldn't remain deaf ears into the things that he was hearing about the boy.

He knew of the boy's hatred towards the Malfoys and their manipulation of their power back in the years but at the moment, he was hearing otherwise of him.

He had been using his name and power to attain certain favors and privileges.

He couldn't help but think that he had been under one as he was still in the Minister's office by one that morning.

He looked up as the door slowly opened and Harry entered.

He was carrying a large paper bag.

"Come in, Harry." Kingsley said walking from behind his table and ushering him towards the large carpeted sofa place he had in his office.

Harry smiled and entered with the bags.

"Thought I'd bring you something to eat after working late."

"You didn't need to. I am heading home after our meeting."

Kingsley watched as Harry took out two large packages of what looked like expensive Italian food.

He also took out two large bottles of expensive whiskey.

"I cannot drink at working hours, Harry." Kingsley said as Harry summoned two goblets and began opening the first bottle.

"Foolish." Harry simply said as he continued to open the bottle. "You're tired today and I'm here asking you to stay because this is the only time I could possibly have and-"

Harry stopped.

Kingsley pressed a gentle hand over his that was struggling to open the bottle.

"Sit down, Harry." Kingsley simply said stopping him from opening the bottle and ushering him to sit opposite him.

Harry stared but he slowly lowered the bottle and settled over the chair opposite him.

"I waited to hear what you have to say, Harry." Kingsley said. "That is all I am here for. I am your friend so you need not to bring me these things and I mean that in no offense."

Harry stared closely at him in silence

He slowly nodded.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" Kingsley asked although he already had a hunch on what it may be about.

"I need your signature." Harry answered straightforward as he offered an elegant looking parchment towards him.

There was a seal of the Ministry's office and official formal of the Ministry of Magic.

It only needed the Minister's approval and seal.

"May I read it first?" he slowly asked taking a look over it.

"Ofcourse." Harry said gently pushing it towards him.

Kingsley slowly took the parchment from the table and began reading it.

It was a special request of Harry Potter addressed directly to the Minister and the body of his office.

Harry quietly but closely observed him as he read through the parchment and waited.

"A type of search warrant?" Kingsley said as he looked up at Harry with slight surprise in his eyes.

"Yes." Harry nodded at him offering a quill from the inside of his jacket pocket. "Here."

Kingsley stared at the quill but he didn't take it.

He closely looked back at Harry with question in his gaze.

"I'm sorry, Harry." Kingsley said returning the parchment towards him. "I cannot grant you this-"

"I'm an Auror of the Ministry!" Harry suddenly yelled at him banging his fist over the table. "I'm Head Auror of the Department!"

Kingsley's eyes widened at his actions.

Harry looked as taken aback as he was.

The Minister's eyes were wide at Harry Potter – in both question and fear.

He had never seen the boy act this way.

But this was actually what he has been hearing about him.

He had seen him lost it at the Ministry and had been hearing things about him even within the premises of the Ministry of Magic but he had never seen him act the way he had been hearing of about the boy.

"I'm sorry." Harry quickly said lowering his fist from the table and withdrawing back over his chair. "I'm sorry. I was a little – _I'm sorry._ Let's begin again and talk about this please?"

Kingsley stared at the boy.

He would have to write towards someone in the Order first thing in the morning about this incident.

"Harry, are you alright?" he slowly asked a little worried now.

Harry was still red in the face but he looked like he was forcing himself to calm down.

"I'm fine." Harry managed as he tried to remain passive and collected. "So, will you _please_ sign it?"

He offered the quill again and move the parchment back over the table.

Kingsley's eyes turned back to the parchment and back at Harry.

"I'm sorry, Harry." Kingsley said. "I cannot sign this for you. I cannot give you access towards the cottage. It is not legal. And you do not need to be there."

Harry opened his mouth to say something but he raised his hand gently up to him.

"I understand how you feel about this case. But this case is nearly close and you are regarded as part of the victim's family. Signing this – despite that you are Head Auror – would come with certain questions and legalities. I would really want to help you and give any favor you would ask of me but this is something I cannot grant you. I am terribly sorry, Harry."

Harry remained quiet and unmoving.

He was staring quietly back at the Minister.

Kingsley had already moved his hand inside his pocket where his wand was.

Harry Potter had been his friend for so many years and he knew the boy – but he was not about to neglect the news he had been hearing about him.

 _"_ _I understand._ " Harry answered after a while.

Kingsley slightly relaxed when Harry smiled at him.

"I apologize for my actions." Harry said slowly standing up to straighten his robes. "I apologize. I must be _out of my mind_ to ask this."

"No, no, it's alright. I understand you." Kingsley said with a small smile. "I would have done anything else for you Harry should it have been permitted and legal."

"I know." Harry said sighing heavily. "You've been a great deal of a friend to me, Kingsley. And I understand your say on the matter. You've always been like a family to me, watching over me and guiding me."

"It's not part of the job description but you have always been close to my heart, my boy." Kingsley said smiling and standing up as Harry did.

"I know." Harry said extending his hand to shake his. "That's why it is my utmost regret that I must do _this_. I am terribly sorry as well."

"Harry?" Kingsley said as they held hands.

Harry gripped his hand hard and Kingsley's eyes widened as he couldn't draw it back.

Harry had drawn his wand out with his free hand and pointed it directly at his chest.

"Forgive me." Harry whispered with a glint in his eyes as he pulled Kingsley towards him in an embrace and interjected the tip of his wand over his friend's chest.

"Harry – what are you-" Kingsley couldn't move from his grasp and tight embrace.

 _"_ _Imperio."_ Harry softly whispered at him.

His fingers loosened over the wand in his hand and Harry heard it clank down towards the carpeted floor the moment the spell hit him over the chest.

Harry kept his embrace over him as he muttered words after another.

He gently moved to gaze at him as he continue to mutter.

Kingsley's eyes slowly went black and all control of his senses and awareness of surroundings had been lost.

He could not comprehend anything anymore except for the sound of the voice in his hand telling him, instructing him to do something.

In a moment, Harry had let him go.

He watched slowly at Kingsley's steady gaze over the table and the parchment.

He pulled out the quill again and placed it near his hand.

"If you please, Minister." Harry whispered gently drawing back from the table with his wand.

Kingsley slowly looked up at him with a blank gaze and then he turned to the quill and parchment.

Without his own thoughts and will, Kingsley slowly reached for the quill and began signing the parchment and with a small wave of his own wand, the seal of the Ministry of Magic had been placed beneath his signature.

"Thank you." Harry said taking the parchment from the table and folding in back in his pocket.

Kingsley remained unmoving and unblinking.

"You had always been family to me as well." Harry gently whispered.

He raised his wand back at Kingsley who had no qualms of his surroundings.

"Have a good night rest, Minister." Harry whispered pointing the wand back over his forehead. " _Obliviate."_


	53. Chapter 53

_**Chapter Fifty Two**_

 _ **Saving Your Life**_

Twelve days.

Twelve days was less than enough of the time that Draco and Hermione would need to solve their immediate problem.

There was no way in hell that Draco would let Hermione marry Harry if he wasn't well.

Not that it was any of his business but now that they're so-called 'friends' he seemed to have the responsibility of protecting her because no one else seem aware of how important and crucial the choices that has to be made.

But he had another problem.

Despite of Snape's words, he could someone tell that he was lying.

He knows of a place where the diary may be found but why in the name of gods would he be lying to him?

Wasn't he involved enough to be given the most crucial of all the information that could just save his life?

What was he trying to keep away from Draco?

"Young Master?" a voice called out.

Draco looked up from the documents he was reading in his mother's office.

He had stayed the night going through her things, in search of any clue that may lead him to the diary. Clues for which he knew were non-existent in their manor anyway.

"Come in." Draco said moving his eyes away from the table. "What is it?"

The old servant looked reluctant but he entered nevertheless.

He entered the room and placed a small parchment over the table.

"Someone from the Ministry came early this morning and handed this over."

Draco's eyes quirked at the sight of it.

He had a small handful of people at the Ministry of Magic who still kept their loyalties to the last remaining Malfoy.

They owed too much to the family that they still offered their services to the boy the moment he returned to London.

"Thank you." Draco said reaching for the parchment.

The old servant stared at him then nodded.

They both knew that this note from Draco's people at the Ministry could not be any good.

After all, they were only allowed to contact him for any immediate and very important matters.

Receiving the note would only mean that something of the sort had occurred.

Draco closed his eyes and breathed heavily before deciding to open the note before him.

Bad news after another seemed to be consuming him and their plan lately.

They seemed to be decided to eat up and distract the twelve days they had.

Or rather, eleven days.

Draco already felt dreadful upon opening the note but reading through it was even worse.

One of his sources had written that for some reason, an order from the Ministry of Magic himself – kept from the public eye – had been made to grand permission to Mr. Harry Potter entrance and access to the cottage at Beltane without further reason nor any other notice and that the Minister of Magic himself had filed out a leave of absence without reason except for that it was an emergency and immediate kind of leave.

"Fuck." Draco muttered crumpling the note and throwing it across the table.

 _Why would Harry want access to the cottage?_

He was already winning the case.

He had Hermione by the neck.

What would he need at the cottage?

Was he damn scared that in the twelve days he – Draco Malfoy – could find some miraculous solution to help his godfather out of Azkaban within the given time limit and be able to save Hermione from their marriage in time?

What does he need at the cottage?

Why would he need access to the cottage?

He racked his brain and he could only find one possible solution and answer.

Harry Potter was going to plant some sort of evidence within the cottage that could ensure the deliverance of Severus Snape to the Dementors at Azkaban.

But what evidence?

Was he that desperate?

Was he that obsessed and damned in deciding Snape's fate even if he already and obviously had the upperhand in the situation they were all in?

A full access grant for Harry at the cottage wasn't only inexcusable and dangerous for Snape's chance of evading the Dementors or a lifetime imprisonment in Azkaban but it was also manipulative.

Even if he was Harry Potter – Chosen One and higher than though Savior of all he didn't have any right to manipulate the Wizengamot, the Ministry of Magic and the law.

But he was granted access and now the Minister of Magic himself who granted that access was going to be out away and from all of it.

It was somewhat planned – evil and schemed deeply well.

 _"Draco Dormiens." Narcissa whispered tapping her wand over the black journal._

 _It sealed itself completely and all light and magic vanished all over it._

 _It looked like an ordinary journal._

 _It was finished._

 _She has done the best she could possibly think of to save the lives of those she cared about._

 _Even the life of that bloody Muggle-Born that Severus Snape cared so much for._

 _Her eyes furrowed as another excruciating pain passed through her chest._

 _She clutched her chest and felt a small amount of blood come out from her nose._

 _She immediately grabbed the small cloth inside her pocket and wiped her face clean._

 _Her visions were blurring over again._

 _She closed her eyes and tried to steady herself, letting he pain go through and pass after a moment._

 _It was coming through her but it was going to come and pass as well._

 _A moment or two had passed._

 _Every pain in her body had vanished completely._

 _Blood stopped spurting out and her visions cleared again._

 _It was as if nothing happened._

 _She knew that her time was soon to come; that medications provided for by her dearest bestfriend weren't going to suffice soon._

 _And when that happens, she must be ready – or rather everything she needed to prepare for were all ready._

 _She needed to ensure that all properties, accounts and lands of the Malfoys and Blacks were all transferred to Draco completely._

 _She needed to ensure that all these wealth that would be transferred to him were the legal ones and nothing would be taken from due to the other transactions that they've illegally dealt with or accumulated under stealth._

 _She needed to ensure a safe, protected and secure future for Draco._

 _He would survive the war and he would live through it all and would have a future better than she or Lucius ever had._

 _She no longer cared about Lucius – he deserved to rot and die at Azkaban._

 _She had loved him – he wasn't going to deny that._

 _She had loved him and loved him deeply but he was too consumed by his greed, wealth and power to understand that it was him as a father and husband that he was needed for by his family and not whatever power, standing and wealth he had accumulated and structured altogether in time._

 _And then there was Severus Snape._

 _She wasn't sure of the future that he would have and if ever there was any for him after everything that transpired._

 _She was sure that she couldn't and wouldn't be able to completely save him from Azkaban but maybe from fate such as that would have him face Dementors was something she could save him from._

 _She knew that she wasn't going to live up to the day where they could be out and away from the cottage and the curse that her dearest sister had bestowed upon them._

 _She couldn't help him to the fullest but perhaps there was something she could do about it._

 _Staring at the journal before she sealed it away in her office drawer she knew that it was the only thing she could possibly do._

 _It was the least she could possibly do after everything that her sister has done and after everything that Snape has done for her and for her family._

 _But she had to carefully plan it._

 _It had to be taken care of carefully and wisely._

 _She needed to plant the journal unknowingly in the safest place it could possibly be without anyone else having to find it when it wasn't the right time yet._

 _She couldn't just leave it lying around and she definitely couldn't just put it just anywhere where it may be found in the most untimely situation._

 _It must be taken, brought forth and found only at the right and proper moment._

 _She closed her eyes and deeply prayed to the gods or whoever there was with higher power to hear her._

 _It was the only way to save Snape's life for she knew by the time that they were out of the cottage and he may be tried forth she would no longer be there as witness to everything that has transpired._

 _And together with that possible future and the evidences for which only she could provide was a truth that could break the heart of the most important person for her._

 _Draco._

 _In lieu of saving Snape's life, Narcissa knew the possible consequences that would come with it._

 _But she also knows that it was the only way to save Snape's life._

 _And she knows that only Draco would be the only way towards it._

 _And in return, she hoped against hope that Draco would understand the truth that would come out of it._

 _A truth that would eventually go and deeply, severely break his heart – for in saving Snape's life he would come to find out that the only person he was ever left to love had been an instrument into the crime that Snape had no choice but to commit._


	54. Chapter 54

**Chapter Fifty-Four**

 _ **Narcissa's Secret**_

 _"Is there anything else you need from me, Young Master?"_

 _Draco looked up at his mother's Defense Council._

 _Today marks the 2_ _nd_ _week since his mother's burial._

 _His mother's Defense Council has just delivered at the Malfoy Manor all documents and legalities that transfers all his inheritance in accordance to her mother's will._

 _As of that very moment, Draco Black Malfoy is one of the – if not the only one – richest billionaires in the Wizarding World after inheriting billions' worth of money and properties from the lineage of the Blacks and Malfoys being the only heir of Lucius and Narcissa._

 _Lucius was at Azkaban who was stripped both rights to the net worth and of power and Narcissa's passing left her will and testament to take immediate effect – giving Draco all the billions worth of inheritance._

 _Was there anything he needed?_

 _Draco wasn't sure._

 _He used to think about his inheritance all the time._

 _He used to talk about it with his father all his growing life._

 _Now that he legally owns everything, nothing seems to matter._

 _Nothing mattered to him at the moment especially now that he was alone._

 _Yes, he may be one of the richest wizards out there but what did that matter?_

 _He couldn't buy his father's freedom and erase everything he's done and he certainly couldn't buy back his mother's life no matter its cost that he was sure his money could now pay._

 _What was the point of everything?_

 _He wanted to end his life but knew that it wasn't something that his mother would have wanted for him._

 _He just wanted to be away._

 _He just wanted to be far and away from everything that would have reminded him of the life he had lived._

 _"How long would it take to arrange a flight to Germany?" Draco asked him._

 _The Defense Council stared at him for a moment as if he didn't understand his question._

 _Draco asked the same thing._

 _"A week, I suppose, Young Master." the wizard replied. "If you have never travelled a week will be more than enough for me to arrange-"_

 _"Arrange one for me." Draco said. "But I want this kept confidential and away from public's eyes."_

 _The wizard stared and nodded at him in understanding._

 _"How long would your travel be?" he asked preparing to take notes_

 _Draco sighed heavily._

 _"How long would forgetting take?" he asked back._

 _The wizard looked perplexed but he waited for further instructions._

 _"Young Master-"_

 _"Get me a place to stay there." Draco instructed. "Somewhere I can stay for months and even a year."_

 _"Yes, I will." the wizard replied. "Other specifications?"_

 _"I want this off from the public. Keep track of everything I would be leaving here in London."_

 _The wizard took notes as fast as he could._

 _Draco could tell there were a lot back in London he would be leaving behind._

 _But at the moment, he couldn't be a mourning son and a businessman at the same time._

 _He could only do one at a time and at the moment, he could hardly do the first one._

 _"There is a property of the Malfoys at the country where you can-"_

 _"Is there a property of the Blacks there?" he interrupted._

 _The wizard took a moment to answer._

 _"A house at a countryside." he replied. "It isn't a large property. Has only been used twice and is in a provincial location, Young Master. I do not recommend-"_

 _"Sounds fitting enough. Make arrangements to enable me to stay at the house."_

 _The wizard took more notes._

 _"Is there anything else?"_

 _"Keep track of everything I'd leave here in London." Draco said standing up from the large armchair. "I also need you to keep track of any news of Hermione Granger."_

 _And with that, Draco grabbed his traveling cloak from across the large mahogany table and extinguished the fire in the hearth of the fireplace of his mother's old office leaving the wizard lost in his notes and thoughts._

 _Snape heavily sighed and he buried his face in his hands._

 _Her wailing wouldn't stop._

 _It has been three long hours and she was still tireless into the night._

 _His headache had gone from bad to worse._

 _"Dammit." Snape muttered throwing away the parchments over his table._

 _For the past hours, he had tried to bury himself in his small work station at the cottage and tried to block off the sounds or rather the noise that Hermione had been doing._

 _It has been a few weeks since the ambush and like the nights that has passed, her tantrums came along tonight that led them into an argument that ended bad for the two of them._

 _Snape had locked her inside her room and he could barely pick up a quill to resume his work._

 _Snape stood up from behind his desk and grabbed his wand from the table and walked out of the room._

 _He took the few flights up their first floor and stayed for a few minutes at the end of the stairs where he could clearly hear her banging her fists against her door and crying her heart out._

 _"Harry!" her voice cried out. "Harry! Harry! Help me, Harry! Harry!"_

 _Snape clenched his fists._

 _She was clever enough to know that no matter how long she screams and calls his name he wasn't going to hear her calls._

 _She was fervently and purposely making noise in the cottage to gain his attention to draw them both into another full blown argument._

 _Did she really think that he would get tired in their arguments that he would just bring her back to the Order?_

 _Did she not understand the complicated situation they were both in?_

 _"Fuck." Snape muttered taking the steps up the stairs._

 _He reached the landing and he could hear her fists banging against her door._

 _It has been hours._

 _Was she not yet tired?_

 _"Harry!" she screamed banging again. "Harry! Please! Please let me out! Harry! Help me!"_

 _"Miss Granger." Snape called out clearly standing by the doorway._

 _"Harry!" Hermione screamed louder aware of his presence. "Harry! Please, please help me! Harry! Let me out of here-"_

 _"Miss Granger, if you please-"_

 _"I want to go out!" Hermione wailed at the door. "I want to get out! Let me out of here! Please, let me out!"_

 _Snape sighed heavily and stared at the door with his wand in his hand._

 _What was he supposed to do with her?_

 _They were just into this life a few weeks at hand and she was like this._

 _How did Narcissa expect him to keep her for seven years?_

 _"Miss Granger, please, you are wasting time and effort and your energy-"_

 _"I don't care!" Hermione screamed banging harder against the door. "I don't give a damn! Let me out of here! Please, professor!"_

 _She was desperate._

 _He was going to run mad if this continued for the rest of the night._

 _"We already talked about this." Snape clearly voiced out against the door. "You already know and understand the consequences-"_

 _"I want to go back!" Hermione continue crying. "Please, please bring me back to them. Please.."_

 _Her banging against the door was driving him mad._

 _The echoes of her cries were grilling his ears._

 _"Let me out of here!" Hermione screamed. "Please let me out of here – you can't keep me here – you can't keep me here forever – this isn't legal!" Hermione screamed._

 _Did she think that he was not aware of those facts?_

 _"This isn't legal!" Hermione continued to bang tirelessly with both her hands against the door. "Let me out of here! This isn't legal! You can't do this! You can't do this to me – this is abduction! You're doing something against the law – please, professor Snape – please let me out!"_

 _But he wasn't going to let her out no matter if she dies crying and banging herself against that goddamn door._

 _"We already talked about this." Snape simply repeated trying to control his patience. "You're wasting time and effort, Miss Granger. Go and get some sleep. In the morning when you are feeling better we can talk about-"_

 _"There is nothing to talk about!" Hermione angrily screamed._

 _For a moment there was some silence._

 _And then he heard an object being thrown against the door._

 _A thump and another and he knew that she had been throwing the books he had lent her against the door._

 _That riled up his patience further._

 _"Miss Granger, if you-"_

 _"I want to get out!" Hermione screamed yet again._

 _Another book was thrown._

 _"Miss Granger-"_

 _"If you're not going to let me out of here then there's nothing to talk about!"_

 _Another book was thrown and another._

 _"Fuck." Snape muttered._

 _With a whip of his wand, he pointed it against the door and the lock clicked and it slowly opened._

 _Hermione was on the floor and a book was ready at hand to be thrown against the door._

 _A swift flick of his wand and the book from her hand flew into his._

 _He stared down at her tears-streaked figure._

 _She was so red in the face in her tears that she looked like she was going to explode._

 _The bandages around her needed changing but she didn't care._

 _The dress he had given her was dangling at the wrong ends as it clung around her body._

 _"I want to go back." Hermione said in a determined voice looking up at him. "I want to go back-"_

 _"You know that's not possible." Snape said staring down at her with both anger and pity._

 _"I want to go back." Hermione said yet again. "If you don't bring me back to them this instant you're going to-"_

 _"What are you, a child?" Snape angrily said._

 _He moved forward and with his pincer-like grip, he grabbed her by the arm and dragged her from the floor._

 _He pulled her and struggled with her as he dragged her over the carpeted floor and pushed her back against the bed he had for her._

 _The room was dark and comfortable if he would take a look at it and if he had a say on it, it was more than comfortable._

 _Hermione stared up at him with pure hatred in her eyes._

 _"If you don't give me back my wand-"_

 _"What?" Snape threatened back at her standing over her. "What if I don't goddamn give you back your wand?"_

 _Hermione opened her mouth but no words came out from her._

 _He stared down at her pitiful figure over the bed._

 _She was still physically unwell and was still in an emotional turmoil but she was battling all of these altogether in her will to get out of the cottage and go back to Harry and the Order._

 _She didn't understand that it wasn't possible – that it wasn't going to happen no matter what she does._

 _"Please." Hermione's small voice begged him. "Please bring me back to them."_

 _He wanted to look away from her but he couldn't._

 _As much as this was a burden to him, she was now his responsibility._

 _The moment he decided to save her life from that death fall, she became his sole responsibility._

 _The moment that he could have called help from the Order had come and passed._

 _He had let that very moment passed therefore, it was in equivalence of accepting her as his responsibility._

 _He must face the consequences of those actions._

 _"Miss Granger, please." Snape quietly said._

 _There it was again – the look over her face._

 _She was going to burst into one of her tantrums – but he couldn't let it any further._

 _Sighing heavily, he settled himself at the end of the bed and tried to reach her._

 _Her reflexes worked and she quickly moved away from his reach._

 _He looked up at her in slight disappointment._

 _Did she not trust him?_

 _Did she think that he was going to hurt her?_

 _"Miss Granger-"_

 _"If you can't give me back my wand atleast tell Harry where I am." Hermione said. "I need to speak with Harry. Harry has to know-"_

 _"Harry has no way of knowing at the moment." Snape said and his voice became cold and firm._

 _His black eyes told her that something had gone terribly wrong._

 _"What is that supposed to mean?" Hermione asked him. "What do you mean he can't possibly know?"_

 _He looked at her._

 _He knew that he had to tell her sooner or later and now seemed to be the right time to tell her._

 _"As I've told you, the ambush has hurt him as well-"_

 _"You told me that you've done your best to save him." Hermione pointed out._

 _There was obvious anger in her voice._

 _"What do you mean he's hurt?" Hermione asked her eyes widening. "What do you mean he's-"_

 _"The fall had an impact on him." Snape said. "He might have been hit by a spell or two when he fell-"_

 _"You told me you saved his life-"_

 _"I saved his life"_

 _"Then what are you saying he's hurt-"_

 _"Miss Granger, I couldn't possibly-"_

 _"Liar!" Hermione suddenly screamed at him launching forward. "Liar! You told me-"_

 _"Miss Granger, please!" Snape tried to fight her hands away from him._

 _She was trying to get to him, to reach him with her claw-like fingers trying to hurt him._

 _"What do you- liar – you told me – you told me you saved his life-"_

 _"I saved his life!" Snape angrily said grabbing both her hands and keeping her wrists together._

 _They struggled over the bed and it had to take much of his energy to enable him to pin her down over the bed._

 _Hermione was left facedown over the bed struggling gainst his grip as he held both her hands down on either side of her._

 _"Harry!" Hermione crying again. "You liar – you told me – you said – you said you saved-"_

 _"I saved his life!" Snape angrily said. "I saved his fucking life that's why he's still breathing on that goddamn bed at St. Mungo's fighting of what little life I was able to save for him!"_

 _Hermione's crying became more painful to listen to._

 _"You told me- you said- Harry!"_

 _"He's in coma." Snape said not knowing anymore how he could possibly make this easier for her. "Potter is in comatose at 's after the fall. At the present moment he is being tended to. If you calm yourself down I can tell you everything there is to know."_

 _But Hermione was nowhere going to calm down any time soon._

 _Despite that she stopped fighting against him over the bed, she kept crying._

 _She was still calling and screaming for Harry's name._

 _Snape lessened his grip over her when he noticed that she no longer fought against him but instead, had been crying and trying to reach for him._

 _He wasn't sure how to comfort her this time around._

 _It was easier to yell back at her and tell her off and lock her up in the room than to sit there on the bed next to her not knowing how to calm her down._

 _It was the most awkward and ridiculous experience he had to endure – to sit there and watch her cry in her on agony whilst battling with himself how he could comfort her._

 _Soon, he found himself moving closer to her and taking hold of her arm._

 _It was just his hand over hers closing around her and trying to rub over it in an attempt of giving comfort._

 _"Hermione."_

 _Her cries became louder but she instinctively moved closer to him._

 _Sooner than he had realized, Hermione was already cradled in his arms over the bed._

 _He closed his eyes and he found himself brushing her long locks in another attempt to calm her down and comfort her._

 _"Harry."_

 _It was the only word that came out of her mouth tirelessly over the course of the hour that transpired._

 _Her cries slowly faded and soon, Snape had found himself still brushing her hair as she fell asleep weeping in his arms._

 _He had fallen into a momentary bliss of some sleep until he was woken by the realization that he could no longer hear her cries nor her voice calling Harry's name._

 _Hermione had fallen asleep in his arms._

 _He looked down over her and saw that her tears had dried around her face and that she was hunched and curled into a ball at his side while her hands where both around his arms – tightly kept and her form seeking some comfort in his arms in a futile form of an embrace._

 _He closed his eyes and listened to the loud spatter of rain against the roof of the cottage._

 _If he would calculate it correctly, it was somewhere one in the morning already._

 _He tried to find something in his head to calm him back to sleep._

 _He didn't want to move in fear that he would wake her up and she would go crying again._

 _He knew she needed rest and as far as her mind was active, she wasn't going to get any rest at all._

 _In the very short period of time that she could get some sleep, he would give her that peace._

 _She may not know of it nor believe it, but at that very early stage of their fate, he already cared for her._

 _He knew he had to find a way out of what they were thrown into._

 _He couldn't let her live with him this way – he couldn't bear to hear her cries every single day when he knew that he couldn't do anything to help her get better anyway._

 _He had to find her a cure._

 _Narcissa had to help him find a cure for her sooner or later._

 _Snape closed his eyes and had unconsciously reached for her head again as he moved her closer to him._

 _He was brushing her locks again with the tips of his fingers while his face was buried into the scent of her thick locks._

 _He could feel her uneven breathing pattern in his arms as she slept through the night._

 _The rain spattered louder against the roofs and windowpanes of the cottage._

 _He listened to the comfort that the rain brought him._

 _He used the sound of the rain as a gentle lullaby to bring him into a few hours of blissful sleep before he faces another day carrying not just his responsibility of taking care of Hermione but the burden she was carrying in her mind and in her heart._

"Did you really want to marry him?"

Hermione looked up from the book she was reading.

Lupin entered the living room of the Weasleys.

Eleven days were down.

Mrs. Weasley had insisted to Harry that she stays with them for the rest of the days before their wedding.

Harry was reluctant but Mrs. Weasley told him that there were too many things to prepare for that bringing her there everyday wasn't only a waste of time but would also tire her out.

Harry didn't want to but given that Hermione was going to be more secured at the Weasleys than to be taken again by Draco, he allowed it.

He was allowed to stay and sleep with the rest of the Weasleys if he wanted to.

Lupin, Molly and Arthur decided that for as long as their protection of Hermione was out there at the open with nothing for Harry to suspect them with, everything was going to be alright.

Draco didn't agree much into it but Hermione made him see sense that it was important that he work with Snape's case while Harry was distracted with their wedding plans.

"I did think that we were going to grow old at the cottage." Hermione replied earnestly as Lupin sat by the other end of the couch.

He took out his wand and lit the hearth of the fireplace from its dying form.

"That wasn't my question."

"I wasn't sure." Hermione answered him. "But I was willing to spend the rest of my life with him."

Lupin nodded and stared at the fireplace where the flames were seemingly dancing.

"Severus was a good man." Lupin quietly said.

"Severus is a good man." Hermione corrected him sitting closer to Lupin. "You know he is a good man, professor."

Lupin didn't say anything.

There wasn't much to say knowing that this conversation was going anyway.

"He did things that we both know are punishable by any law, Hermione."

"We were under circumstances, professor." Hermione said turning to face the man. "There were reasons we stayed at the cottage for that long."

"He could have told us." Lupin said. "He could have written a letter."

Hermione didn't want to look at him now that he was looking back at her.

"Professor Lupin-"

"He could have told us Hermione if he wanted to." Lupin said. "If there were circumstances that were too dangerous for the both of you we would have understand that but at the least we know that you were with him-"

"But-"

"No, Hermione." Lupin insisted. "Do not tell me that I am wrong because that brilliant mind of yours tells you the very same thing."

Hermione was silent.

Why was everyone making all the sense in the world lately?

"Did you not think about Harry?" Lupin asked quietly. "Did you not think of him?"

For the first time, Hermione could somehow hear some form of hatred from his tone.

Did he hate her for the decisions she had come to decide upon?

"I do not hate you." Lupin's voice came as if reading her thoughts. "But you need to understand that I was there the whole ten years that he suffered the loss of you. And now you're back – you are undermining his feelings and you are vouching for the man who has taken you from him – who has taken a future he could have had with you-"

"I know that!" Hermione said unable to raise her voice in fear of waking up the whole house. "I know what I've done – what we've done. But this isn't any easier for me-"

"If Snape is sentenced accordingly, please just – please just bear it within you, Hermione. You've seen Harry – you see how he is right now – he isn't well-"

"He wants to marry me." Hermione said in a tormented tone. "He wants to marry me without knowing if I want to marry him-"

"Everyone knows you don't want to marry him and he knows it himself but he has hopes – he has hopes that if Snape is taken to Azkaban – you would have to reconsider the life you could have had with him."

Hermione became silent and passive.

"Do you believe that he's a good man?" Hermione quietly asked him. "Severus?"

It took a moment for Lupin to answer her.

"Yes." Lupin quietly nodded at her. "Yes, I believe that he is a good man. But every good man has their own flaws. I believed that he failed to attend to the attribute that he should have acted upon – not because he didn't to but because he wasn't sure of everything that was happening at the time they were happening."

"Then you understand what I am fighting for?"

"I understand what you are fighting for." Lupin said. "But it doesn't mean that you have to fight for it when it no longer is right."

"Isn't what I feel right?" Hermione asked him. "Isn't what I feel right?"

"Only you can answer that, Hermione." Lupin said as he slowly stood up from the couch and stared down at her.

"I love Severus." Hermione whispered looking up at him with utmost sadness in her face.

"I know." Lupin answered her. "And Harry feels just the same for you."

"I don't know what to do."

"Neither do I." Lupin answered. "But one thing I assure you – no matter what you do, you are going to break someone's heart. And when you do, please make sure that it all really is worth it."

And with that, Lupin bid her a goodnight and left her alone in the living room of the Weasleys in her miserable thoughts.

 _"What are you doing here?" Narcissa asked seeing Draco in her private office._

 _Draco was in mid-action scavenging for something in the desk drawers of her mother._

 _His wand was on top of her desk and he had obviously been using spells of sorts to gain him access in the drawers._

 _Narcissa walked forward and with a whip of her wand, all the drawers that Draco managed to open closer and locked themselves up._

 _Draco looked beyond guilty but he didn't say anything._

 _"I'm not going to ask again." Narcissa coldly said staring down at him._

 _"Nothing." Draco dryly replied. "I was just looking for parchments and quills."_

 _"Do not lie to me." Narcissa said staring down at her own son. "What are you looking for?"_

 _Draco tried to avoid her gaze._

 _What was he looking for?_

 _That goddamn journal._

 _He knew that her mother was keeping something of great importance from him and once or twice, he saw her conceal something magically inside the journal he had given her._

 _He wasn't going to back down and not find out what she is keeping from him._

 _"Nothing." Draco simply answered taking his wand from the table._

 _"Draco, I'm not going to-"_

 _"What you are keeping from me." Draco suddenly replied looking harshly up at her. "What you are keeping from me is what I am looking for."_

 _Narcissa momentarily looked stricken but she didn't say anything._

 _"I'm not keeping anything from you."_

 _"Don't lie to me, mother." Draco spat at her. "I'm not a child. I know you are keeping secrets from me."_

 _"I have not been." Narcissa said folding her arms. "And if I have ever kept anything from you it is merely to keep you away from harm's way-"_

 _"The notes and letters you keep." Draco began. "Your sudden journeys out of town – your unrecorded travel and inventories after another of the most peculiar things. if I hadn't known any better, you have another family you've been feeding off but I must remind myself that it's father who's likely to have another family from one of his girl-"_

 _But whatever it was he was about to say, he was no longer able to say it._

 _Narcissa had slapped him so hard over his left cheek that her hand had made a mark._

 _Draco held his left cheek for a moment and was unable to say a word._

 _"Draco." Narcissa quickly said walking forward but Draco made two steps back._

 _She looked back at him with utmost regret over her face._

 _"Draco, I'm sorry-"_

 _"Is this what he's worth it?" Draco asked her. "Keeping secrets from me and lying to me and most of all, hurting me?"_

 _"I do not understand what you are-"_

 _"I know you're helping Severus with something." Draco said. "I haven't got any evidence but I'm going to say it time and again – do not get involve in whatever he is doing!"_

 _"Draco-"_

 _"Mother, you're risking your life for that man!" Draco savagely said. "He's only using you! He doesn't even care about you! He's only using you and what you can do for him!"_

 _Narcissa didn't say anything._

 _Her fists were clenching over at her sides as she struggled not to hit him again._

 _He was wrong._

 _Draco was very wrong._

 _She was the one who was using Severus and her conscience is eating her up every time she asks Snape favor after another._

 _"You may not be a child but you are my child." Narcissa simply said taking her wand from the desk and pocketing it._

 _"You wouldn't keep secrets from me if you truly care about me."_

 _"I would keep secrets from you and bring them to the grave with me if that would mean it would keep you alive." Narcissa said with such hatred in her eyes._

 _They stared at one another for a long moment and then Draco resigned._

 _He gently caressed the cheek she had hurt and nodded at her._

 _He retreated to the door with Narcissa's gaze never leaving him._

 _"I would find out what you are keeping." Draco said with such a cold threat in his voice. "And when I do, I swear to you that I'm going to put a stop to it."_

 _The door closed but Narcissa didn't say anything._

 _She clutched her heart that seemed so heavy at that very moment._

 _She closed her eyes and was more than grateful that whatever Draco was looking for was no longer with her._

 _It wasn't in her drawers._

 _It was no longer at the Malfoy Manor._

 _Truth be told, she had discarded it already a few days ago and kept it safe and secure at that one place where it should be._

 _At that one place where it could be kept safe because not even those who dwell within the cottage knew of its whereabouts and existence in their premises._

 _It would be kept safe there until the proper time from which it should be found and its secrets divulged to save the life of the one man whom Narcissa will forever be in debted to._


	55. Chapter 55

_**Author's Notes:**_ _**Hello dear readers.**_ _**A chapter for everyone.**_ _**How is everyone doing?**_ _**Saturday and my plate is full over students this summer, but which is actually good. Takes my mind off and away from family life and drama hahahaha.**_ _**Hope everyone is doing way better at their end of the world.**_ _**Lots of love**_

 ** _Chapter Fifty Five_**

 ** _Darker Secrets_**

 _The rain was spattering hard against the roof and windows of the cottage._

 _Snape heavily sighed and turned about over the bed._

 _He grabbed his wand from under his side of the bed and pointed it towards the hearth of the fireplace in their bedroom._

 _Slow and warm fire ignited._

 _Hermione moaned in her sleep and turned and scooted closer to him under the sheets._

 _He lowered his wand and placed it back to its place and slowly turned to back to the bed._

 _Hermione's bare back was turned to him and she lay over her side, fast asleep and obviously exhausted from the day that they had._

 _He had been out for a few hours early that day and he came home to see the whole cottage cleaned to its corners._

 _She had obviously been bored again and had decided to do one of her 'general cleaning' after a night of another fight with him the previous day._

 _Ofcourse, that had been quickly forgotten the moment he got home with a package of her favourite dish, a bag of new books and a lot of the sweet words and kisses from him._

 _He knew that these gestures wouldn't last for long._

 _He was getting tired of it – what more of her?_

 _Six years into their hiding._

 _Six years._

 _There were two more years for the two of them to be together in the cottage._

 _Despite the changes and the decisions that had to be made, they had lived according to his terms and plans and Hermione, who had no choice with the situation succumb to his will but not in a peaceful way._

 _Despite the years that has passed, they still had the constant argument, the consistent fights over the same things and her feisty attitude to raise things and questions that had always been in her and for which he had tried to kill and suppress all these years._

 _She may have been docile, but the Gryffindor in her was still in there – waiting for an opportune time to be unleashed and escape his clutches._

 _But she couldn't escape._

 _He wouldn't let it._

 _It would be detrimental and dangerous not only for her but for her loved ones._

 _He had spent years trying to protect her and trying to protect the rest of her loved ones._

 _What she thought were 'secret missions and secrets jobs' he does were not at all everything she thought them to be._

 _The earlier years were his tasks for the Dark Lord and the things he had to do to prove and retain his position in his circle._

 _But after the defeat of the Dark Lord, his main task was to ensure that she is kept safe and away from Harry Potter and the rest of the Order of the Phoenix and her loved ones._

 _He kept a close eye to Harry, their friends and whoever else were significant for him to know about._

 _Through the years, he tried to keep a close watch over them._

 _He knew that the two boys had become Aurors in their own merits, he had learned about the changes done at Hogwarts and at the Wizarding World; he was well aware of the hunted Death Eaters that escaped the battle and was even well aware of Draco Malfoy's whereabouts._

 _His godson._

 _His godson and the only child of his dearest friend, Narcissa Malfoy._

 _He had fled and left the country in order to gain new life._

 _Despite that he wasn't well or fully aware of every bit of step that Draco took, he knew that he had left the country after finishing his final year at Hogwarts to pursue a career offer away from the country._

 _He was well aware of the careers that Potter took and the reason behind it._

 _The boy was still restless and was more than determined to gather and imprison all the Death Eaters left out into the world._

 _Was still very determined to find his beloved Hermione Granger._

 _Did he have a conscience in returning her?_

 _Ofcourse there were nights he did want to return her especially when her cries became the death of him._

 _But they both know that he couldn't, not yet anyway._

 _But the relationship that had grown between the two of them had completely changed and complicated things further._

 _At the back of his mind, he still had to return her after seven years – but somewhere deep down of him, he wasn't sure if he could do so or if she was even going to decide to return to them after everything._

 _Would she still be willing to abandon him after everything they've been through?_

 _Did he still not have a place in her heart?_

 _Was Harry Potter still the one person in her mind and in her heart?_

 _Was she really still doing all of these because of her will to survive and do whatever it takes to do so?_

 _"Why are you awake?"_

 _Snape looked up and saw Hermione stir over the bed and face him._

 _Her eyes were trying to open but she was too tired and too sleepy to pull herself to fully wake up._

 _"I had to warm the room." Snape murmured moving closer to her under the sheets._

 _"Are you cold?" she murmured scooting closer to him._

 _"Not very." Snape said planting a gentle kiss over her shoulder. "Are you?"_

 _Hermione murmured something with a small nod and let him rest his head at the space between her jawline and her shoulders._

 _He planted a few more kisses around her neck._

 _She moaned again and moved to the other side and faced away from him._

 _"Go back to sleep." Hermione sleepily muttered letting him kiss her._

 _She didn't protest as she used to but she was too tired to return his attempts for the night._

 _The years had passed and her grown interest towards him had also helped the growth of his disinterest in the outside world._

 _His visits on places where he was likely to get news of Harry and the others became counted, limited and what could be called as close to nothing._

 _He had fully focused on the two of them and the life they were living at the point that he was forgetting that these were all about to end in about a year or so as the mission was to come to an end._

 _And without having the need to travel far to visit Narcissa, Snape had lived a life with Hermione – a life he didn't expect to ever endure and have._

 _"I could barely sleep." Snape murmured under her neck._

 _His hand slowly moved under the sheets, trying to entice her by creating soft and gentle circles along her body._

 _Hermione moaned again but this time, due to the sensation that he was giving her._

 _"Severus, I'm really tired." Hermione said trying to reach for his hand under the sheets to stop him from moving them._

 _Snape evaded her hand easily and he had come to reach the southern area of her and reached for her mound._

 _Hermione's eyes opened and she turned to him._

 _A look of displease and contempt was found over her face._

 _Snape stopped moving his hands._

 _"Please?" Hermione said quietly looking up at him with a determined expression. "I'm just really tired, I can't do this."_

 _Snape stared at her and wondered if there were truth in her words._

 _There had been times for which she used that excuse against him._

 _There were times he let her be and times for which he admittedly, had forced himself to coercing her into another sexual activity she could not avoid or deny him of._

 _"Hermione, I just- "_

 _"Please?" Hermione asked again._

 _She moved closer to him and reached up to him._

 _Snape closed his eyes as her mouth closed in around his._

 _He breathed and sighed as she kissed him warmly and deeply._

 _Their kisses were always warm, deep and something that brought him deep comfort._

 _Her lips were soft and had always been welcoming of him and his advances._

 _Hermione broke the kiss and looked up at him._

 _There were the spark of plea and wonder in her eyes._

 _Snape sighed heavily and moved forward to kiss her forehead._

 _"Go back to sleep." Snape said moving an inch away from her and pulling the sheets closer and securely around her._

 _"Thank you." Hermione mouthed sleepily as she turned away from him and let him secure the blanket around her._

 _Snape lay on his back again and stared up at the blank ceiling overhead._

 _In a few moments, he felt Hermione's breathing pattern change that signified that she had fallen back into her deep sleep._

 _He wanted her tonight as with any other night or moment that he was that close to her._

 _But she didn't want him tonight._

 _There were still nights for which she didn't want him._

 _He wondered if that was something that would never change between the two of them._

 _He had about a year to have her and he knew that perhaps, seven years weren't enough to make her forget of her first love._

 _Seven years weren't ever going to be enough to make her forget of the life she's lived._

 _Seven years were never going to be enough to make her really fall in love with him when he had fallen in love with her in a span of time that he wasn't even aware of._

 _Snape turned to his side of the bed and sighed heavily._

 _He turned his back on her and closed his eyes as he forced himself to sleep instead._

 _All he could hear was the continuous loud spatter of the rain against their cottage._

 _As the rain was too loud and as he was too occupied forcing himself to sleep he had no qualms nor had any idea that Hermione was actually still awake next to him._

 _She had her back against him and her eyes slightly open as she stared at the burning hearth._

 _Quiet and hot tears tears streaming down her cheeks that were half hidden beneath the blanket Snape had secured over her._

 _The years had passed and their relationship had indeed change but even the passing of time couldn't possibly change her completely or rather change her heart._

 _She loved him and she knows that inside her heart._

 _But a big part of her still wanted to go back._

 _A big part of her still believed that she would someday still see Harry and get the chance to talk to him._

 _She was more confused than ever every time she exchanged something intimate with Snape._

 _Because she knows that it was getting harder every day to either ignore or acknowledge her feelings for him that has grown through time._

 _Yet at the back of her mind, there was a boy she knew, could still be possibly waiting for him – a boy she still couldn't erase from her because she knew that he was still deeply embedded in her heart._

The whole room was quiet and embodied nothing but angst and bitterness.

The living room was only slightly lit by the dying fire in the hearth of the fireplace.

The weather outside was cruel and stormy.

The rain spattered hard and loud against the windows of the apartment.

Harry sat alone over their large couch staring at the dancing flames at the heart.

About three empty bottles of firewhiskey lay before him and a fourth bottle was half empty.

Harry took another gulp and drained the glass he was holding in one go.

A few shots of sparks came out from the ends of his wand as he pointed it directly towards the hearth to an imaginary target.

Parchments of sorts from Hermione's case and Snape's trials were scattered along the table, the couch and the carpeted floor.

He had been trying to read through for hours and hours testaments of both sides most especially Hermione's records of the case.

He knew that it was unhealthy for him and even his friends at the department from where he got them knew that it wasn't a good idea for him to read these things.

They weren't only private and illegal to be handed out but was quite mentally unhealthy for him to have these copies and be read over and over again.

But he was Harry Potter and like in all other aspects and terms, he can get what he wants when he wanted them.

As Head Auror and the privileges that came along with his name, Harry was able to get all the copies of documents he wanted.

He wasn't sure why he wanted to read them over and over again knowing that it would only consume him deeper into his anger but he still relished the time from which he read over and over Hermione's testament about the case.

 _How could she verify and testify for Snape and not against him?_

 _W_ ere the evidences and circumstances that happened weren't enough reason to have him thrown at Azkaban and have her testify against the man who didn't only abduct and kept her for years but also sexually assaulted her?

How could she possibly vouch for his name at the Wizengamot and for the world to know?

He wanted to talk to her.

He really wanted to.

He wanted to know what was in her mind – what's in her heart – for him to understand why she does what she was doing.

But something great and overpowering was always rising in his chest the moment he remembers that Snape had taken her and she was vouching for him.

Why couldn't she just be back to her normal and logical self?

Why does she have to protect the man who has taken everything from her?

From the two of them?

Harry screamed.

He threw the half empty glass against the floor where it scattered its contents and its shattered glass all over.

Another scream.

He buried his face in his hands and cried out in both anger and pain.

Why were these things happening to him?

Why were all these things happening to them?

Was he not worth of a happily ever after – after everything that he has sacrificed for the Wizarding World?

Did all his past losses and sacrifices account for nothing?

Was he needed to be left with nothing?

It was only Hermione Granger that he wanted.

It was only the memory of her that has kept him alive all these years – that has helped him to survive and fight stronger against the war that almost consumed the Wizarding World.

He felt so very much alone and abandoned at that very moment.

Hermione wasn't with him and nobody was vouching for him and his cause.

Yes, they were aware of what Snape had done but everyone was willing to merely put his fate at the hands of the Wizengamot and he knew that Draco Malfoy was doing everything he can to ensure that he misses the Dementor's Kiss.

He couldn't let it happen.

Snape had to pay for everything that he has done – for everything that he has taken from him.

A week.

Hermione had a week or so to prepare the wedding with him.

Once the wedding was over, he would have his influence over the Wizengamot in regards to Snape's case.

No, he wasn't sure what he wanted to do with the man because at the moment, taking his life would ensure an end to his suffering and his suffering mustn't be shortened.

He had to focus first on Hermione.

Their wedding must happened and must be finished before he could go towards his next step whatever it may be.

Nevermind how Hermione felt at the moment.

She loved him before, it wasn't unlikely that she would fall back in love with him.

It may take some time but once he's dealt with Snape it would be him and Hermione alone for the rest of their lives and for sure, Hermione would come back to her senses sooner or later and they would finally live happily ever after.

 _"Oh Harry, seriously, we need to go back."_

 _"Come on, it's the weekend, 'Mione." Harry whispered back tangling his fingers around hers across the table. "Just another hour."_

 _"And then we go back and do our homeworks spot on, clear?" Hermione asked back giving in to her present boyfriend's request._

 _"Deal." Harry said smiling widely at her and kissing her hand over the table._

 _They stared at each other, swooning and smothered with one another's affection across the table at the corner spot of Madam Pudifoot's._

 _It was nearly Christmas._

 _Hermione had decided to give in to Harry's request of a date with her after the tragic incident on Katie Bell just the weekend ago._

 _She felt that Harry was stressing out more and more about it and about Draco's present miss-doings for which only he seemed to feel to be happening._

 _She didn't want him to develop some sort of paranoia._

 _And so despite the piled up assignment before the Christmas break, Hermione agreed to go with him for a short date._

 _In truth, she also wanted to go out to take her mind of things._

 _She had been dead scared about what happened to Katie Bell than what she lets on for Harry and Ron to notice._

 _She had noticed Draco staying in the library more often than usual and he was even late in one of the classes that she was with him and without Harry and Ron._

 _She's even heard some of the Slytherins getting annoyed with their Seeker who has missed two important practice sessions for no given valid reason._

 _Draco Malfoy may be tardy at times but he was never actually late for any of their classes in all the years they've known one another._

 _And as far back as she could remember, Draco was always second to her in the grading system of the professors._

 _What could be taking a toll on him that present year for him to act differently?_

 _"Harry?" Hermione asked blinking away her thoughts as Harry gripped her hands harder over the table and pulled her do duck farther from sight of the stairs._

 _Madam Pudifoot had a staircase at the other end of her tea house for which they knew led towards some small inn at the back of it._

 _Harry's eyes were transfixed upon the staircase where two people were descending slowly and quietly._

 _Hermione followed his gaze and her eyes slightly narrowed in surprise and question._

 _Severus Snape was descending the staircase but what was more surprising was the woman that followed him down the stairs – Narcissa Malfoy._

 _"Is that, Draco's mother?" Hermione quietly asked him._

 _"Yes." Harry said, grabbing her forcibly out of the table to transfer to another one that was out of sight from the staircase._

 _They quietly watched as the two of them descended the stairs and watched as Snape moved towards the register table and returned something and handed over what looked like an envelope from the distance they were at._

 _Hermione's eyes widened and she gripped Harry's wrist tightly._

 _"Is he-?" she began to ask but Harry shifted a little from their seats so he could take a closer look._

 _"Yes." Harry whispered back. "They've taken a room for themselves obviously."_

 _Hermione's eyes widened at the thoughts of it._

 _They continued to watch as after paying, Snape turned back to Narcissa and helped her secure her traveling cloak around her._

 _They stood wordlessly for a moment and just stared at one another._

 _Narcissa's face couldn't be seen from where they sat but Snape's expression, no matter how distant was quite evident to them – his face was wearing what looked like a mixture of being somber and angry at the same time._

 _"Come on." Harry whispered as they edged closer the table to squeeze themselves in and see them a bit more._

 _"What would they be doing here?" Hermione wondered as they watched as Narcissa reached forward to hold Snape's arm closely._

 _"What for?" Harry whispered back. "What's obvious, 'Mione?"_

 _Hermione looked up at him and saw what looked like determination of some sort over Harry's face._

 _"They could just be talking here." Hermione said. "This is a quiet place to talk, Harry. Don't judge them."_

 _"Talk?" Harry asked her. "Do you have to talk in a private room when you can get yourselves a table and some cup of coffee?"_

 _Hermione's eyes narrowed._

 _She was trying not to think of it that way towards Narcissa Malfoy._

 _She was still a wife and a mother – she couldn't possibly think of her of any other way no matter of what her name means to the world._

 _"Harry, it's none of our business." Hermione said sighing heavily._

 _She heaved herself up and tugged up over Harry's arm._

 _"Come on, we're wasting time-"_

 _"Wait-" Harry argued tugging her arm back and pulling her with him._

 _Hermione refused to move and pulled her arm away from Harry._

 _Harry looked up at her stern look._

 _"'Mione-"_

 _"This is none of our business." Hermione shot at him. "It's not our business whatever they're doing here-"_

 _"Don't you ever wonder what could be wrong with Malfoy lately?" Harry asked her back. "Are you not curious what's wrong with him?"_

 _Hermione didn't answer._

 _In truth?_

 _Ofcourse she was curious._

 _She had been dead curious and now seeing Snape and Mrs. Malfoy together – that could possibly be the reason Draco seemed different over the year._

 _A family problem may perhaps be taking a toll on the boy who has been bullying her all their Hogwarts life._

 _"It's still none of our business." Hermione insisted her eyes wide at him. "We shouldn't care what the Malfoys are doing with their time and most especially what professor Snape is doing-"_

 _"They're leaving." Harry cut her out turning his head back as they watched Snape and Narcissa leave the tea house._

 _Harry turned back but Hermione was no longer next to him._

 _She was back on their original table and was already packing her things._

 _He quickly went back to her and grabbed her arm to stop her._

 _"Are you done about now?" Hermione angrily asked him._

 _"Hermione-"_

 _"Look, that was none of our business." Hermione said. "I'm sure we're going back to school and you're not going to stop talking about it."_

 _Harry looked insulted but he didn't try to defend himself knowing that it was exactly what he was going to do the moment they get back to the castle._

 _"I'm just concerned that Malfoy is doing something dangerous." Harry shot back at her. "If he has family or Death Eater problems it's taking a toll on him and he's bringing that danger at school."_

 _"I think Dumbledore is aware of what's going on around the castle, don't you think?" Hermione angrily said._

 _Harry opened his mouth but no words came out._

 _It was true, Dumbledore would certainly be aware of everything that was going on within the castle._

 _He wouldn't just let his students or anyone be in danger for some ignorance he could possibly have over his students and staff._

 _He must be aware of everything that everyone is doing – after all, he is the great Albus Dumbledore._

 _"I'm sorry." Harry said yet again gently reaching out for her hand. "I'm sorry. Please don't leave. Let's forget about what we saw today."_

 _Hermione stared at him still fuming in anger._

 _She was sure that Harry wasn't going to just forget what they just saw._

 _Because she wasn't going to._

 _It bothered her for some reason – to see Snape and Mrs. Malfoy descending a stairs together when it was so obvious that they both came from a rented private room._

 _If they wouldn't think of anything about it, what could be so secret that they have to meet outside school or outside the Malfoy Manor?_

 _What could be that important for the two of them to meet somewhere outside of those two premises?_

 _What could be so important between the two of them that they have to meet in secret?_

It was somewhere two in the morning and Snape was woken out of his cell once more.

He had been taken out and dragged back to one of the rooms.

He was no longer getting surprised with this habit that he was being visited at the ungodly hours.

It was very obvious that nobody wanted to know that he was being visited.

His only guesses upon his visitors were upon the way he would be dragged out of his cell by the Aurors guarding him.

If he was taken out in a generous and kind manner, it was very obvious that his visitor was Draco Malfoy.

If he was taken out of his prison with a distinct manner of violence, it would be Harry Potter.

But he was treated neither way half an hour ago.

He was taken out wordlessly which was the case when Harry visited him but he wasn't hurt the way he was when he did visit him.

He was however not treated kindly when Draco visited him and no buffet greeted him upon his entrance at the room.

It was obviously not his godson.

So he could want to visit him at that ungodly hour?

Snape waited for half an hour behind a long table.

He was seated quietly with no word from the Aurors on who wanted to see him or talk to him.

He was left there, abandoned and clueless at what was to come.

He was falling back asleep onto the table when he heard the locks clicking open and he heard male voices.

There was the sound of the door swinging open as his black eyes focused on them, waiting in great anticipation on who would want to see him and speak with him in secret.

It took him a while to grasp the face that came into view and the question in his hand continued as the doors locked closed again and the visitor came to sit in front of him.

"Severus."

Snape stared at the man in front of him.

He wasn't smiling nor did he look angry or violent towards him.

There was an utmost enigmatic expression about his face.

"What are you doing here?" Snape asked him with an honest curiosity over his face.

"You know why I am here."

Silence.

"I do not understand why you're here." Snape simply said. "Speak what you need to speak to me about and leave. I do not wish to stay longer with you."

"Do you not want?"

Snape didn't answer him.

"Very well, let's make this quick and short and in my terms."

"Your terms?" Snape asked him back. "Since when did things ever become in your terms?"

"Since the day I let you have Hermione." Lupin answered him with such angst in his tone.

Snape's black eyes turned to slits at his words.

His fists clenched over the table but he didn't say anything.

He couldn't say anything.

"You let me?" he asked him through gritted teeth. "Let me?"

"Yes." he answered back. "Since the day I let you have Hermione because I expected that you would have taken good care of her and protect her and not take her and bed her."


	56. Chapter 56

_**Author's Notes:**_

 _ **Striking while the iron to write is hot.**_

 _ **Writing, edit and posting and so on and so forth.**_

 _ **This new cafe (yes, a third favourite place to stay and write and just do all the things I have to do) is really good.**_  
 _ **Gives me good vibes and positive energy.**_

 _ **And yes, it has the interior of a Hogwarts library so I think im getting more inspired and productive at this very cafe.**_

 _ **Will most likely be able to do, finish and accomplish a lot of things here.**_

 _ **New atmosphere and good outlook.**_

 _ **I think this place will help to get back to my full-strength and sound body and mind altogether.**_

 _ **Another chapter.**_

 _ **Would love to hear what you think of my previous and this present reveal here.**_

 _ **Please?**_

 _ **Hoping all is better at your end of the world.**_

 _ **Lots of love.**_

 _ **xx**_

 ** _Chapter Fifty Six_**

 ** _Lumos_**

 _Stress was taking a great toll over him._

 _Lupin sat down over the couch in the Burrow._

 _The house was quiet at the moment and only Mr. Weasley and Bill were in the household with him._

 _The rest of the people were at another safeplace that Kingsley has found for them to meet from time to time._

 _The transfer for Harry Potter a few nights ago had been highly unsuccessful and great casualties had taken a roll over them._

 _Mad-Eye Moody was gone._

 _Hedwig had not survived the first strike._

 _George was still at the hospital with the injury he has been left with._

 _Ron was still injured and was suffering at the hospital trying to fight death._

 _Hermione was still nowhere to be found after falling across the waters of London that they had been crossing and where the big crossfire has taken place._

 _And Harry, Harry Potter was in a comatose._

 _The Dark Lord has taken over Gringotts, Hogwarts, the Ministry of Magic and they were trying their best to infiltrate the MaCuSa._

 _Chaos and deaths were everywhere._

 _What were they going to do now?_

 _"Remus?"_

 _Lupin looked up from the living room couch._

 _"Here. You've got to change your bandages after an hour." Bill said entering and laying over a tray of bandage and other tools to clean his wounds._

 _A bandage was wrapped tightly around his forehead and rib area that had been wounded at the previous encounter with the Death Eaters._

 _"Thankyou." Lupin said. "Are you leaving?"_

 _"Yes." Bill said picking up his traveling cloak from the other couch. "I'm going back to the hospital so mum can come home and change with Ginny. Father's going at the Ministry as they have all been sent an owl for some registry."_

 _"They're rounding up the Ministry employees?" Lupin asked as Bill nodded and handed him a note._

 _"Looks like it." Bill said with a somber expression. "An own came in to and this was sent for you as well."_

 _Lupin stared at the sealed parchment with no bearing of a sender at the outside._

 _"Fleur will come home with the mum and Ginny and will probably help make some breakfast. Stay so you can eat with them." Bill said as he prepared to leave._

 _"I'll go back to the hospital once they're here." Lupin said thanking him for the note._

 _Bill nodded at him and heard his father fall for him at their entrance door._

 _"Send a Patronus for any emergency." Bill said staring concernedly at his injured head._

 _"I will." Lupin assured him. "You do the same."_

 _Bill nodded at him and left without another word._

 _Lupin heard them click the locks and place the wards around the Burrow._

 _The house has never been that empty or dark as he has ever remembered._

 _It always housed happy people._

 _The aura of the house had always been boisterous and filled with laughter and happy faces._

 _And at the moment, nothing could be a cause for happiness._

 _Lupin sat back over the couch and stared at the sealed note in his hand._

 _He opened it but it wouldn't tore open._

 _His eyes narrowed._

 _He looked around the parchment and felt the magic that sealed it._

 _It had to be opened by magic as well._

 _Taking his wand out of his pocket, Lupin tapped it once over the parchment._

 _Nothing happened._

 _Two more taps._

 _Nothing._

 _Three taps._

 _Words suddenly appeared at the outside the parchment._

 _"What are you up to?"_

 _Lupin's brows quirked._

 _He knew that handwriting._

 _It took him a moment to realize what he had to do._

 _He tapped the sealed parchment once more while whispering the words he knew would surely open the parchment._

 _"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."_

 _And by magic, the first words disappeared and the sealed parchment slowly opened up and revealed the message hidden inside it._

 _He could not be mistaken by the very familiar scrawl that slowly appeared inside the paper._

 _"Meet me tonight at the place where the Marauders were born."_

 _Lupin read the note three more times and then after it had finally sank in him, the words slowly disappeared._

 _And then as he already expected, the parchment slowly burned into ashes leaving Lupin lost in his thoughts at the message that had been relayed to him._

Seven days.

She had seven days.

Hermione woke up early that morning to find herself at a very busy living room and kitchen.

Harry was up at the kitchens helping Mrs. Weasley with a big breakfast for them all and for a couple of visitors.

A few unknown faces were at the living room having cup of coffee that has been served by Ginny.

They all greeted her happily and were staring excitedly at her over their coffee and parchments and quills.

Hermione walked into the kitchen and was greeted by Harry in his apron.

"Come sweetheart." Harry send quickly wrapping himself around her and planting a deep kiss around her lips.

Hermione moved herself from him and pushed him away but Harry didn't say anything.

She looked around the room and caught Fleur's eyes who was finishing a second batch of sausages in a large pan.

"Morning, dear." Mrs. Weasley said grabbing a plate for her as Harry pulled up a chair for her and settled a platter of pancakes and bacons in front of her.

As the breakfast table was set for her she learned that Mr. Weasley had left with Charlie early for the Ministry of Magic because they had to come home early for their fitting of their suits for the wedding.

Ginny returned to the room with an empty tray to take a large tray this time of some pancakes and bacons to be taken at the living room for the visitors.

Hermione learned that the visitors were actually people to help organize their wedding.

She wondered when the preparations were ever going to stop.

Was Harry planning a wedding so grand he's planning to invite the whole of the Wizarding community?

"Breakfast, sweetheart." Harry said laying a glass of juice over the table wrapping his arm around her waist and stealing another kiss at the side of her check.

"Harry-" Hermione protested as Harry grabbed her arm closer to him.

Harry opened his mouth to react when they both gasped in surprise as a noise was made over the table.

"Sausages are done." Fleur angrily said placing the large platter of the second batch of the sausages over the table.

Others might have missed it but Hermione and Harry certainly did not.

Fleur gave Harry a warning glared after she purposely threw the platter over the table with an angry stance.

"It's going to get cold if you don't eat them now." Fleur spat in her angry French accent.

Harry opened his mouth to say something but Bill came into the room with fresh stacks of the morning paper in his hand.

"News, anyone?" he asked around staring around the room and feeling the tension in the kitchen.

Fleur had turned away from the table and was now starting a second batch of bacons while Mrs. Weasley was finishing off a large pitcher of freshly squeezed orange for the rest of the people.

"Over here." Harry said and Bill threw the paper over his direction.

Hermione slowly and quietly began her breakfast and was merely observant why Harry was very excited to read the paper for the day.

Soon she found out.

There was another announcement that was front page about their wedding

The detailed preparations and the location of the wedding were the headlines.

An exclusive interview on none other than Miss Ginevra Weasley – Maid of Honor of the bride and bestfriend of Harry Potter - who had given the exclusive 'Insider for the Granger-Potter Nuptials' was stashed in a seven page article together with exclusive photographs of the said couple from their Hogwarts years.

A recently taken photograph of Harry and Hermione was plastered all over the front cover of the paper.

Harry removed his apron and excitedly and boastfully read the front page and the first few pages at the middle of the room.

Everyone was listening and were giving feigned excitement and reaction towards him except for Ginny who seemed exceptionally proud that Harry was happy for her interview.

"Boy, Gin." Harry said smiling happily across the full two pages that were filled with their Hogwarts photographs.

"I had to gather old pictures." Ginny said as she tried to avoid Hermione's eyes that were burning at her direction. "Specially the ones from the Triwizard Tournament. Fleur helped me-"

"It was Bill who helped gather those from that Skeeter woman." Fleur angrily corrected throwing the spatula over the sink.

Everyone stared at her direction.

She removed her apron and kissed Bill over the cheek as she grabbed a tray from the other end of the room.

"I will just check if they're done with their coffee or if they need anything more."

And without another were, she stalked out of the room but not without glancing an angry glare towards Ginny's direction.

Hermione could see Ginny slowly sink back over her seat and pretended to focus on her breakfast.

Harry's fists were clenched but he didn't say anything as he continued to look over the photographs.

He pulled Hermione closer to him to take a look at the pictures.

Several pictures were from the back stage of the TriWizard Tournament that Rita Skeeter had taken while Harry was with Hermione.

A few pictures from their dance at the Yule Ball were also featured.

Some were taken by the Gryffindors at a celebration of a Quidditch match and two photographs were taken at the Burrow at a Christmas from which Hermione remembered that Ron had taken himself while Harry and Hermione were standing beneath a mistletoe at one Christmas at Grimmauld Place.

A few pictures were things Hermione had almost forgotten that had been taken years way back.

She couldn't help but feel the nostalgia come and run through her.

"Oh, can you remember this one?" Harry excitedly pointed out.

Hermione took a glance.

It was a picture of her and Harry barely smiling at the library.

It was taken at their second year by Colin Creevey who had been stalking Harry at the time.

"I barely remember this one." Harry said eyes focused on the picture as he tried to remember the day.

"I remember that one." Hermione said with an unconscious smile over her face. "That was the day we were researching for possible speed tactics for you for the upcoming Quidditch Match because they have a new set of brooms that may overpower the Gryffindor Team."

Hermione didn't say anything else after that.

But Harry was staring at her together with some other people at the room.

Hermione seemed to realize the silence around the room.

She looked up and they were staring at her.

Her eyes moved towards Harry and he was staring closely at her.

And for the first time in a very, very long time he gave her a smile.

A genuine smile.

The charming smile she remembers clearly from the boy she had fallen in love with.

"I remember that day now." Harry whispered taking hold of her hand and pulling her to him.

"Harry-"

"I remember that day now, 'Mione." Harry whispered closing his eyes and planting a soft, gentle and warm kiss over her forehead.

He was smiling as he stared at the picture and had placed his hand over hers.

"I remember." Harry said more to himself. "That was the day you took me to the library to read with you any possible tactic we can use against the Slytherins because you were worried they will cheat us out of our victory."

Hermione didn't say anything.

He was still smiling as his emerald eyes stayed at the photograph.

Hermione couldn't help but be tearful at Harry's reaction and the way his eyes remained over the picture.

It was filled with good memories – their memories _together._

She could just feel the happiness filling inside of him at the nostalgia that was brought about by the photograph he was looking at.

And it was the first time in a long time that Hermione didn't remove Harry's hand over hers or felt annoyed or angry at the feel of his hand on hers.

"Lumos!"

Hermione looked up as Bill moved his wand around the room towards the small lamps.

They graciously brightened the room as Bill lit them up.

And at that very moment that Hermione returned her gaze back at Harry who was smiling happily like an innocent child over the pictures, something inside her lit up as well.

For it was also at that very moment that Hermione knew that things were crazier and more screwed up than they already were.

Because she knew that inside her, she desperately wanted Snape taken out of Azkaban.

For she knew that even if that happens, even if she save Snape's life – she couldn't just be with him and have a happily ever after.

For at the depths of her, she knew that she couldn't just look away and break the heart of the boy she had first fallen in love with.

 _"Lumos Maxima!"_

 _The light that ignited from the wand quickly spread from it and down towards the long tunnel that led all the way back at a very old, abandoned and dilapidated space._

 _Lupin tried to think not of the horrors of the Shrieking Shack as he descended the tunnel leading to the room that housed him in his transformation when he was still at Hogwarts._

 _He suddenly realized how bad of an idea it was to be alone in the middle of the night in that secret place with no one else with him and only his wand as his one way of protection for himself._

 _With all the attacks and the deception of the Death Eaters that were roaming around London, he wasn't sure why he even agreed in the first place to this meeting._

 _But he was curious._

 _He had to know some answers, some truths._

 _The walk to the end of the tunnel was exhausting for him now than when he was younger and was accompanied by his friends._

 _He had reached the end of the tunnel in cold sweat and with a heart beating so fast._

 _This could be the death of him and he just walked right into it._

 _"Severus?" he called out the name clearly as he reached the end of the tunnel and landed himself at the shack._

 _The smell of the old and abandoned place wafted through his nose._

 _There was an eerie silence around him as his own echo faded from the room._

 _He sighed heavily and realized that it wasn't only a stupid idea but a dangerous one._

 _But before he could decide for himself to leave immediately before he was murdered brutally by the Death Eaters who obviously set up the trap, he heard footsteps._

 _They were immediate footsteps and a light was followed by it._

 _He raised his wand, ready to attack and defend himself._

 _"Expelli-"_

 _"It's me!" called out a hoarse voice. "It's me, Lupin!"_

 _Lupin was taken aback and was for a moment blinded by another strong Lumos from the other end of the room._

 _Footsteps descended and soon, Snape came into view._

 _He was holding his wand out with light at the end of it and was breathless._

 _"Severus?" Lupin slowly called out._

 _"It's me, it's me." Snape breathlessly answered him._

 _Lupin stared at the sweating and breathless man in front of him._

 _"Are you alone?" he asked staring at his back and listening for any other movement behind him._

 _"Yes." Snape answered lowering his wand to keep the light off their faces._

 _"Are you sure?" Lupin asked taking a step forward him and making sure his wand was pointed right at his chest._

 _"Yes." Snape answered annoyed. "Lupin, look-"_

 _He looked up and saw that Lupin remained still and unconvinced._

 _He was also armed and ready to attack any moment._

 _"Look, Lupin. I'm the one who asked you to be-"_

 _"Lower your wand." Lupin said in a fierce._

 _"What?" Snape asked coldly. "Why do you want me to-"_

 _"Lower your wand." Lupin slowly repeated._

 _Their eyes met._

 _Snape knew that between the two of them and everything that has transpired, Lupin wouldn't hesitate to fire at him and break a part of his body if not kill him on the spot._

 _"Alright." Snape slowly said bending forward to lower his wand on the floor. "Alright. Just keep that wand off from my face."_

 _Lupin didn't move as he watched Snape slowly lower his wand and slowly kick it forward his direction._

 _Without removing his gaze at him nor lowering his wand, Lupin moved forward and bent over to pick up Snape's wand._

 _"Take a seat." Lupin said nudging his wand towards the dirty and battered old couch behind Snape. "Take a seat, Severus and tell me why you wanted to meet here."_

 _Snape stared at him._

 _His black eyes were filled with what looked like a mixture of anger, panic and sorrow._

 _"Sit down." Lupin repeated in an undertone._

 _Snape, unarmed and threatened by Lupin's wand still directly pointed at him slowly sat back down._

 _"Please just keep that wand off from my face."_

 _"Spill." Lupin said grabbing a chair from across the room and sitting over it. "Why did you want to meet here?"_

 _"Lower your wand, if you please." Snape repeated in concern._

 _Lupin took a look at him and realized how exhausted and defenseless he was before him._

 _He slowly lowered his wand but at enough height to still hit him should he try anything funny._

 _"Why are we here, Severus?" Lupin slowly asked him not taking his eyes off his hands incase he had another wand with him._

 _Snape didn't immediately answer him._

 _He was still trying to catch his breath._

 _He looked like he had literally ran a mile sneaking into the shack._

 _Did he not Apparate, Lupin wondered._

 _Did he go there and reach the place on foot?_

 _"Why did we have to meet here of all places?" Lupin asked him._

 _"Because I have to tell you something that no one else has yet to know." Snape breathlessly answered him._

 _"Tell me something?" Lupin answered him. "Why should I trust you?"_

 _"Because you have to know and understand that what I have to tell you is-"_

 _"Why should I trust you?" Lupin repeated in a dangerous tone lifting his wand for another inch._

 _Snape looked up at him and knew that it would take time for Lupin to trust him first to enable him to tell him what he had to immediately tell him._

 _He had a strict schedule to follow at the moment and Lupin was ruining it._

 _"I ask you." Lupin repeated. "Why should I trust you? You were there when we were attacked-"_

 _"Lupin, it's not the time-"_

 _"I think it's the best time for you to explain yourself, Severus." Lupin said and there was an obvious threat in his voice._

 _Snape still didn't say anything._

 _He was calculating his every word towards the man he decided to trust with the secret he knew._

 _"You were there at the ambush and don't you dare deny it." Lupin whispered. "George has been hit and injured by a dark curse. I know that's a spell you've created back at Hogwarts."_

 _Snape's black eyes lit up._

 _"I didn't mean to-"_

 _"Why are we here, Severus!" Lupin repeated and this time there was obvious anger in his voice. "You're a Death Eater!"_

 _"Listen, Lupin – I –"_

 _"You have endangered the whole Order!" Lupin angrily yelled at him. "You've damaged everyone – you've killed our allies – how can you sit there and-"_

 _Snape angrily stood up and stared down at him._

 _Lupin was fast and had turned back on his feet with his wand pointed directly at Snape's face._

 _Snape knew that he had to make this a short conversation and in his terms._

 _"I'll make this very short and in my terms, Lupin." Snape simply put out in his low voice. "You will sit there and lower your wand as you listen to me because what I'm about to tell you is for the Order."_

 _"For the Order?" Lupin asked him with a mocked tone. "Or for your master?"_

 _Snape didn't say anything._

 _"What have you done that is for the Order?" Lupin angrily challenged him. "As far back as I know, you've done nothing for the Order but kill the rest of us- and what have you done? We are your brothers – Dumbledore trusted you – I trusted you!"_

 _Snape's black eyes glinted._

 _His patience was getting shorter by the moment._

 _"I have Hermione Granger." Snape slowly said with his eyes never leaving Lupin's gaze._

 _Whatever retort Lupin had planned for him had gotten itself stuck in his throat._

 _He stood there, stunned and with eyes narrowed and voice constricted before Snape._

 _The moment that shock him, Snape had used a non-verbal spell and with a flick of his fingers his wand flew back at his hand._

 _He pointed it directly at Lupin's face who still look petrified at what he had just told him._

 _"You what?" Lupin managed to croak out after a moment. "What did you just-"_

 _"I have Hermione Granger." Snape repeated clearly. "And you're here because you're going to have to help me get her back to the Order."_


	57. Chapter 57

**_Chapter Fifty Seven_**

 ** _"Obliviate"_**

"What's with the face?" Draco asked as he settled his things across Snape on the table. "Are you not hungry?"

Snape sat before him, eyes settled over the table over Draco's things but not over the package of lunch he had for him.

"Is everything alright?" Draco asked him slowly.

His eyes had bigger circles and he looked like he was unable to get any sleep at all.

"I'm fine." Snape replied in an undertone. "It's nothing. I just didn't get to sleep well lastnight."

"Neither did I." Draco said. "I spent the night at mum's library and office still looking for what I think should be found back at the manor."

Snape looked up at him and Draco was giving him one of those knowing and scrutinizing glare.

"What do you want me to say?" Snape asked him with a raised brow.

Draco sat down in front of him and stared at him as if waiting for the obvious.

"You know that there's still something you're not telling me and it's not helping you while you're keeping it."

"I'm not keeping anything from you, Draco."

"We barely have a week." Draco stated. "She's going down that goddamn aisle whether we like it or not."

Snape looked away from him, hands firm and tight together over the table.

He pursed his lips, obviously contemplating.

"Draco, look-"

"No, look here." Draco interrupted him. "All the cards have been laid out black and white over the table. Hermione has her guts and soul laid bare all over the place with everything she knows and everything she has to give and give up in order to save _your_ life. She's doing everything – _I am doing everything I can_ –"

"Are you telling me I'm not doing everything I can?" Snape coldly suggested.

"I'm telling you that you're not telling me every bit of the details that you know. Don't you trust me?"

Snape sharply looked up at him.

That was ridiculous.

He trusted the boy with his life.

But there were things he didn't trust himself to tell Draco because he knew that the boy would be more than devastated.

" _Don't you trust me?_ " he asked again.

"There's nothing else to tell, Draco." Snape firmly said. "I've told you everything that has happened and everything there is to know about the ten years."

Draco only stared at him, eyes closely locked at him.

"Look up at me." Draco coldly demanded. "Look up at me, godfather."

Snape was hesitant but he looked back at Draco.

"Put down your defenses." Draco said slowly pulling his wand out from his pocket.

"What?" Snape quietly asked him although his eyes flickered for a swift moment over Draco's wand.

"You heard me. Put down your defenses." Draco said placing his wand over the table where he could clearly see it.

"This is ridiculous, Draco."

"Put _down_ your defenses." Draco slowly muttered each word.

Snape stared at him.

"I've already been checked by the Wizengamot and Ministry on that."

"I know." Draco said. "But they're not aware of the depth and strength of your power to close your mind against their power to go through it to look for evidences of the past."

Snape sat there unmoving as Draco waited.

"We are wasting time, Draco." Snape said unconsciously placing his hands across his chest.

"Just put it down." Draco quietly said. "It's just the two of us in this room and you know that it's just me. It's just me, godfather. There's nothing to be worried about. There's nothing you have hidden in those years that you should still be ashamed of. There's nothing in those years I couldn't handle."

Snape's black eyes flickered at his tone and mention.

"I'm not worried-"

"Then you will show me what's in that head of yours-"

"They've already seen what's in my head – you already know what's in my head-"

"Not everything." Draco said taking the wand from the table. "I haven't seen everything. Put your defenses down and let me see through your mind."

"This is invasion of privacy."

"Invasion of privacy?" Draco incredulously asked him. "Invasion of your privacy? I'm trying to save your life!"

He almost laughed.

Snape looked both nervous and displeased.

"There's nothing in my head you have not yet known or have seen-"

"Then if there's nothing to keep from me. Let me see it all over again!" Draco said and this time his voice was hoarse, cold and demanding.

Snape met the grey eyes.

They were cold and impatient, almost owned once more by the boy that was pure of a Malfoy and no trace of his mother.

Snape looked alarmed now.

Draco was looking and sounding more like his father at the moment.

"Draco-"

"Lower your defenses." Draco whispered standing up and slowly raising his wand and pointing it over his forehead.

Snape, unarmed and stunned sat there wordlessly.

They stared at one another as if waiting and daring the other to make their next move.

Snape pursed his lips and looked closely at Draco.

Something dark passed his expression.

"What are you looking for Draco?" Snape slowly asked him. "You seem to be looking for an answer you already have."

"I don't have answers." Draco said. "That's why I'm searching for them."

"Something tells me it's not random answers you're looking for."

Draco didn't say anything.

He blinked for a moment, a second thought and then he returned to his passive expression.

"I see." Snape whispered sighing heavily and nodding at him. "You're looking for something specific." Snape whispered as his muscles relaxed as he tried to overpower Draco by means of emotions.

"I'm not looking for something specific."

"You are looking for an answer you have already." Snape pointed out. "You only seem to be looking for some _verification."_

Draco didn't say anything.

"Tell me what you are looking for-"

"I will do the questioning here!" Draco suddenly yelled at him. "I am your Defense Council!"

Snape's eyes widened.

Draco advanced, wand closer to his face and his other hand had been banged over the desk.

The frustration, the exhaustion and anger were suddenly all over his face.

He had never seen the boy this angry or frustrated before.

Something was taking a toll over the boy.

"Draco-"

"Just tell me the truth." Draco said. " _Please."_

He was slightly shaking now and his voice constricted in his throat in his attempt to control his anger.

Snape slowly reached for the wand over his face and gently held it at its end.

Draco kept it pointed over him.

"How about you put your defenses down, Draco." Snape slowly instructed keeping his black eyes over his grey ones.

Draco didn't say anything.

"You've said it yourself." Snape slowly said. "It's just the two of us here. Man to man. Godfather to godson. There's nothing to be kept between the two of us for we know one another more than anyone else."

Draco still didn't say anything nor did he lower his wand.

Snape was reminded of the boy he tried to convince years ago to be helped in his mission with the Dark Lord.

"Draco, there's nothing to keep between the two of us." Snape slowly whispered as he gently held the wand pointed over his face. "Why don't you tell me the truth?"

"I'm the one asking you-"

"Tell me what you are specifically looking for."

All refinement and composure was lost from Draco.

He suddenly looked harassed, sleepless and frustrated.

"I'm not your enemy." Snape softly whispered making his features a bit gentler. "I'm your godfather. I'm your ally, Draco."

 _"I'm not your enemy." Snape softly whispered moving closer Draco's bed. "I'm your godfather. I'm your ally, Draco."_

 _"I don't fucking need your help." Draco angrily spat at him. "Get out of the way of my plans."_

 _Snape stared at Draco._

 _He was staring murderously back at him._

 _They were alone in the hospital wing._

 _Draco lay over the bed with nothing but anger and angst over his face._

 _It has been days since the accident or rather encounter with Harry at Moaning Myrtle's bathroom that resulted him to gain serious injury and placed Harry in the line of expulsion._

 _Had Snape missed a second or had been late for another moment, Draco would surely have died off the dark curse that Harry unknowingly placed upon him._

 _Another mishap, another accident._

 _One that nearly killed a life once more._

 _Draco's life._

 _Draco's fingers clenched over the bed sheets._

 _"If you haven't been getting into my way, I have been able to-"_

 _"If I haven't been getting in your way you would have been dead by now." Snape angrily spat at the boy. "Do you know what has hit you? Do you know how to counter-act the curse that Potter-"_

 _"Potter would be dead soon." Draco angrily said. "He would go down the same way that the headmas-"_

 _"Keep your voice down, Draco!" Snape angrily said moving his hand forward as if to clutch his neck._

 _He stopped himself at the last minute._

 _Draco didn't look scared at him._

 _If any, he looked like he was challenging – daring - his godfather to hurt him._

 _"Get out of my way." Draco said angrily shoving his hand away from his face. "You only want my father's glory-"_

 _"Your mother asked me to keep a close-"_

 _"My mother doesn't understand." Draco said. "She doesn't understand that what I am about to accomplish will bring my father back – our family back – to the Dark Lord's-"_

 _"If you make just one – just one little – mistake Draco, it's your life on the line-"_

 _"Mine?" Draco asked. "Or yours?"_

 _"The both of us." Snape angrily said. "But I assure you that it's going to be your head first on that plate before mine."_

 _"I won't let you steal another of our family's glory-"_

 _"I'm not stealing anything from your family."_

 _"You've taken my father's place." Draco said. "Do you want to take another glory to gain my mother?"_

 _Snape didn't know what to say._

 _There was something else in those words._

 _Draco was had meant something else with that._

 _"I don't understand what you're talking about-"_

 _"You think I don't know?" Draco asked him. "You think I couldn't sense you want to take my father's place in our family?"_

 _"Take your father's place in your-"_

 _"I'm not an idiot." Draco said his eyes burning him. "You do want my mother, don't you?"_

 _Snape looked like he had enough of Draco._

 _"You are being pathetic."_

 _"You may have usurped father's place in the Dark Lord's circle." Draco breathed out. "But I won't ever let you take his place at our home-"_

 _"Your mother is my friend." Snape angrily spat at him. "I am doing this because she has-"_

 _"If you mean well – if you really, really want to tend to me as your godson – you will stay away from this mission. You will let me accomplish it on my own. You will not steal my glory."_

 _"I haven't stolen any glory from you nor your family." Snape reminded him. "I'm doing this because I goddamn promised your mother that I will protect-"_

 _"I don't need your protection." Draco said. "I'm not a child. And I certainly am not your child."_

 _Snape's black eyes glinted at him._

 _He moved away from the bed._

 _"I'm doing this – everything – for your mother because she has been a good friend to me." Snape said. "If I had a choice, I would have abandoned you and your family a very long time ago-"_

 _"Then you should have."_

 _Snape stood there, seething in anger._

 _His black eyes passed through the bandages that were covering his wounds that he has procurred from Harry's attack and use of the unknowing 'Sectumsempra'_

 _Now he also still has to deal with Potter's spawn._

 _How in the fucking name of hell did he get hold of his book?_

 _"Your mother didn't abandon me when I needed a friend." Snape spat at him turning away. "I'm not about to do that to her even if it means putting my life on the line to save her ungrateful git for a son."_

 _And then with that, he stormed out of the Hospital Wing with his black cloak billowing behind him._

The morning had mostly been eaten by their first round of errands for the day for the wedding.

For their souvenirs, they had decided upon a small magical Golden Snitch that was tied with a few miniature size books.

It was a sort of keychain that also magically served as some glowing balls that lit up like the _Lumos_ spell.

Harry took one himself from the shop and Hermione couldn't help but smile at the way he seemed to be so fond and happy with it as he played with it as they walked down another few blocks to the next street where they were supposed to get their ordered full batches of invitation.

As expected, in Gryffindor colours and had the magical scent of Hermione's favourite scent all over the special and magical parchment.

"When will you get your gown?" Harry asked as they waited over their table for their ordered lunch. "Are we going to the shop later?"

"They sent a note that it would be ready for fitting by tomorrow." Hermione said. "Fleur offered to accompany me."

Harry's eyebrows slowly raised but he didn't say anything.

"Harry, please don't mind Fleur. She doesn't understand-"

"Exactly." Harry said as he continued to play with the small souvenir in his hand. "She doesn't understand so she better get out of the way."

Hermione slowly reached over the table for his hand.

She gently placed her hand over his.

"Harry." Hermione whispered. "Please?"

Harry looked up at her.

He stared back at her for a moment before resigning into a sigh.

"Fine." Harry said shaking his head. "Make sure you get home before three in the afternoon. There's somewhere else we need to-"

"We won't stay long." Hermione assured him with a small smile. "I promise you that-"

"Let Ginny go with you." Harry said. "I trust she could atleast do that without ruining anything."

It was more of a command than a suggestion.

Hermione nodded at him.

"Where will you be tomorrow?"

"At the Ministry." Harry said. "I need to send out invitation to people there I'm inviting."

He suddenly looked excited again.

He was smiling as he counted off in his fingers the people that he was going to invite.

Hermione only stared at Harry with a small smile.

She couldn't help but be worried about the boy in front of him.

He was acting like a small child who would give an outburst and whine the moment he doesn't get what he wanted.

He wasn't acting normal and Hermione knew that in the future that was still going to be a problem.

Soon enough, two witches returned to their table carrying their ordered lunch.

A bottle of red wine was placed over their table.

"Oh, we didn't order that." Hermione said shaking her head.

She looked back at Harry who shook his head as well.

"Oh no sir, it's from that gentleman." the wizard pointed directly across the room.

They both looked up.

Draco Malfoy sat alone over one of the tables and raised his glass towards them with a benign smile at Harry.

Harry clenched his fists beneath the table.

"Bring that back to that git." Harry demanded taking the neck of the bottle and shoving it towards the wizard.

He looked both scared and hesitant.

"Mr. Malfoy wouldn't want to-"

"I fucking said-"

"Harry, please." Hermione begged holding his outstretched arm down.

He looked back at her and Hermione could see her furious emerald eyes.

"Is this a joke?" Harry spat. "Do you know about this? Have you been telling that git where to follow and stalk us?"

"Ofcourse not!" Hermione indignantly said with a furious and hurt look over her face.

Harry grabbed Hermione's wrist over the table and painfully twisting it.

"We're getting out of here."

"Harry-"

"How's the fine wine?"

They both looked up.

Draco had walked over to their table.

He had gestured for the waited to leave them and he turned back at them once they were alone.

Harry tossed the bottle back over the table and Hermione had to crouched forward to catch it before it crashed over the floor to make a scene.

"Your little gifts aren't endearing and is more than unwelcome, Malfoy." Harry spat at him.

Draco stared at him with a knowing looking but he didn't say anything.

The reaction seemed to have angered Harry even more.

He turned from him then at Hermione who sat by her seat trying to remain calm and still before them.

"It's a little congratulations gift." Draco quietly said looking back at Harry who looked like he was ready to punch him.

"For our wedding?" Harry asked him. "Or for our victory over your godfather who is going to rot and die alone at Azkaban?"

Hermione's eyes shot up at them and she stood up.

Draco stood there, unmoving and quietly staring back at Harry.

A smile appeared Harry's face.

He forcibly grabbed the bottle from Hermione and smiled back at Draco.

"Or perhaps you mean for both?"

"Harry, if you please." Hermione said trying to tug back the bottle from him in alarm.

With Harry's emotional and mental state at the moment, who's telling who what he'd do with it.

"No, Hermione. Let me go." Harry calmly said shoving her hand from him. "Well, Malfoy?"

" _You are beyond repair, Potter."_ Draco said spitefully unable to stop himself. "You're going to force her to marry her and blackmail her that you'd kill Severus if she doesn't marry you?"

"Smart." Harry said without cringing. "Smart. _Very Slytherin_ , isn't it?"

"Do you know-"

"Do I know what?" Harry interrupted him. "That there are laws against that?"

"Harry, Draco – please if you two would just-"

"No, Hermione, Malfoy came here to say something. Let's hear him out."

Harry was looking and smirking at Draco as if waiting for him to give him just one reason for him to take the first strike.

"Yes, there are laws." Draco quietly agreed. "And you're going-"

"Speaking of laws – are you stalking us?" Harry asked him. "Because if you are-"

"What are you going to do?" Draco cut him taking a step forward. "Put up a restraining order against me?"

"I might just do that." Harry said with a demented look over his eyes. "Would you like me to?"

It was scary.

Harry's eyes were far and different from the warm ones they usually wore and Draco was wearing that Slytherin-like cunning and scheming look over his face. .

Hermione felt more than helpless and frustrated between the two of them.

"I can do whatever I want." Harry slowly said. "I am after all, _Harry Potter_."

"Will you just please fucking stop this!" Hermione said almost screaming as she grabbed the bottle from Harry as his grip slacked around it.

But Harry no longer cared about it.

Neither did Draco.

In a blink, both had drawn out their wards and were both pointing it out although indirectly towards one another.

"How about we take this outside?" Draco asked him out with a smirk.

"Draco!" Hermione said eyes wide at him.

She couldn't believe that she was daring him to go outside with him and have a one-on-one.

She had expected him to have a bit more sense between the two of them.

But for some reason, something had seemingly happened that was pulling Draco back to his old self.

"Yeah, mate." Harry said removing his cloak out and quickly pulling up his sleeves. "Let's have some go at it. I've been waiting for this since our second year."

" _Are you insane?_!" Hermione almost screamed at Harry as he tossed his cloak over while Draco pulled up his sleeves as well.

"Harry! Draco!" Hermione could only scream as the two men had left and abandoned her completely in their small part of the café and had stalked fast and straight out of the door.

Some people stared at their direction especially at Hermione's fast pace and worried look over her face as she screamed for their names.

Hermione followed them out of the café but right at the very moment she reached the door and reached the outside steps of the street, she clearly saw the two of them take their wands around and held hands and together, they Disapparated out onto the street and disappeared from Hermione's clear view of them.

 _"So how is she?"_

 _Snape stared up at Lupin with a reluctant and vague arched on his brows._

 _"I told you." Snape simply answered as he sat down on the opposite couch. "I'm tending to her wounds but something is seemingly wrong."_

 _"Wrong?" Lupin asked. "What do you mean?"_

 _"I've observer her wounds and injuries, in any ordinary case, they're ought to be healing by now. But I do not see progress as fast. Something is off."_

 _"Something is off?" Lupin repeated incredulously. "Ofcourse something is off – she's been attacked by your lot."_

 _Snape's black eyes sharply turned up to him._

 _He opened his mouth to say something when a knock came over their rented room's door._

 _They looked at one another wands quickly at the ready._

 _"Room service." Snape replied standing up and taking out a few galleons from his small black bag at the middle of the room. "Bloody boy is asking for an additional tip. Fuck them all off."_

 _"I'm not hungry." Lupin said watching him walk to the door._

 _He watched in silence as Snape walked to the door and stayed there for a few moments before returning with two packed food back into the room._

 _He placed it over the small circular table and sat back at the opposite couch._

 _"It's not for you." Snape clarified. "She needs to eat something different. We've been living off on barely decent meals and she's not going to heal if that keeps on happening."_

 _"Where is she?" Lupin asked him. "I want to know where she is. And you've told me that this time we're meeting you will bring me to her."_

 _"Be patient." Snape said._

 _"I've been patient." Lupin said. "I've met you twice. Today is our third meeting and all you give me is the progress of her condition and her injuries."_

 _Snape didn't say anything._

 _He couldn't fully rely to him that it was dangerous to bring him where he's taken her and to bring her back to him._

 _"It will take time." Snape slowly said. "It will take time and a full planning to transfer and travel her back. Do you know how closely we are all being monitored?"_

 _"You would know." Lupin sarcastically answered him._

 _They glared at one another._

 _"I'm sorry." Lupin quickly said pocketing back his wand. "It's just very frustrating. Harry's in the hospital and George is injured and a lot of other things are happening-"_

 _"Not just at your end." Snape said. "Do you know how many things are being asked of me and how many things are also happening out there at our side?"_

 _Lupin didn't say anything again._

 _He breathed heavily and stared back at Snape._

 _He could tell how stressful he was and how much he was lacking sleep._

 _"So if you're not here to bring me to her why are we here?" Lupin slowly asked. "Time is ticking. We need to unite her with them."_

 _"I know that." Snape said. "Give me a few days or a week. Let me find out what's wrong with her and then I will give her back to you. I can't just bring her back with whatever Dark Arts might be hovering over her. It may hurt you all-"_

 _"Contagious?" Lupin asked. "You're telling me that she has caught up some Dark Magic that is contagious?"_

 _"Should you not know that already?" Snape inquired at him. "You're a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Surely you've read this somewhere in your sylla-"_

 _"I know my work, Severus." Lupin indignantly said. "How long will this take?"_

 _He didn't answer._

 _They both knew that the answer wasn't something that can just be given._

 _It would take time and Lupin knew that Snape had no idea how long._

 _"What can I do?" Lupin asked instead. "What's the best thing that I can do for them? For her?"_

 _"We need to meet as discreet and much as possible – twice a month if it can be-"_

 _"A lot of thing may happen in a day or two." Lupin interrupted him. "We should meet every week. A progress at your end and our end-"_

 _"I cannot just-"_

 _"You will do this or we end all this truce between the two of us and I consider you a Death Eater again."_

 _"Are you threatening me?" Snape asked him with cold spite at the end of his tongue._

 _"Are you?" Lupin asked him standing up._

 _They both withdrew their wands._

 _"This is ridiculous, Lupin." Snape said._

 _Lupin opened his mouth to say something when something at the outside of the door came again._

 _They both stared at the door and lowered their wands._

 _"Bloody fuck." Snape said. "What's gotten into the boy? I've given him more galleons than he'd earn in three days." Snape said keeping his wand away and turning to the door._

 _But before he could reach it, the lock had magically clicked itself and it slowly swung open._

 _There was silence._

 _It was unnerving and Lupin knew that something was wrong._

 _"Severus?" he quietly asked taking a step towards the hallway._

 _Snape was slowly backing away with his hands raised at the height of his chest with an utmost horror in his black eyes._

 _Lupin slowly reached for his wand inside his robe when a voice so familiar, cold yet calm spoke._

 _"Not a move from either of you. Or we all regret what I'm about to do."_

 _Lupin's eyes turned up and widened as Narcissa Malfoy slowly came into view, walking forward with her long dress robes sweeping the floor with her wand hand raised right up at the height of Snape's chest._

 _Narcissa's eyes were made out of nothing but pure hatred and anger._

 _The colour from Snape's face were slowly fading and this highly alarmed Lupin._

 _Neither of them could take out their wands for they knew how good the lady Malfoy was at dueling garnering her talent from the Black side._

 _"Sit." Narcissa quietly ordered nodding towards the couch. "The both of you._

 _Without a blink or another movement, the two slowly backed down and sat on either end of the long couch while Narcissa sat at the opposite._

 _She was staring at Lupin as if she wasn't sure if she was going to hex him now or give him a chance to explain himself._

 _But she was staring at Snape with a look of pure betrayal._

 _Snape heavily breathed out and was about to open his mouth but Narcissa cut him first._

 _"Wands on the floor. Nothing fun or I swear they will be sweeping this carpet with your bloods on it."_

 _Snape was second guessing but Lupin was unmoving._

 _He was waiting for Snape to do something._

 _"Are you two deaf?" Narcissa asked with a raised brow._

 _Her eyes were glinting in anger especially when she turned to Snape's direction._

 _At the way her lips curled, she was so angry with Snape at the moment that she wasn't sure what to do next if she wasn't too careful and let her emotions rule her out._

 _It was a two on one but the two were hesitant upon lashing out towards a lady and not to mention her skills and ability._

 _"Severus?"_

 _"Lower your wand, Lupin." Snape quietly said pulling his wand out and bending forward._

 _Lupin watched as Snape rolled it over the floor and kicked it gently towards Narcissa._

 _With wandless magic, it flew up towards her palm and she placed it securely inside her robes._

 _"And you?" she asked turning to Lupin._

 _"I'm not going to surrender my wand to you." Lupin said but he looked constricted._

 _"Please give her your wand, Lupin." Snape quietly said. "She's not going to hurt us."_

 _"Really?" Lupin sarcastically asked. "Why? Because she's not marked?"_

 _"Because she's not an enemy."_

 _"Everyone is an enemy." Lupin said turning to Snape with a cold stare._

 _Snape knew that he wasn't fully trusting him but he was the only line and hope for them to see and rescue Hermione once more._

 _Remus Lupin was obviously desperate enough to follow whatever Snape had asked him to do and now it would all crash onto them._

 _"Lower your wand, Lupin." Snape repeated a little gentler this time. "I swear on my life, she's not an enemy."_

 _Lupin still looked conflicted and torn if he was going to comply._

 _A small smile turned up to Narcissa's lips and she shook her head._

 _"I'm losing my patience." she slowly whispered slightly waving her wand. "Are you going to surrender-"_

 _"Lupin, please-"_

 _"Why should I-"_

 _"I swear on my life-"_

 _"No." Narcissa coldly said standing up._

 _She glowered over them and took one step forward and Lupin raised his wand at her._

 _She just stood there staring down at him as if he was some pathetic child begging for some candy._

 _"No, Remus Lupin." Narcissa quietly said. "Give me your wand. I'm not here to hurt either of you."_

 _"Why should I?" Lupin hoarsely said._

 _"I'm not going to hurt either of you." Narcissa repeated as a glint passed her eyes. "I swear it on Hermione Granger's life."_

 _Whatever Lupin was expecting her to do or say, it was definitely not what he had in mind._

 _His eyes widened and his voice was left constricted in his throat._

 _No words were coming out in the shock from the name she had uttered._

 _So it was true._

 _It was bloody true._

 _Snape wasn't bluffing at all._

 _He has Hermione Granger and was keeping her protected and safe._

 _Narcissa Malfoy was an obvious testament and witness on that._

 _Narcissa stood there, hovering and waiting for him to make a move._

 _Snape stared at them both, nervous at what stupidity Lupin could possibly try and do._

 _And then it happened so sudden that Snape barely realized it was actually happening._

 _For a very split moment, Narcissa's eyes turned to him and their eyes met and a familiar glint appeared on her beautiful eyes._

 _Snape opened his mouth to say something – some form of warning perhaps – just as Lupin was already but very slowly edging his wand forward to surrender it to Narcissa._

 _"No-" Snape said warningly more towards Narcissa than to Lupin. "Please, Cissy-don't"_

 _Lupin was distracted at that very moment but before he could withdraw or turn his face at Snape to understand what was happening, Narcissa had drawn her wand out in a very swift movement it was barely noticeable._

 _A suddenly movement, a flash of light and then a barely audible whisper of a spell._

 _"Obliviate."_


	58. Chapter 58

**_Okay._**

 ** _About the story._**

 ** _I've concluded it's going to be only until Chapter 70 unless an epilogue would be necesarry._**

 ** _In this chapter, you guys will get to see and understand how in-depth Narcissa's character really is. LIke how from what seemed like a back character at first did was she able to discreetly slither her way through and manipulate everything around her even without having to show her face to the world._**

 ** _Other than, please do review and let me know what you think._**

 ** _Hope all is well at your end._**

 ** _Lots of love_**

 ** _xx_**

 ** _Chapter Fifty Eight_**

 ** _Beneath the Surface_**

 _"Expelliarmus!"_

Even before Draco could recover to the familiar pull and forceful landing of their Apparition back to the grounds, he wasn't very prepared to be Disarmed by Harry.

He had pulled him to Disapparate which he didn't really account for.

Since he didn't want to be splintered, he merely closed his eyes and tried to relax and calm himself to wherever Harry was taking the both of them.

The twirl and the stomach surging pull of the spell made him want to vomit.

But no, not now.

He landed on hard ground.

An empty sidewalk perhaps.

The moment they've landed, Harry quickly used the Disarming Spell upon him.

He lost his wand and thudded painfully face-first on the ground.

He heard another heavy thud and a groan.

Harry must have landed near him as well and since he prioritized taking his wand than landing himself properly, he too obviously landed painfully over the hard cement.

He felt blood drip at the side of his face as a small cut made its way at the side of his jawline.

There were barely any sounds from what he could only second-guess as streets down.

Great.

They were at an empty street corner.

Harry could kill him in a split instant and nobody would ever know about it.

He doesn't even know where he was.

Again, before he could fully comprehend and focus on what to do next, he heard a sound and a movement and someone had pulled him by the neck.

The next thing he knew, he saw stars as an extremely pain jaw-splitting sensation came upon him.

Harry punched him.

And then another.

Another came next that knocked him back down since it was made right towards his stomach.

Another force and he was pulled off the ground.

But this time around, he managed something at the least.

He blindly wailed his hands around and managed to take hold of Harry's arm.

He grasped it as hard and as painful as he could then scratched himself away from him.

It might have been a less manly move but it certainly help him to be away from Harry.

Before Harry could attempt another attack Draco was prepared.

He blinked away his unfocused visions from the pain and when he saw that he was nearing him again, he kicked as hard as he could.

He hit him hard over his rib area and before he knew it, he heard him groan and fall back over the ground.

Draco scrambled over the ground and dived forward where he heard the sound of Harry's fall.

He dived forward and grabbed him by the collar of his clothes and as hard as he could he punched once, twice and thrice.

He heard Harry cough out so he let him go.

He wanted to hurt him but there was definitely no intention of killing him.

However at the moment that he slackened his grip over him, Harry kicked forward and punched him again over the ribs.

Draco doubled and he fell backward.

Harry spit out the blood from his mouth and cursed.

He cursed as well.

He looked up at Harry and despite his injuries, he looked very determined to take another leap and attack him.

The look over his face were nothing but pure anger and loathing like he could barely imagine.

Harry was all prepared to do this without wands.

Fist to fist brawl had always been a satisfying way to duel with another than the usual wizard's duel.

Harry launched forward with his fist first but Draco managed to pull himself back at the last minute.

Harry missed once and twice.

Draco took the shot and then punched him right back up again over his left cheek.

Harry managed a kick then left him flattened back over the ground.

Soon, they were both on the ground strangling one another as they tried to punch, claw and basically just kill each other off.

Draco was the only one trying to stop him.

He attacked but in a more defensive sort of way.

He called his name once and twice but he didn't heed.

He was determined to finish him off that day.

 _"_ _Why the hell did you finish him off like that?" Snape angrily said. "Why did you fucking do that?"_

 _"_ _I didn't finish him off." Narcissa corrected him as she ungloved her hands and sat calmly over the couch. "I did some damage control."_

 _"_ _Damage control?" Snape angrily asked her. "You fucking Obliviated him! He was the only one who could help me bring her back to them!"_

 _Narcissa looked up at Snape._

 _He was beyond furious._

 _But she wasn't having any of that._

 _No._

 _She wasn't going to let emotions rule her or him out._

 _She was going to take control of everything seeing that Snape could barely contain his emotions and himself._

 _"_ _If you don't goddamn calm yourself down I'm going to hex you as well." Narcissa quietly threatened him._

 _Snape sharply looked up at her._

 _He didn't say anything for he knew what she could really possibly do to him._

 _He slowly lowered his hand down and decided to rest over the opposite couch._

 _It has been two days since Lupin caught them and Narcissa was forced to make him forget everything he's seen._

 _"_ _Where is he now?" Narcissa asked him. "Where did you bring him?"_

 _"_ _I had to dump him somewhere he wouldn't be suspicious of thanks to you." Snape said._

 _He stared at the darkened and old looking room Narcissa rented for them at the small inn._

 _It was one of those nights again._

 _"_ _And how is she?" Narcissa asked._

 _"_ _How is she?" Snape repeated incredulously. "Not very good thanks to your sister and especially thanks to you."_

 _"_ _To me?" Narcissa said with a hint of sarcasm. "I saved her life. Just as I had saved yours."_

 _"_ _I should be thankful?" Snape shot back. "I should be grateful? You destroyed the only living being on this godforsaken place that could possibly help me bring her back."_

 _"_ _You weren't going to bring her back." Narcissa slowly said as if it were a fact. "It wasn't in your plan. I could see it in your eyes."_

 _"_ _See in my eyes?" Snape retaliated at her. "I would like to get rid of her and everything and everyone else so I could fucking live in peace."_

 _"_ _You know you couldn't do that." Narcissa gently reminded him. "Nobody could tend to her and give her needs more than you. You know she has to stay and be kept here until this is over."_

 _"_ _Until this is over?" Snape mocked back. "Until when is that?"_

 _His black eyes glared down at her._

 _She was unblinking, determined to show him that she was not afraid._

 _"_ _Nothing we do is according to plans anymore." Snape slowly said._

 _"_ _Nothing we do will ever be according to plans because of the things that are coming right up at us." Narcissa answered back at him._

 _Another silence._

 _He was contemplating how things were going to be seeing that his chance to help Hermione had just gone out of the window thanks to Narcissa Malfoy._

 _"_ _Things are not according to what we want anymore." Snape quietly said._

 _He looked like he was at the verge of desperate tears._

 _Narcissa sighed heavily._

 _"_ _That's why you calm your arse down because I'm doing all the damage control needed-"_

 _"_ _Damage control?" Snape said standing up. "Damage control? You call all that damage control?"_

 _"_ _What do you think I would have to-"_

 _"_ _You cannot just erase all their memories once they discover us!" Snape angrily yelled at her. "You keep on doing it – you think the answer to everything is erasing all their recollection of this secret they would come to discover-"_

 _"_ _We have no other choice. There is no option-"_

 _"_ _So who are you going to Obliviate next?" he angrily demanded her. "Who are you going to Obliviate next Cissy the moment that someone gets on the way of your plans?"_

 _His black eyes challenged her._

 _He was struggling so hard not to get his wand out of his black robes._

 _Narcissa was as calm as shit from where he could see it._

 _She seemed unfazed and completely unaffected of everything that she was doing._

 _Was she that heartless?_

 _Was she that cold?_

 _Or was she completely oblivious to all the realities around her for as long as she could possibly save her own skin and son?_

 _No._

 _It were really all for Draco._

 _"_ _This isn't just for me." Narcissa quietly said after a while. "I hope you understand that this is not just for me."_

 _"_ _For Draco?" Snape asked back. "For Draco again isn't it?"_

 _Narcissa only shot him a glare._

 _"_ _Severus-"_

 _"_ _You keep using that boy as an excuse but I'm seeing everything differently here at this very moment."_

 _"_ _Differently?"_

 _"_ _You're the only one gaining on all these Cissy." Snape said emphasizing his term of endearment over her._

 _A glint flashed across her eyes._

 _For the first time, she looked affected and angered by his words._

 _She stood up and pulled out her wand._

 _"_ _How dare you." Narcissa quietly said. "How dare you. After everything – after all that I've done-"_

 _"_ _You only want to keep her to keep Draco safe. You removed memories from Lupin so that he wouldn't be able to tell anyone how you're bloody involved-"_

 _"_ _I already am involved here!" Narcissa angrily said. "I already am involved whether I like it or not because it's my sister that has damaged that pretty little Mudblood of yours-"_

 _"_ _Do not call her that!" he angrily yelled taking his wand out too. "Do not use that name!"_

 _They stood against one another, wands pointed at each other's faces._

 _They both looked exhausted and murderous at the same time._

 _Emotions were high and they both looked ready to retire for the whole night._

 _Neither meant what was taking place but there were just too much over their plates at the moment._

 _"_ _We are not enemies." Narcissa slowly said. "You know we are not enemies, Severus."_

 _Snape stared back at her, wand pointed out._

 _His wand hand was slightly shaking and his expression looked completely conflicted._

 _"_ _I have no way out of this." Snape slowly said._

 _His voice was low and desperate and for some reason, it touched Narcissa's heart enough for emotion such as pity to pass her eyes._

 _"_ _I am here." Narcissa slowly answered him. "That's why I am here for you. I am not going to let you endure this alone."_

 _Snape stared at her, all emotions rising over him._

 _There were fear and anger all over his face._

 _Narcissa could almost feel that heavy burden already growing inside of him knowing what he was dealing with and what he would have to come to deal with in the future years to come._

 _She could almost want to take his place instead._

 _If she could only kill her own sister._

 _"_ _Severus.." Narcissa softly whispered her eyes unblinking at him._

 _She could read the burden and suffering weighing_

 _"_ _I cannot do this alone." Snape said in frustration. "I can't."_

 _"_ _I am here." Narcissa softly whispered. "I will never abandon you."_

 _They stared at one another._

 _And then suddenly, they both lowered their wands and gave away to their emotions._

 _They caught one another in each other's arms._

 _Beneath the surface of his cold emotions something has broken down._

 _Narcissa tightly wrapped her arms around Snape in assurance as for the first time in a very long time, a hoarse sound came from his throat and he cried deeply, relentlessly in the arms of his dearest friend without having to hold back any of his emotions._

Back far and far back and miles and miles away from where Harry and Draco were taking their little joust by bare hands, far from where Hermione was terrified looking for help from anyone she could in order to find the other two, away from Lupin who was conflicted into finding a way to fix whatever is there left to fix not only to save Hermione but Snape's life, distances apart from where Snape was quietly jailed in his prison cell in Azkaban and everyone else in between – miles, distanced by waters and a few islands apart lay the little secret that could undo everything that will destroy not just the life of one person.

At the depths of the broken pieces of woods, of the fallen dust and debris of the almost dilapidated and abandoned cottage at Beltane lay the secret and the answer that Narcissa Black Malfoy has left many, many years ago before her death.

Many years ago, at the time where it was unknowing and Snape was unsuspecting, she left something behind.

Something to be found and she hoped to be found at the right time before it destroys the lives of those she has left behind.

 _Beneath the surface it could be found._

At the depths of the cottage of Beltane it is to be found - the smallest and only piece of evidence that could not just save Hermione out of a wedding she was doomed for but the fate of Severus Snape at Azkaban at the hands of the Dementors.


	59. Chapter 59

**_Author's Notes:_**

 ** _This is a long chapter so bear with me._**

 ** _How was your weekend? Mine went well. You?_**

 ** _Reviews are most welcome._**

 ** _Do tell me how have y'all been while I was all away and caught up in my emotional whirlwind. Haha._**

 ** _Chapter Fifty Nine_**

 ** _The Ultimatum_**

" _Are you insane?"_ Lupin incredulously asked Harry throwing over another pack of charmed cloth with frozen water inside it.

Harry looked sharply up at him bit didn't say a word.

He took the compress and placed it over the top of his wounded cheek.

His other hand was heavily bandaged but he was struggling to write something over a parchment that Kingsley placed over the table.

They were at the headquarters of Aurors.

Kingsley was talking to two ministry officials, Draco was at another table tending to his own wounds with the same kind of compress and talking to his old man-servant who came at his aid the moment he was asked to bring someone to bring in some of his legal documents to be checked.

Apparently, the two were facing something illegal to be sorted out and since Kingsley was at the office when the two were taken by two ministry officials who passed by seeing them brawl and attempting to kill one another, Harry couldn't do anything.

Or atleast, at the moment.

The two ministry officials were passing when they were seen down the empty street and quickly went to their air hearing Harry's familiar voice yelling something.

Sooner than the two boys thought, both of them were taken back at the Ministry at the Auror's office and their wands were both taken.

Harry interrupted the procedure to remind everyone he was Harry Potter when Kingsley came and took his wand from him.

Soon, Bill, Hermione and Fleur came and Draco's assistant followed.

They were separated in the office, being asked to sign a couple of papers so they wouldn't have to spend a night at Azkaban and they were both asked on what has happened.

They admitted the fight and Draco admitted he started it and was the one who invited Harry for a duel outside the restaurant and Harry admitted that he had taken Draco into another location and was the first to strike him.

The two were then interviewed separately on their own versions of the story.

There was no discrepancy except that Harry had to insist that Draco was looking for a fight at the restaurant whilst he was merely trying to have a peaceful meal with his fiancé and wasn't interested into the fight he was demanding of him.

"I suggest Hermione stay with us for now." Fleur suddenly suggested glaring at Harry without a blink.

Harry looked up at her but Bill moved Fleur gently aside and stared up at Lupin and at Hermione.

"What Fleur means is that-"

"What I meant is that I think it is safe and better if Hermione continued to stay with us for now. Until the wedding." Fleur stated clearly folding her arms in front of her.

Hermione looked up at her.

She wasn't sure if she wanted to hug her at the moment or tell her to keep quiet as to not anger Harry any further.

"She's coming home with me." Harry simply said returning his eyes over the last few parchments he was signing. "She's my fiancé. She's coming home with me and not with anyone else."

Fleur opened her mouth but Bill gently took hold of her around the waist.

She looked up at him with an angered facial expression.

Bill shook his head in gentle warning.

She sighed heavily and moved herself away from him.

"I'm going to get coffee." Fleur said turning to Hermione. "Do you want to come with me?"

Hermione looked up at her expectantly and opened her mouth to say something when Lupin spoke.

"Go with her." Lupin said walking forward and settling himself next to the table. "We would like to talk to Harry privately."

His eyes bordered over at Draco's direction who was finishing up over his table and was getting ready to leave.

Harry remained still.

He kept his eyes over the documents and didn't say anything at all.

Hermione took it as an opportunity and quickly nodded at Fleur.

Fleur gave Lupin a grateful glance and nodded at Hermione.

She completely ignored Harry who was staring up at her with an expectant gesture.

"Come, you need something to drink." Fleur said and then she said something in French as she haughtily looked back at Harry.

Hermione and Bill's eyes caught one another.

Whatever it was, they both understood it as they knew her language too well.

Harry could swear that he saw that Bill almost smiled after that.

The girls left.

The moment that only the boys were there, Harry stood up to hand over his documents to Kingsley but Lupin pushed him back over his chair with such a force that even Kingsley turned back his attention to them.

The minister looked slightly alarmed but Lupin looked like he was in control anyway.

He was rigidly staring down at Harry with controlled anger all over him.

Harry looked up at him with glinting eyes.

"What the-"

"What the hell it is, Harry." Lupin said crossing his arms over his chest. "You stay there and we'll talk."

Harry's eyes turned sideways at Draco's direction but he didn't say anything.

Lupin looked uncaring anyway whoever heard them at the moment.

Draco looked up at them but didn't do anything.

He continued packing his things but his ears were already eavesdropping.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked him. "What are you talking about?"

Lupin glared down at him.

He towered over Harry and was glowering at him as if Harry had done something extremely bad that deserved detention from him.

"What are you doing?" Lupin questioned back at him. "I expected better from you. I always expected better from you."

Harry gritted his teeth.

He looked around and noticed Draco finish his packing and he began leaving the room.

He was decent enough and mature enough to not want to be there to see it all happen.

Harry waited for him and his assistant to leave before he turned back to Lupin.

Lupin gave Kingsley and Bill a nod and they all left the two of them in the office.

The moment they were alone, Harry stood up and threw the folder with parchments he had signed over the table.

"What the fuck do you want?" Harry angrily said.

He stared up at his old mentor with anger rising inside of him.

Lupin stared back at the boy he had always loved as his own son.

"This is insane, Harry." Lupin said. "You're going out of the line. This isn't right."

"I was having a decent meal with Hermione and he comes-"

"He comes what?" Lupin interrupted him. "He comes challenging you into a brawl? Since when did you ever think that got good results?" he asked him.

Harry didn't answer.

"You're acting like a child-"

"I'm not a child-" Harry yelled at him standing up as he grabbed his cloak over the chair.

"Well you sure are acting like one to me." Lupin spat back at him and pushed Harry back over his chair.

Harry's eyes flashed.

"You goddamn sit down. I am not yet done talking to you." Lupin said through gritted teeth.

Harry stared at him with such hatred in his eyes.

He walked back to the table but didn't sit back over his chair.

"Are you second years?" Lupin asked angrily. "You're not some goddamn Hogwarts students, Harry. You're adults now. You should act like one-"

"Oh yeah?" Harry said. "Why didn't you tell him that? Why do you have to reprimand just me?"

"Because Malfoy is not my problem -"

"And I am-"

"No." Lupin angrily said. "You however is _my_ responsibility."

"Responsibility?" Harry reacted in a mocking voice. "Since when did I ever become your responsibility?"

"Since the day I entered that classroom and I started teaching you."

"You're wrong." Harry muttered. "You are so- _you don't have any right!"_

A glint passed Lupin's eyes.

"Yes. I'm wrong." Lupin said. "You became my responsibility the moment that Lily bore you in that stomach of hers."

Harry watched as he began clearing his things away.

"You're _not_ my godfather." Harry quietly said. "Sirius was."

Lupin looked up at him.

There was intensity in his eyes and a gleam of hurt.

Harry stood there, quietly staring and unmoving.

Lupin looked like there were a lot of things in his mind that he wanted to discuss to him.

"I know you're devastated over what happened to you and to Hermione and I think we all know that Severus deserves more than Azkaban for what he has done – but you cannot just put justice into your own-"

 _"_ _I am Harry Potter!"_ Harry angrily yelled at him standing up with all the anger rising inside of him. "I am goddamn Harry Potter and I will do whatever the hell I want after everything I have sacrificed for all of you!"

He was breathless.

His nostrils dilating and his eyes heavy on Lupin.

His mentor looked back at him with disbelieving eyes.

"Harry, do you think-"

"I don't need you to know what I think and I certainly don't need to know what you think." Harry angrily whispered. "You're not my father. You're not _even_ my godfather."

A flash of hurt passed Lupin's eyes one more time.

His fists clenched but he didn't say anything.

The moment of hurt passed his eyes and he nodded at Harry and turned from him.

"You're right." Lupin said with a small smile. "I'm not Sirius. But I bet that you wished he was the one here with you, right?"

Harry didn't say anything.

A gleam of worry passed his eyes but that quickly vanished.

He took a step forward but stopped immediately when Lupin slightly raised his hand to stop him.

"Sirius was always there with you right?" Lupin said as he packed his things as well. "Sirius – your godfather- yes, he has more right to you than I do so. He was the only one who understood all the fucking time, right? I should have thought about it-"

"Remus, that's not what I-"

"No, Harry." Lupin interrupted him. "I think it's very, very clear what you meant."

"No, Sirius was just – he just understood me in a way that- "

"In a way that I couldn't?" Lupin asked him. "Sirius understood when I couldn't?"

"Professor Lupin-"

"You're right. I'm just your mentor – yes, your father's friend – but nothing that borders more than that like a father for me to have a say on this matter and for you to say that I don't feel for you nor understand you."

For the first time in the years they've known one another, Harry had seen a kind of hurt and anger rise in Lupin's eyes that he has never seen ever before.

"Remus, I only meant-" Harry began but the emotional damage has been done. "Professor Lupin, please-"

"You think I don't get? You think I don't understand your pain in those ten long years?"

"Wait-"

"You think I felt nothing for her, for you - every goddamn single night in those ten years you would cry and wail her name in your sleep?"

His eyes were burning with anger.

Harry couldn't find the right words to tell him to calm down and listen to him.

"You think I didn't suffer as much knowing I was the only father figure left and I couldn't even do anything to ease your pain- to save you and Hermione from everything until today?"

Harry watched him close his bag and grab his cloak from the couch at the other side of the room.

"Remus-"

There was so much spite in his eyes.

His eyes were even burning with much regret.

His face was red in both anger and his struggle not to cry in front of the younger man.

"Professor Lupin, please – I didn't mean-"

"When you were a child, you were a lot like Lily." Lupin slowly said meeting his eyes with a gentle smile at the memory of his mother.

"Professor-"

"And when you were growing up, you seemed and deemed to be a bit more like James." Lupin paused for a moment as if contemplating if she should continue what he wanted to say.

He did.

"And right now Harry, you're just neither of them."

And with that, he left Harry and shut the door with a snap behind him leaving Harry in a more miserable state than he had been in for the past several hours.

 _"_ _Spotless. Right. What to do next?"_

 _Hermione stared over at the couch then all over the living room around her._

 _She had spent two hours cleaning the whole place spotless and moving around the furniture._

 _It didn't make much difference since there was little space and nothing much to move around but it made her feel different and satisfied in a sort of way._

 _She folded her arms and thought about going to the kitchen to work on next or the small spot in their room where Snape usually worked late night._

 _Their bathroom and bed and wardrobe were already clean and organized as she could possibly put it to be so._

 _She's atleast cleaned it twice that morning and had moved things and organized the books in the shelves._

 _The kitchen, the small work spot in their room and Snape's laboratory down the stairs were the places she's not yet touched._

 _Well, his small laboratory was a place she's never really allowed to clean or so._

 _She doubted anyway that there were anything to clean in there since Snape had always been well organized with his things._

 _She's only ever been there for a very few times as far as she could remember._

 _Since she didn't have any injury that needed to be tended to she was no longer allowed in there._

 _She's always wondered why so but never really nagged on about it._

 _The garden outside was ofcourse, already out of the question._

 _The opening of the wards sounded from the outside and Hermione knew that Snape had just arrived._

 _It was just around three in that rainy afternoon and he was back early._

 _He told her he would sell some of his selections but he seemed to be a little early from it._

 _His trips usually lasted a day or longer than three hours._

 _"_ _Severus?" Hermione called out walking to the entry way._

 _He was slightly drenched with the rain with a few bags in his hands._

 _Someone had obviously made good business that day._

 _He looked up at her with a morose look over his face._

 _Hermione quickly walked up to him and helped him out of his traveling cloak the moment he was done with warning the whole place back._

 _"_ _I'll make you a soup or tea?" she asked quickly taking the cloak away from him and wiping his damp face with the sleeve of her dress._

 _Snape only stared down at her and nodded at him._

 _"_ _I'll get a shower perhaps." Snape said walking away from her and down the small corridor._

 _Hermione quickly followed him to the kitchens where he laid the grocery bags he had with him and three others that contained other needs._

 _"_ _I bought you something." Snape quietly said handing her a smaller bag from the rest._

 _Hermione took it and opened it._

 _It contained two new set of clothes and three new books._

 _Her eyes lit up at his take home for her._

 _"_ _Oh, Sev-"_

 _"_ _I'm going to the shower." Snape countered stopping her from making a step towards him._

 _Hermione only nodded at him._

 _"_ _I'll make you something warm to eat." Hermione called out down the corridor as he walked away and vanished up the steps._

 _She listened and heard him shut their door._

 _What has just happened?_

 _He was usually tired after his business trips but was always cheerful when he returned especially when he made good business._

 _And the number of bags in the kitchen told Hermione that he had more than made good business that night._

 _Shoving thoughts out of her head, she placed her bag of new clothes and books back in the living room couch and returned to the kitchen._

 _She looked around and about the bags for something she could use into making some chicken soup for him in that rainy afternoon._

 _He was tired and maybe hungry._

 _The weeks and months had not been easy especially with the times they had both gone down the road of intimacy that were not only accidental at first but had been fulfilling and remorseful later on._

 _But Hermione knew in her that she wasn't going to survive without him and that her emotional strength depended on that man no matter how crazy the arrangement they may be at the moment._

 _But that wasn't something she could care about right now._

 _She was safe and she wasn't harming him in any way that was beyond the boundaries anyway._

 _And he promised to bring her back to them once it was quite safe._

 _He promised her._

 _That was all that matters at the moment._

 _Hermione smiled, contended and hummed to herself as she began dishing out things in the kitchen to make him some soup._

 _Little did she know that at the ends of the largest bag he had were his created potions._

 _They have been untouched and unsold._

 _The client he was supposed to meet that day to buy the potions he had made for more than a week didn't arrive._

 _No note, no nothing._

 _And he couldn't go back home without anything for her._

 _He couldn't go back home with an empty hand and return to a house without refilling their cupboards – let alone, without refiling her heart with happiness._

 _He had stayed for hours all morning at the café where the client was supposed to meet him._

 _Nothing._

 _After hours of thinking and knowing that the client wasn't going to turn up he turned to the struggling thought that had been bugging him the whole day._

 _He decided that it was his only and desperate way to get back home to Hermione without being empty handed._

 _He sent a Patronus to Narcissa._

 _And within half an hour that he had done so, a woman cloaked and had dyed a black here arrived in the café._

 _She had arrived with all the things he needed and more._

 _The last time they met were nothing short of yelling to one another._

 _With Snape's impatience and Narcissa's imperative decision to force him into doing what has to be done ended with them parting with cruel and agonizing words that did hurt the other._

 _But Narcissa had been right with her instinct and her words to tell him that they needed one another._

 _Snape had been stubborn for weeks._

 _But he still ended in the way Narcissa had expected it to be so._

 _She wasn't angry._

 _Her anger for him faded weeks ago; the moment even she stepped out of the inn that had accommodated them in their last meeting._

 _She was only sitting in the manor waiting for him to send her a message._

 _And it had arrived three weeks later._

 _Snape sat back at the café wordless as he was, his black eyes spoke of everything he wanted to say._

 _Narcissa knew and understood him without him having to say anything at all._

 _She reached for his hand across the table and Snape looked away with burning eyes._

 _She held his hand gently and warmly for quite some time until he was able to look back at him with nothing short of a thank you._

 _Narcissa smiled back and let his hand go._

 _In exchange, she gently placed a very thick envelope that contained enough resources to survive him and Hermione for another three months._

 _Her other hand held a few copies of newspaper clippings he always asked of her._

 _"_ _The Dark Lord has fallen." Narcissa quietly said. "My disguise is of no use but it was needed."_

 _Snape's eyes gleamed at the sight of her and the sound of her words._

 _For a very brief moment there was a light of hope that passed his eyes that quickly vanished when Narcissa shook her head at him._

 _She reached for his hands again._

 _"_ _You can't." Narcissa said in barely a whisper. "We both know you can't."_

 _"_ _She will be safer with them." Snape said in what sounded like a desperate attempt to convince her._

 _"_ _She is safest with you." Narcissa simply said after she handed him everything he needed._

 _She quietly stood up and took her cloak preparing to leave._

 _"_ _I cannot do this." Snape desperately said. "Please. Please help me bring her back to them."_

 _"_ _She will be well with you." Narcissa quietly said._

 _Their eyes met._

 _Snape looked as angry and as helpless altogether._

 _"_ _Until I see you again, Severus."_

 _"_ _Cissy." Snape whispered. "Please."_

 _Narcissa looked back at him._

 _"_ _We've already talked about this. You keep an eye on her and I keep a close eye to the world outside for you."_

 _"_ _I cannot do this any longer." Snape said standing up. "I can't – she's – she's not happy-"_

 _"_ _Who says she has to be happy?" Narcissa asked. "She only needs to be safe. And being safe does not always mean you have to be happy, Severus."_

 _A glint passed her eyes._

 _Her patience was waning and Snape knew that this conversation was going to be over soon._

 _"_ _Where is the boy?" Snape asked her. "Did he-"_

 _"_ _He lives." Narcissa said closing the buttons of her cloak. "He lives and has survived. He will look for her I'm sure."_

 _"_ _And what do I do?"_

 _"_ _You do as we've talked about. You keep her, you keep her safe until the time has come when she can go back."_

 _"_ _He will look for her." Snape said. "He will look for her I assure you that."_

 _"_ _Then it's your job to keep it this way." Narcissa said turning to the door and walking away from him._

 _"_ _Cissy-"_

 _"_ _We do things we don't want." Narcissa whispered stopping at the door without turning to him. "we do all of it for a price. But we do them anyway for the greater good and that is all that you have to keep in that brilliant mind of yours."_

 _And with that, Narcissa left him miserable to his thoughts with the envelope of money clutched tightly in his hands._

Three empty bottles of whiskey lay on the carpeted floor by the fireplace.

Harry sat against the head of their couch on the floor holding a half empty whiskey bottle in his hand and a parchment in his other hand.

It was the document that he made Kingsley sign for him to have the legal right as Head Auror to go to the cottage at Beltane and search the place.

Search for what exactly?

He wasn't sure.

But he wanted something, any sort of control over the place that held Hermione for ten long years.

He wanted to control the place that controlled her being for a decade as some form of revenge he couldn't even put into words.

He thought about it over and over why couldn't anyone at all sympathize with him.

Wasn't he a victim?

Wasn't he the one who had a say on things not just because he was the Chosen One holier than thou savior of their world but because he was the victim of Severus Snape?

Could he not seek for justice for what has been done to him?

Towards Hermione?

Couldn't they feel Hermione's trauma and suffering in the courtroom?

Couldn't they understand what she has gone through?

Because as much as her first weeks back with him that she was screaming in her sleep he could only imagine things more than one that Snape had done to her.

Did they not think of those years?

Did they not understand what she could have had endured?

Did she not matter so much or as much to them as to him?

And Lupin – wasn't he the first and only person who could have understood him like no other?

Did he not love her in a way or two before?

Godfather or not, mentor or not – he was the one whom he expected to understand them both above anyone else.

Wasn't he the one who knew Snape above all others?

Couldn't he tell that he is beyond guilty and deserves Azkaban even without a trial?

And Malfoy.

Draco Malfoy was getting in his way and Hermione is even seemingly fond of the way.

Did she forget what he used to call her?

Did she forget what his family thought of her?

Did she forget what he had thought of her all those years?

Why were people moving in a different direction that wasn't in lieu of the justice he desperately clings to gain for Hermione?

He loves her – beyond anything and anyone.

Why couldn't they understand and see that?

She's the only one he has left.

Ten long years of suffering.

Wasn't that long enough to be given justice?

Harry took another long swig from the bottle and the whiskey splurged all over his mouth, chest and clothes.

He angrily threw the bottle towards the fireplace.

He blindly grabbed his wand and pointed at it and it blasted into a thousand pieces in the large fire that appeared and engulfed it.

Hot stream of tears flowed all over his face as he kicked and screamed in anger over the carpeted floor throwing around anything and everything his hands could get on.

Harry lunged his wand hand around.

Pointing spells after another and destroying their own apartment with his recklessness.

He screamed for her; he screamed her name and desperately cried for her name knowing she couldn't hear him.

No.

Not in the ten years he cried and screamed for her name did Hermione hear her desperate cries of longing and despair.

"She doesn't want to eat." Fleur angrily said throwing Hermione's untouched dinner over the sink.

Bill quickly grabbed it before it got dirty and placed it aside so he could eat it later as his third helping.

"Darling-"

 _"_ _Don't darling me."_ Fleur said rolling her eyes. "I told you already that she needed to be saved and all of you-"

Bill grabbed her to him and buried her face in his chest as he tightly embraced her.

He could feel her angry and struggling and cursing him in French.

He let go of her with a smile over his face.

"Not funny." Fleur angrily snapped at him pushing herself away from him but Bill didn't let her go.

"Darling-"

"Not – funny-" Fleur said and then he said something in French that made Bill raised his eyebrow and kiss her over the forehead.

"You can't get me with that." Fleur said although she looked less angry. "I told you she's not well there."

"She's staying here with us for a while then." Bill said kissing her over the forehead again. "She can stay here until the wedding and trial are over."

"She should be here." Fleur said indignantly.

Bill's funny facial expression faltered.

He slowly turned serious and nodded at her.

"I'll write to mom or see her in the morning so she can come over and visit her."

"With Harry?" Fleur asked sarcastically with a raised brow as she folded her arms over her chest.

"Without Harry." Bill said taking her into a warm embrace. "I'll make sure Harry does not come along."

Fleur sighed into his chest.

"We can't protect her forever but at the least we can do something right now." Fleur said looking hopefully up at him. "You've seen it yourself – you saw Harry – he isn't that boy – that boy we've both known-"

"I know, I know." Bill said. "I promise we'll do something about it-"

Bill was interrupted when an abrupt knock came upon their door.

They looked at one another.

It was half past eight in the evening and they rarely ever had visitors - let alone unannounced once.

They looked at one another with a questioning glare.

Their doubtful expressions quickly turned into alarm and before Bill could even take his wand from the counter and Fleur hers from the pocket of her robes they both heard it.

Fast drawn footsteps from the second floor and down the stairs and out down their hallway.

They quickly moved towards their entry way and saw Hermione's blurry image ran past them and her small voice calling out, "I've got the door!" before they heard her skidded into a halt by the door.

They both turned and quickly followed her.

Before they knew it, the door has been opened and Hermione had cried and flung herself into the arms of a young blonde and confused boy by the doorway who held her in his chest with such a confused and shock face at the sight of them and at her actions the moment she opened the door for him.

 _If there was anything she despised at the moment was the sound of the door locking and unlocking and locking back itself simultaneously at the sound if his arrival or leaving presence._

 _She heard his usual and routinary movements from the door – after he locks it, he puts his traveling cloak up and hangs it by the wall, the sound of a jiggling paperbags or so and the familiar footsteps where he would take the bags either to their kitchen or to his office down the basement._

 _He has chosen the kitchen that moment._

 _Hermione sight heavily, gritting her teeth as she sat quietly over their long couch with a book at hand and a pair of shaking fists._

 _"_ _Hermione?" Snape called out to her from the kitchen. "I've got some warm apple pies here for you and a couple of other dishes you might like."_

 _She didn't answer._

 _She could hear his movements in their kitchen that sounded as excited as hungry as he could be._

 _The heavy snow outside continued to test the temperature of the fire in the hearth of their fireplace._

 _Her eyes moved towards it for a split moment before she heard him call her again._

 _"_ _Hermione?" he called out._

 _She heard his footsteps down the corridor and halted at the base of their staircase._

 _"_ _Hermione!" he called up._

 _Movements and she knew that he had gone up the stairs to check on her._

 _The sound of clicking door and another as he obviously checked their bathroom._

 _She heard him momentarily curse as he hurriedly walked down the stairs._

 _"_ _Hermione where the-" he stopped as he passed the living room._

 _The glow from the fireplace called his attention and he saw her shadowy figure casted by the light._

 _She was sitting, reading and unmoving by the couch._

 _She sighed heavily and tried to keep her eyes over her book._

 _"_ _Are you deaf?" he asked her. "Did you not hear me arrive?"_

 _Hermione turned a page of her book and ignored him._

 _"_ _I heard you." Hermione quietly said. "I was reading."_

 _Snape glared down at her._

 _"_ _Did you not hear me call you to dinner?" he asked quietly._

 _"_ _I said, I heard you." Hermione repeated without looking up at him. "I'm reading can't you see."_

 _Silence._

 _And then her book went flying out of her hands._

 _It landed with a loud thud near the fireplace._

 _Her eyes flashed but before she could get up to get it Snape grabbed her by the jaw and forced her to look at her._

 _"_ _What the bloody hell is wrong again?" he asked her._

 _His glare was frightening but her exchanged glare was something else._

 _Her eyes burned him for a reason._

 _Something wasn't right._

 _"_ _Hermione?"_

 _Before he knew it, her hand had cup out of nowhere and she slapped him as hard as she could._

 _He was too shocked to say anything that he let her jaw go._

 _Hermione moved forward and grabbed something from under the small table._

 _With her barefoot, she kicked it towards him._

 _"_ _What the hell?" he asked quietly looking down at the box._

 _"_ _Hell is what this place it." Hermione quietly answered him. "You liar."_

 _"_ _Liar – what are you- "_

 _"_ _Open it!" Hermione angrily said. "Open it!"_

 _He looked up at her._

 _Her eyes were filled with anger and disappointment._

 _Something had gone terribly wrong while he was away for those four long hours._

 _"_ _Hermione-"_

 _"_ _OPEN IT!" Hermione angrily screaming at him while shaking in tears. "OPEN IT!"_

 _Without leaving her gaze, Snape slowly bent forward to pick up the box and slowly took off its lid without even having any guess on what it could be._

 _"_ _You liar – you told me – you told me – it's been almost a year – and you – you just-"_

 _Hermione couldn't even finish her words._

 _Snape's black eyes slowly turned to the contents of the box._

 _For a split moment it his expression was blank and then a momentary gleam of fear passed his eyes._

 _He looked back at Hermione who looked ready to murder him._

 _"_ _You LIAR!" she screamed again. "You liar! You told me – you told me it's not safe – you told me – Harry's been looking for me – Harry – they – they have not forgotten – they don't know!" Hermione yelled at him and with all her might had struck him once, twice over his face._

 _The box fell from Snape's hands as Hermione mercilessly attacked him with bare hands._

 _All the contents scattered all over the floor._

 _They were newspaper and magazine clippings given to him by Narcissa at each moment they saw one another._

 _They were headlines and articles as such about the outside world for the past consecutive weeks and months._

 _The Dark Lord's downfall._

 _Harry Potter's rise from his comatose state._

 _The fallen Order members._

 _The survivors of the war._

 _The fallen Death Eaters._

 _The Death Eaters taken to Azkaban._

 _Draco Malfoy's service to the Ministry of Magic in exchange for all the information he has given them._

 _Ex-governor Lucius Malfoy's sought after trials._

 _The trials of the other Death Eaters and their deaths in number._

 _The Wizarding World rising from the burnt ashes it came from._

 _The glory of Dumbledore's Army._

 _The reinstatement of professor McGonagall as new headmaster of Hogwarts._

 _Hogwarts being rebuilt._

 _Everything about the outside world that she needed and had to know._

 _Everything._

 _His black eyes met hers._

 _He was speechless._

 _He didn't know how to regain himself from this one._

 _"_ _Hermione, I can-"_

 _"_ _I was just cleaning." Hermione said through gritted teeth. "I was just – I thought maybe if I cleared some area I could help you better – with a better environment-"_

 _She was backing away from him to each word she said._

 _"_ _Hermione, please-" Snape slowly advanced but she kept her stance and distance from him._

 _"_ _I thought – no, I'm not going to pry over the things he didn't want me to see or touch – it's his privacy and I respected that-"_

 _A look of sarcasm and pain passed through her face._

 _"_ _Please." Snape begged her. "Please, Hermione – I can-"_

 _"_ _Then there I was, passing through the bookshelves just trying to clean them off and some books fell and then this crack over the floor when I went to pick up the books-"_

 _"_ _Hermione-"_

 _"_ _Then it cracked and looked what I've found-"_

 _"_ _I can explain everything to you – just sit down and –"_

 _"_ _I was going to ignore it all you know – I thought you kept it for a reason, perhaps some privacy – until this called my attention-"_

 _She picked up a small article._

 _A large picture of Draco was over the article and it was a headline._

 _Draco's altered punishment as service to the Ministry of Magic after all the names and facts he has given._

 _"_ _Hermione- "_

 _"_ _Then I thought why would Draco be punished – why would he give service to the Ministry of Magic – he's a Malfoy after all-"_

 _Her eyes glowed differently._

 _"_ _And then I thought about – but I doubt it because you said – you always said so-"_

 _"_ _Hermione, It wasn't something I wanted-"_

 _"_ _You said it wasn't safe out there!" Hermione screamed at him. "You said so! YOU-SAID-SO!"_

 _"_ _Hermione- "_

 _"_ _I believed on that!" Hermione yelled. "And Draco – Draco couldn't be – and then I started opening the box and I saw these- these and – and everything just.."_

 _She could no longer continue._

 _Snape watched as her anger turned into agony and she sank back over the floor, burying her face in her knees as her hands blindly crumpled articles on the carpeted floor that she could reach._

 _Snape didn't know what to say nor do._

 _He was bested and busted beyond he could comprehend._

 _There was obviously no explanation that could save him from this._

 _She's finally found out that after all this time, he has been in touch and kept updated of the outside world._

 _And he told her that they couldn't go back and that they only had each other._

 _What a lie._

 _What a brilliant, beyond brilliant lie._

Snape silently stared at Draco as he entered the visitor's room.

He could see the marks around him and knew already what could have happened.

"Potter?"

"Yes." Draco quietly answered settling himself before him. "But that's not why I'm here."

"Yes?" Snape slowly asked.

Draco only stared at him.

He was quiet.

It wasn't a good sign.

Something must have happened.

He stared at his godson but couldn't see through his thoughts.

He was obviously blocking him.

"Draco?"

"We have very, very little time left." Draco slowly said and he could tell the seriousness in hi tone. "So I'm going to make this quite short and straight to the point."

"I'm listening." Snape answered him with his black eyes unblinking as he stared back.

Draco stared at him and inhaled deeply.

"Hermione will get married in a few days as we know." he slowly began. "The decision on your case will be largely affected by that – in other words, their wedding will result for you to live. If the wedding does not happen, you die at the hands of the Dementors – as simple as that.."

"Clearly."

"Do not interrupt me."

Snape's black eyes flashed at him but he didn't say anything.

Draco gave him an impatient glare.

"Given these, we cannot stop the wedding."

"We can't."

"At the moment at the least." Draco said with a glimmer in his eyes.

Snape raised an eyebrow.

"You are saying?"

"I cannot save Hermione at the moment from getting married to Potter." Draco said. "I can't save her life more than I could save yours. But…" Draco paused, thinking.

Snape waited.

"But if I can find a way – any other way – to give evidence for the last trial, I can save your life thus. We can save hers."

Something like light of hope appeared in Snape's eyes.

But he couldn't understand Draco.

"What do you want?"

"What I need rather." Draco said.

Snape waited.

But Draco merely started organizing his things to leave.

"Draco?"

"Only you can provide the help for your and Hermione's freedom."

"Draco-"

"I do not know what you are still keeping from me. But this is the last time you would see me if you rather that I don't help you or her."

"What are you talking about?"

"We all get tired, godfather." Draco said slinging his bag around his shoulders. "I only came here to tell you that fact and to ask you for the last time – I need an evidence – all of it – to what really happened ten years ago. So I can save you. So we can save her."

Snape couldn't read him but Draco could almost do so to him.

He wasn't stupid.

He knew that his godfather was still keeping something.

As heavy as a burden as it could be, he felt he already had a hunch – a long time ago.

But it was self denial that he wouldn't let himself go to that direction.

But he was an adult and if it was the only way he could save him, he could save Hermione.

"Draco-"

"As we both know, lives perish. Names also do so. There I no need to cling into something that has been gone for so long. It does not matter anymore what would be gone, what would fade nor what would be tarnished. I hope you know and learn that the lesson is what is important is the here and now."

"I would like to help you."

"I don't think you do." Draco said walking to the door. "Don't think of yourself. Think of Hermione. If you loved her as you say so, if you had come through all those years – all those sacrifices, this is the last time she will ask that of you."

Their eyes meet.

"I love her, Draco."

"If you love her and if you loved her still, you will give up but you have been keeping all this time."

"Draco."

"Help her." Draco said turning to the door. "I could only do as much. You have two days."

Snape remained silent and unmoving.

"Whatever you did, whatever you _two_ did - I am more than willing and capable to let it all go and forget it."

His black eyes turned up to her.

"Professor Lupin tells me that it's not going to be easy - that it can almost be unforgivable - but what has happened in the past - _everything about it_ , we can no longer do anything about it. But we can change the future by what we have and how we deal with this present that we have."

"I don't understand-"

"Give me what we need."

"I have given you _everything."_

"You haven't." Draco said with a desperate tone in his voice. "As we both know, memories are not as reliable s they could be. I wouldn't know, really. You wouldn't. But we both know what she can do – what she has been capable of all these years but I believe in one thing."

"One thing?"

"You love her too. Maybe in a different way, but you loved her. And above anyone else I know of you know her. You know her more than I ever knew her."

"Draco-"

"I'm only her son." Draco said opening the door to leave. "But you had a connection with her that _even father_ wouldn't ever have with her – not in a million of chances and years."

Their eyes meet for the last time.

"You have two days. There must be something in there. Something – _anything_ \- between the two of you. Something in there that might help us all."


	60. Chapter 60

**_Chapter Sixty_**

 ** _Dark Magic_**

 _The minutes had turned into hours; the hours into days and into weeks, months and eventually would soon become years._

 _Hermione wasn't stupid._

 _He promised they were going back._

 _He promised that once she was better they were going to go back._

 _The time has gone by and the months had dragged on._

 _Seasons were changing and it all were remaining the same to her._

 _His promise and protection over her had soon gained and turned into a different kind of protection and attention._

 _She hadn't expected it all and up until that moment, she wasn't sure if it was the right thing._

 _But she had to survive._

 _It was her only way to survive._

 _She could and would explain to Harry._

 _He would understand._

 _She knew he would; he loves her deeply and he would always forgive and forget._

 _But until she knows he's alive, until she was sure it was safe to be out there, until she can get out independently out into the open again, she must remain and survive whatever she had at the moment._

 _She was going to endure and survive the days with Severus Snape._

 _Even if it meant that she had to swallow all that were wrong and unspoken between the two of them._

 _Needless to say, he was protecting her and was genuinely taking good care of her anyway._

 _"_ _Galleons for those thoughts?"_

 _Hermione looked up from the book she had not been reading anyway for the past minutes._

 _She looked up and saw her former professor dressing into a pair of black loose shirt and pajamas._

 _She sharply inhaled the smell of soft mint from his shower but she could still smell the hint of firewhiskey from his direction._

 _"_ _Did you drink again?" Hermione quietly asked him as he straightened his shirt down._

 _"_ _It's a potion I'm experimenting on." Snape simply answered her drying his hair with a large towel._

 _Hermione's eyes passed sharply at him but she didn't say anything despite that she was itching to answer 'I'm not an idiot'._

 _She wanted less conflicts and arguments with him._

 _She wanted less of everything between the two of them._

 _Hermione sighed heavily and turned another page of her book as she felt the weight of him over the bed as he climbed the ends of it._

 _She kept her eyes strained over the same line over and over again as he felt her moving around and about and he began to gently pull the sheets from her._

 _She kept it on place._

 _Snape's black eyes moved to her but she didn't look up._

 _He tugged at her._

 _Hermione quickly let go._

 _She inhaled again._

 _She felt his fingers slowly moving up and down her legs beneath her short night dress._

 _Snape made gentle and slow circles and lines around her legs while his black eyes kept a close watch on her – waiting for her reaction, waiting for her body to respond._

 _But Hermione was rigid and had been practicing self control lately._

 _If she wouldn't, sooner or later what had been an accident or unwanted event once or twice would soon be something of a regular between the two of them._

 _Snape moved closer and bent his face forward her leg and gently pressed soft kisses from the side of her knees and up towards the side of her thighs._

 _He smirked._

 _Hermione had bit her lower lip as she was obviously losing control._

 _She tried to remain very still – no movement or body reaction should be made whatsoever._

 _"_ _Hermione." Snape's soft voice spoke as his tender lips moved around her legs, nipping and gently kissing her and blowing softly._

 _Hermione mumbled something incoherently as she turned another page._

 _Her fingers were tight around the edge of the book it would almost tore into pieces._

 _"'_ _Mione." Snape called softly this time as he moved towards her and gently moved his hands beneath the dress._

 _Hermione remained rigid and still but she inhaled sharply again._

 _He slowly slithered his hands beneath her dress and had began caressing her abdominal area, creating circles as he gently moved the tips of his fingers up and began cupping her breasts._

 _"_ _Sweetheart…" Snape murmured against her skin as he pressed kisses along her arm while his hand continued to slither and enticingly caress her breasts on the right spots and places._

 _A loud gap and a sigh._

 _Snape smiled as he watched her close her eyes tightly._

 _It was all that he needed._

 _He moved in and closed the smallest gap between the two of them._

 _His hand had quickly taken the book out from her hands and he threw it mindlessly away from the bed._

 _It landed with a thud on the carpeted floor._

 _Hermione looked up at him with fearful and tearful eyes._

 _"_ _I'm not feeling well." Hermione quickly said as he settled himself between her and was slowly undressing himself, discarding his loose shirt._

 _"_ _I'll make you feel better." Snape softly whispered taking Hermione's hand._

 _Without taking her gaze from her, he gently kissed the inside of her hand and had gently brought down inside his black loose pajamas and settled himself over her._

 _Hermione gently tugged but he didn't let her go._

 _He closed his hand around her wrist and gently still, forced it inside his pants so she could touch him._

 _"_ _Professor-" Hermione stuttered as he disentangled his fingers from her and made her clasp it around his hardened length._

 _"_ _Severus." Snape whispered as he now reached her neckline, planting soft kisses there. "Severus, Hermione."_

 _Hermione inhaled and a trickle of tear ran down her cheek as he forced him to touch him, guiding and goading her hand to rub up and down her long, hard cock._

 _His lips nipped neckline and then slowly moved up to her ears._

 _He breathed against her skin knowing it gave her an enticing sensation._

 _He heard her whimper beneath him but she followed his instructions gently and moved her hands in the direction and pace he wanted._

 _"_ _Yes, sweetheart.." he breathed against her skin, nipping over her earlobe before completely licking her ears._

 _"_ _Please. No.." Hermione finally cried beneath him as he released her hand and let it out of her pants._

 _Hermione moved her hands against him but he held them down gently._

 _He undressed himself completely and soon after, moved to her and began undressing her._

 _He successfully pulled down her undergarment and pulled her dress off her all the while he caressed and kissed her in places she didn't want but for which her body betrayed her._

 _He looked down at her and kissed and licked her tears away._

 _It tasted nothing more than a bittersweet story right there._

 _His mouth moved expressively and expertly on either of her breasts, interchanging mouth and hands._

 _He could hear her struggle in between whimper of protest, cries of unwillingness and gasp of unwanted release of emotion._

 _Despite being logical as ever and the control she had over her mind, Hermione was physically weak._

 _Her body responded accordingly to his wills and wants._

 _She could only cry out of humiliation, pain, fear and anger._

 _"_ _No, please. No, professor." Hermione whispered as he moved and closed his mouth over hers._

 _He interlocked their mouths, savoring her sweet taste and salty tears._

 _He licked her, lapped at her mouth with his fongue as he slowly settled over her, preparing to enter her._

 _Hermione moved her face away from him but he kept it on place – just like the rest of her unwilling body beneath him._

 _Her eyes were tightly shut as tears streamed down._

 _Her mouth helpless to his abuse as the rest of her body._

 _"_ _Sssh." Snape whispered kissing her and biting her lower lip. "Relax, just relax. It's going to be over.. I'll let you have a good sleep." Snape assured her, closing his eyes and reveling in the feeling._

 _He gently settled, moving her legs far apart as they could as he slowly entered her still tight core._

 _Despite having her for an amount of time now, he felt that he hasn't broken through all her barriers – that there were still areas and parts of her that was untouched and kept hidden away from him._

 _But he wanted her – all of her._

 _Despite and inspite of it all, he knew he wanted her._

 _He released her mouth as he gasped while he entered her._

 _Hermione cried out in protest and pain, her arms struggling on either side of her as he pinned them down by his own arms._

 _His elbows were settled on either side of her arms, ensuring she was locked in place with no chance of out or against him._

 _"_ _Please.. please, no!" Hermione cried, shaking beneath him as she struggled._

 _"_ _Sshh.. sweetheart, it's going to be over soon.. ssshhh.. please.." Snape whispered as he moved in and out of her, inhaling deeply and closing his eyes every now and then at the warm sensation he gave her._

 _There was something beyond pleasure whenever he was inside her._

 _He moved slowly and gently at first but as always, he would get lost at the middle of it._

 _His movements became a bit more fast-paced and he rode her soon in a pace that was almost uncaring on his part if he was hurting her._

 _He could hear her cries of pain and pleas but he ignored all of it completely._

 _He closed his eyes, mouth half open as he rode her still, pacing fast, moving up and down and in and out of her, relishing at the pleasure he was having at that very moment and forgetting everything in between._

 _Snape gasp loudly as he released inside of her, shaking involuntarily as his body reached its climax as they collided together making the sounds of pleasure and pain indistinguishable._

 _They both cried out and he released her._

 _He heavily dropped back over her and Hermione struggled, pushing herself from him._

 _Snape moved over to the side with a heartbeat that was like in the race of time._

 _He could barely move his body, let alone open his eyes._

 _He could feel her struggle around the bed, blindly grabbing anything over the bed to cover herself as she cried out._

 _Her whimpers soon turned into full cries._

 _He could even swear that in between of those cries, he heard her call out the boy's name._

 _He closed his eyes as he struggled over at the side of the bed._

 _He could feel the same pain beginning inside of him._

 _But not now, not yet – not until a few more seconds._

 _He moved around, grasping the bottle that was next to their bed._

 _Sighing heavily and forcing himself to move around and about, he took it and turned back to Hermione whose back was turned from him._

 _"_ _Hermione." Snape whispered moving her to face him._

 _She shook her head and moved out of his grasp._

 _He grabbed her arm painfully and forced her to face him._

 _"_ _NO!" Hermione cried out at him. "Please – enough – I can't-" Hermione pleaded as he moved her arms away._

 _He grabbed his wand from the floor to threaten her._

 _Hermione's eyes widned for a moment and she cried harder._

 _"_ _Please.. no.. please." Hermione begged him._

 _"_ _You have to." Snape forcedly said as he moved her to him. "Hold still."_

 _He forced her to face him, painfully grabbing her jaw towards him as he struggled at the same time to uncork the vial in his hand._

 _"_ _NO! Please.. no.. pr-professor S-Snape.." Hermione cried out moving her head away from him._

 _"_ _Come, shush.. Just drink this. It will put you to sleep." Snape assured her, pressing her jawline harder so her mouth would open._

 _But Hermione wasn't stupid._

 _Yes, maybe there was a hint of Sleeping Draught in it to help her sleep as in every time but she was also sure what it really was for._

 _Unwilling but without any choice, Hermione's mouth involuntarily opened up a little and Snape forced it to open wider._

 _She cried out._

 _He tilted the vial and poured all of its contents into her mouth to the point that she was choking and coughing already._

 _But Hermione was a Gryffindor and she wasn't going to go down without a fight._

 _Snape's eyes turned to slits as he realized that she wasn't going to swallow._

 _He moved his hand from her jaw and held her head in one place while his other hand went to her nose and pinched it, closing it in so no air would pass._

 _Hermione cried, gasp, coughed and kicked her way against him._

 _Snape cursed and he moved his long leg over and around to stop her lregs from kicking and struggling against him._

 _He intertwined his leg around hers, locking them tightly in place to ensure no movements from her._

 _Hermione choked and coughed._

 _Soon, she gasped and was forced to swallow all the liquid that had been floating inside her mouth._

 _She gasped for air and she stopped struggling._

 _Snape let her go the moment he was sure that she had swallowed all the potion in her mouth._

 _Hermione's wails drove him over the edge._

 _"_ _Fuck." Snape whispered closing his eyes as the pain inside him grew as well._

 _He turned from her, grabbing his fallen wand and clutching himself tightly as he crawled and had to drag himself towards their bathroom._

 _He could still hear her echoing cries as he struggled with himself and closed the door behind him._

 _He sank back over the floor, resting his bare body against the door._

 _"_ _Si-Silencio." Snape gasped flicking his wand to block all the noise from the other side of the door._

 _She was driving him over the edge and they weren't even halfway to their unwanted future._

 _He hated Narcissa but he hated himself more._

 _Because for all the lies he told her, all the lies he told and convinced himself he knew of one thing – he wanted her._

 _He loved her._

 _And he couldn't bear the thought of losing her._

"Fleur, let's go to bed." Bill said taking hold of her around the waist and kissing her shoulder.

"Are we really sure he's on our side?" Fleur skeptically asked.

They both stood by the doorway, staring quietly at Hermione and Draco who sat by the long couch next to the fireplace and were talking or rather whispering towards one another.

"She says he can be trusted. Then he can be." Bill answered taking hold of her hand.

"I'm not sure about it." Fleur said shaking her head. "I mean, alright ze helped her and all that – but-"

"You're overthinking." Bill said kissing her hand and pulling her into an embrace.

"I'm a woman." Fleur said. "I know men."

"Really?" Bill said with a smirk.

"I'm serious." Fleur said looking up at him. "He's not going to help her all the way if he doesn't like her."

A worry passed Bill's eyes but he shook his head and kissed her over the forehead.

"You worry too much." Bill whispered at her pulling her away from where Hermione and Draco might see them.

"Bill-"

"Professor Lupin thinks that he can be trusted. Let' trust his judgement then if you think that Hermione is very vulnerable and gullible at the moment."

"You think about it." Fleur said eyeing them one last time before walking with him to their bedroom. "He was a Death Eater – and a son of one."

"Fleur-"

"Let's not forget what he used to call her and despite all these conflicts, he's still Snape's godson."

"I thought you trust Snape?" Bill asked her.

"I don't trust him." Fleur said and whispered something in French. "But we all really don't know what happened in those ten years. Like you said, Hermione is vulnerable and gullible at the moment. We can never just trust anyone."

"I'll be alright here." Hermione said as Draco took her mug of hot chocolate and placed it aside. "As long as I'm with Bill and Fleur."

"You could stay at the manor." Draco hopefully offered her. "We can continue looking what we've been looking for."

"I don't think that's a good idea." Hermione said staring away from him. "In any case, we don't even know if there's really anything in the manor that can help us."

"There is." Draco said taking hold of her hand. "I'm sure there I something. Please don't lose hope."

Hermione looked down at his hand covering hers.

Their eyes met.

Draco quickly withrew his hands from her and Hermione kept it a little away from him.

"I'm sorry." Draco said. "I didn't mean to.. I know you don't like being-"

"It's not like that." Hermione said knowing what he was already thinking. "I just don't want anyone thinking that there's something.."

"There isn't anything." Draco said standing up from the couch and moving away from her. "You don't have to tell me."

Hermione looked up at him and could swear that she heard something like spite in his tone.

"Draco?"

"I'm sorry." Draco's voice became gentle again. "We only have two days, Hermione."

Hermione was silent.

Her eyes bored back into the burning hearth again.

"How is he?" she quietly asked after a while. "Does he know everything that's going on out here?"

"I had to tell him." Draco said walking towards the fireplace and standing before it. "He knows everything that is happening. He has to."

"Has to?" Hermione quietly asked.

"If he wants to free you and if he wants to live, he would help us make it all easier."

"I doubt he wants to live." Hermione said in barely a whisper. "I know Severus. He would rather die alone."

Draco didn't say anything.

He knew the truth in that and didn't want to acknowledge it.

It took a moment for Draco to realize that Hermione had been crying silently.

He worriedly turned back to her.

"Hermione." Draco sighed moving to her and kneeling by the carpeted floor before her.

This time, he purposely took her hand into his and Hermione let him.

Her tears streamed gently down her face and she forced herself to not make any sound at all.

"Hermione." Draco sighed taking hold of her hand with both of his.

It eased her surprisingly.

But it didn't stop her from crying.

If any, Draco's surprising presence and physical contact at that very moment comforted her beyond anything she's felt in a very long time.

There was familiarity, comfort and distinguished peace in her when they were together.

"I love Severus." Hermione quietly cried pressing his hands firmly and looking down at him with such shameful eyes.

"I know." Draco whispered back holding her closer. "I know, Hermione."

"But I also love Harry." Hermione cried out.

Soon, Draco had gotten up from the carpeted floor and had taken back the spot over the couch next to her.

He pulled her closer to him and she rested herself against him.

Draco sighed heavily.

He wasn't sure anymore of what to do and this moment was certainly not something he had ever imagined between the two of them in a million years.

He held her tight and she held his hands tightly into hers as if her life depended upon it.

Her face was then buried over his chest and she cried and cried it all out.

In her desperate and agonizing cry, Draco held her tightly, ensuring her even without words that he was there – that he was just there to hold her and make her feel secure and loved .

 _Love._

That was such a strong word in his thoughts towards her.

His eyes now burned with tears he was trying so hard to keep from falling.

He wasn't going to figure out how he felt at that very moment.

That wasn't important at the moment.

What was important was how he was going to save two lives at once.

 _"_ _Are you suggesting we use Dark Magic, professor?"_

 _He looked up at the blonde boy._

 _It was one of the few times he ever recalled the boy calling him by the title._

 _For as far back as he could remember, he never respected him in that way._

 _Perhaps, years did change the boy._

 _"_ _Here." Draco said. "It's not very strong, don't worry."_

 _He looked up s the boy placed a glass of whiskey before him._

 _He barely trusted the boy but there were very little people to trust these days._

 _Lupin nodded and took a sip from the brandy._

 _It tasted like heaven._

 _"_ _One of the finest from father's collection."_

 _"_ _Worth a fortune, I'm sure."_

 _They smiled at one another._

 _It was two in the morning and the meeting had been completely unplanned._

 _But their days were numbered – or rather the days reaching to Hermione and Harry's wedding day._

 _"_ _Do you have any other suggestion?" he slowly asked the boy._

 _Draco sighed heavily and poured his glass full of the whiskey._

 _He took a large swig from the glass and settled it back down._

 _Thinking logically, there weren't much options._

 _Thinking carelessly, it was the only option at the moment._

 _"_ _We can get caught for it." Draco slowly said._

 _"_ _Only if it's uncontrolled." Lupin said. "Kingsley has given rules against all of these. There are bans, yes. But there are rules that may be bent."_

 _"_ _Like?" he curiously asked him._

 _"_ _There are certain casualties from the war and until today – aftermaths – of what were. And some are only curable with a hint of Dark Magic to undo what has been done with is."_

 _Draco was quiet._

 _He has heard of this theory before and has read a couple of books about these back a few years._

 _"_ _What are we looking for?" Draco said. "And what does it have to be me?"_

 _Lupin looked up at him, studying him carefully._

 _"_ _We are looking for things that we know have been taken from us."_

 _"_ _Memories?" Draco suggested causally._

 _He sat opposite him on the couch by the fireplace._

 _"_ _You are not gullible nor ignorant." Lupin said. "I'm quite sure you know the after effects of memories forcibly taken especially with a touch of Dark Magic."_

 _"_ _How sure are you that Dark Magic has been involved in the first place?" Draco questioningly glared back at him._

 _Lupin stared at him but he was patient – he was his professor after all._

 _"_ _An ordinary Obliviation charm would last long – yes and may even be quite permanent. However, if a touch of something else has been used upon casting it – there will be glimpses, broken flashes and memories that come back as if forcing itself out into the open."_

 _"_ _Forcing to rewire the brain and its rightful memories back in place, yes?" Draco asked him._

 _The boy was quick._

 _No wonder that he always came second to Hermione in all of their classes._

 _"_ _Yes." Lupin said. "I had been wondering for quite some time now. And when you told me that something felt – seemed amiss from all of these – "_

 _"_ _When I told you about those dreams.. those memories I do not remember happening but felt so real.."_

 _"_ _Our theories may be right." Lupin said. "But we can only find out if we undo it by the hint of the same charm used upon us."_

 _Draco was silent, seriously contemplating what was happening._

 _"_ _Professor.." his tone was hesitant but they were already on the right track – he could feel it._

 _"_ _Yes?"_

 _"_ _If we are right.." Draco began. "If we are right with our theories.. are we.. will we find out who casted the Memory Charm on us?"_

 _Lupin looked up at him._

 _The boy was obviously curious but it also looked like he already knew the answer to his question._

 _"_ _It will depend on the memory we can undo and the strength of the spell casted."_

 _"_ _And if we can find out?" Draco asked him._

 _There was obvious worry in his eyes and in his tone._

 _"_ _Then we find out." Lupin simply said slowly taking his wand out._

 _A slow glow appeared at the tip of it._

 _Draco was silent, his eyes over his ex-professor's wand._

 _"_ _I can only break enough barriers." Draco said with a small nodded and he slowly took out his wand as well._

 _"_ _You're strong enough to do this." Lupin said with a warm smile. "You've always been good with wand magic, Draco."_

 _He smiled back at him._

 _He has never appreciated this man before and right now, he seemed to be a parental comfort to be around with._

 _"_ _Professor.. what we are about to find out.."_

 _"_ _Whatever we find out, we would keep to ourselves at the mean time." Lupin assured him as he saw the worry over his face. "Only what we need, we would take out and make good use of."_

 _"_ _Will you not judge me for what we may possibly discover?"_

 _Lupin looked back at the boy._

 _Never had he seen much fear, worry or humiliation in the boy's eyes._

 _He was truly sincere in changing his life for the better._

 _"_ _Everyone deserves a chance, Draco."_

 _"_ _I'm not quite sure of that." Draco said with a forced smile._

 _Lupin knew he had just recalled his father._

 _"_ _A last favor before we do this?" Draco asked him._

 _"_ _What do you need me to do, Draco?" he gently asked back._

 _Draco stared at him, worry evident in his eyes._

 _"_ _Whatever we uncover, promise me one thing, professor."_

 _"_ _I'll do my best."_

 _"_ _Obliviate me right after." Draco quietly and seriously said._

 _Lupin's eyes narrowed at his request._

 _"_ _Draco?"_

 _"_ _I need to forget." Draco fearfully whispered. "I cannot help Hermione if I'm too weak- "_

 _"_ _Draco-"_

 _"_ _I have… I have a feeling I know what we would find out.. but I cannot.. not yet at the moment."_

 _"_ _I cannot do that."_

 _"_ _Please." Draco pleaded at him. "I need you to do this. I cannot stay out of focus."_

 _"_ _Only what needs to be Obliviated, Draco. Nothing more, nothing less."_

 _He stared back at him in agreement._

 _"_ _Don't let me remember what it is she has done." Draco heavily sighed. "Not now. Not yet."_

 _"_ _Draco."_

 _Draco looked away for a moment and then he drew out a small movement with his wand before pointing it over Lupin's temple._

 _Before he could even speak or say something else, Draco accepted his silence as a promise and without another word, he muttered an incantation that was drawn out of Dark Magic._

"You have a visitor."

Snape looked up from the darkened cell.

He was seated at the far back wall where the only illumination inside the room was from the ray of the moonlit from the small barred window.

Usually, he was taken out from the cell but tonight, he heard the incantation that opened up the gates of his cell.

He heard footsteps and shadows come closer.

"Mr. Potter, I can't let you and leave you alone with him." the Auror worriedly said.

"I'll be fine." Harry said. "You can take your short break now or you can wait outside. Either way, I can handle this."

"But-"

"I said, I can handle this."

There was silence, and then Snape heard a pair of footsteps ebbed away.

He listened carefully.

After a moment, he heard footsteps and soon enough, Harry Potter came into view.

One look at the boy and he knew that he was drunk as hell.

He wondered how he managed to get himself in that state right at Azkaban.

He was in his Auror uniform and his wand was in his other hand.

He didn't say anything, but his black eyes kept a close watch over his wand hand.

"Cozy here?" his voice quietly asked. " _Lumos."_

Two balls of lit glowed from his wand and floated around them giving a clear view around the room.

"What do you want, Potter?" he asked him quietly.

He could see the intensity in the boy's eyes and could tell the restrained emotions going through his mind.

He may be weak but one look to the boy's vulnerable and open mind told him that he wasn't in a good emotional and mental state.

 _Did Lupin and the rest of the Order knew of it?_

Was Draco doing something about it because his condition was quite alarming by this stage.

"I ask you-"

" _You are in no position to ask any question_." Harry lashed out at him.

A glimmer of light was casted from his wand.

It vanished as soon as it had come.

Snape pursed his lips.

His magic was obviously too connected in his unstable emotions.

Harry waved his hand gently and a chair appeared by the wall.

Snape watched as he quietly moved towards it and sat in silence.

He just sat there for a few minutes, staring at him, closely watching him.

He wondered whether the boy would remain where he was without a word like some sort of insult to him or he would just decide to kill him any moment.

The suspense didn't really bother him.

If any, he had expected this one way or another.

"Did you know I'm getting married in two days?" he slowly asked him.

Snape didn't say anything.

"I asked you."

"I know of it."

"Ofcourse you know of it." Harry said with sarcasm. "You and that blabber mouth. Sometimes I think Malfoy is some woman, you know. Couldn't shut his mouth out."

Snape remained still.

His eyes were focused upon Harry's eyes and then consequently passes his gaze towars his wand.

He may be wandless, but he really wouldn't let him kill him without being on his feet.

"Why are you here-"

"I said you have no right to ask questions!" Harry angrily yelled.

He pointed his wand at his side and blasted the wall off.

Something black and smitten appeared against it although it didn't break due to its quality.

Snape was unmoved.

"I just want to see you before I marry Hermione." Harry answered anyway. " _That feeling.._ of seeing you defeated.. of winning her out."

 _"_ _She's not a prize to be won prize."_

"Not when you're not the one winning her, right?" Harry asked him coldly. "Gods, how I despised your small talks in our classes before. Right. Let's get to business and begin the lesson then."

The pair of emerald eyes darkened.

The pair of black eyes widened.

 _"_ _Crucio."_


	61. Chapter 61

**_Chapter Sixty One_**

 ** _Memoirs_**

 _A definite and deafening scream echoed all over the room._

 _It would have alarmed the whole inn had Snape not casted a Silencing Charm all over the room._

 _Narcissa lay crumbled over the carpeted floor, screaming her lungs out and tears streaking down from her usually cold eyes._

 _Snape sat on the same floor, holding her down as she struggled with the pain inside of her._

 _She was kicking, tugging and clawing on Snape's arms and her eyes were tightly shut and a few dried blood were still visible at the side of her nose._

 _It was their second time experimenting on taking the curse out of her blood._

 _And it was also the second time that it didn't work and only ended this way._

 _Snape already warned her as he had a hunch that the curse in her blood wasn't something curable or to be messed with._

 _But Narcissa wouldn't take no for an answer._

 _He warned her that the results may be unwanted or agonizing or both._

 _But as for what she was, she wouldn't take a crap from anyone – not even Snape._

 _So she forced him to finish the potion that she drained in one go an hour ago._

 _They waited and waited patiently for results._

 _It had been a good and quiet half an hour._

 _Until she started getting dizzy and she threw up once._

 _And then nothing._

 _And then her nose began to bleed and her insides suddenly grew with a pain that resembled her organs being eaten up._

 _She was as good as dead._

 _Snape had brought in a counter-potion to the one she had taken and he hoped against hope that it would work._

 _Judging by the colour of her skin and her eyes, he couldn't tell if the counter-potion would work but she wasn't worsening given the bleeding of the nose had stopped abruptly._

 _But the pain inside her was agonizing._

 _He couldn't even look at her with dry eyes._

 _He held her closely, tightly._

 _He held her still, letting her painfully claw her finger all over him as the pain in her went through._

 _He kept whispering words of comfort to her._

 _But Narcissa was a strong woman._

 _She may scream in pain but she wasn't going down without a fight._

 _It was the most physically agonizing twenty minute of her life._

 _And then it all stopped._

 _Her fingers slackened from Snape's arms and she remained still._

 _"_ _Cissy?" Snape called back alarmingly._

 _He moved her face to him and shook it several times._

 _No movements._

 _He bent closer her to feel and hear her pulse._

 _It was so weak it didn't feel like it was there at all._

 _"_ _Cissy!" Snape called again shaking her._

 _He took her jaw by his hand and shook her several times._

 _"_ _Cissy, wake up!" Snape called in alarm, eyes wide._

 _Part fearful and part angry of himself on why he had allowed this, Snape held her tightly._

 _Until she coughed out._

 _Her skin began to return its usual colour._

 _"_ _Cissy!" Snape called out to her kissing her forehead and gently rocking her back and forth._

 _She coughed again, her hand very weak as it searched for his._

 _"_ _Cissy! Can you hear me – can you-"_

 _"_ _Draco." Narcissa weakly mumbled. "D-Draco.."_

 _Snape kissed her forehead and placed his other arm beneath her white nightdress._

 _"_ _Draco.. I need to-"_

 _"_ _You need rest." Snape said heaving her up and carrying her back to the bed._

 _He gently settled her back and moved the pillows and arranged the blankets around her comfortably._

 _"_ _D-Dr-aco.." Narcissa mumbled again. "I need.. h-he will look.."_

 _"_ _I will bring you first thing in the morning." Snape assured her as he kissed her forehead._

 _He watched her on the bed, falling back into sleep as the after-effect of the strong Sleeping Draught he infused in the potion and possibly out of exhaustion from the pain she's endured._

 _"_ _An hour.." Narcissa said reaching for his hand and forcing her eyes to open. "An..an..an hour.. He will.. he will look.. Draco.."_

 _"_ _You need rest." Snape said. "I will bring you back to the manor when you can."_

 _Narcissa gave one last movement and whispered Draco's name before falling completely back to sleep._

 _Snape stared down at her with burning hot eyes from tears._

 _She was thinner than he'd ever seen her._

 _And despite what they were both going through, despite her emotional turmoil from the result of Lucius' trial and Draco's own disinterest in life and all the physical pain she was enduring due to the curse, she had forced herself to remain strong._

 _It were all still for Draco._

 _She would rather keep him blind of all things happening to her than let him know of her dying state._

 _She loved her on so much that she'd rather endure all that were ugly and disdainful all by herself._

 _She wanted to give Draco only the good and best memoirs of her and keep all that were haunting away from Draco's knowledge._

 _She wanted to take with her all the best and worst of all their memoirs._

 _And she wanted to leave behind only the best of her to Draco and nothing short of it all._

 _How could he say no to her?_

 _How could he say no to the woman who had been there for him despite and in spite all of it?_

 _It was the littlest way possible he could pay her back._

 _He couldn't leave her._

 _He couldn't neglect her littlest of requests out of the many she had given him._

 _He couldn't leave his dearest Cissy._

 _He couldn't bring himself to fail her in any way._

 _Not now, not ever._

 _To hell and Azkaban it may all be._

Bill and Lupin were quietly staring as Harry washed his hands off from the kitchen sink.

His clothes were drenched in sweat and what looked like soil and blood altogether.

Lupin, Mrs. Weasley and Bill were having an early morning coffee when Harry arrived just as Mr. Weasley left for work.

One look at him and Bill and Lupin were already both alert with their wands.

One look at Mrs. Weasley and she quietly nodded and told them to make coffee for Harry while she walked up the stairs to the girls' room.

It was probably better than the girls knew of Harry's arrival and appearance before they come downstairs for breakfast a few hour later.

When Draco left for the night, Fleur offered that Hermione and Ginny sleep with her in their room while Bill sleeps in Ginny's room instead.

Hermione had been too emotionally tired to protest and Ginny who was slowly seeing the turnout of events around them, agreed to follow whatever Fleur, Bill and Lupin thought would help their situation – or rather, Harry's situation.

Despite that Hermione and Ginny weren't as much in speaking term as Fleur and Hermione, they no longer argued nor talked about what has been.

Hermione seemed to care more of her than what she has done even if it placed her in a difficult situation.

It was quite alarming to have Harry arrive an hour early before the sun even rises and looking like he had been from some sort of battle.

Lupin warned them not to ask questions – not yet anyway.

He had not spoken to any of them the moment he arrives except for the time that he greeted Mrs. Weasley a good morning when he told Bill to make coffee for him.

Bill and Lupin were exchanging looks as Harry's back was turned to them.

Lupin kept telling Bill to go up the stairs or get out of the kitchen so he can 'ask' Harry where he has been and why he was looking like he just buried a dead body.

But Bill wasn't comfortable.

He didn't want to leave Lupin alone with Harry given their last encounter that Lupin told them about.

They could only be more than glad that Draco had decided to leave two hours earlier the moment Hermione had finally fallen into a deep sleep.

Before Bill and Lupin could agree upon something, Harry had finished and had turned to them.

His eyes were sunken deep like he had not been sleeping for hours or rather days.

"Can I use Ginny's bathroom?" he asked them.

There was no hint of anything in his tone.

He looked exhausted and sleepy.

"Yes." Bill said. "I also have some extra clothes. Would you like to borrow? I can get you one."

"Yes, thank you." Harry simply answered wiping his hands off from the towel that Bill handed him.

Bill and Lupin eyed one another.

"I'll get the clothes." Bill said giving him a small smile.

"Thanks." Harry muttered grabbing a mug from the cupboards he knew too well.

Lupin quietly watched by the door as Harry moved around the kitchen, grabbing coffee, milk and sorts for his drink.

He had ignored the one that Mrs. Weasley had asked Bill to make for him.

"I'm not here to make any scene." Harry quietly said without looking up at Lupin as he stirred his coffee.

"I didn't say you would." Lupin casually replied.

It was unnerving.

The silence in the room was indifferent and the exchanges of tones – they were quiet yet restrained beyond effort.

They literally didn't meet eye to eye but Lupin was highly alert and Harry still had his wits about him.

"Where have you been?" Lupin calmly asked him.

"Why do you care?" he asked back.

His emerald eyes slowly turned up to him – a deep and dark spark in them glimmered.

It was scary as if he was being possessed.

For a moment, Lupin expected that Harry would say something to emotionally wound him once more.

But he didn't.

Harry heavily sighed and finished stirring his coffee before answering him.

"I worked on a problem." Harry casually said as if they were talking about an overnight job he had to finish for the Ministry.

The _'I worked and took care of a problem'_ wouldn't have sounded so relevant if Harry's mental and emotional condition haven't been alarming lately.

But the way it sounded at the moment – working and taking care of a problem – sounded more like 'I murdered someone' to Lupin.

"Ministry business?" Lupin slowly asked him, closely watching his body language.

Harry had slowly opened a drawer and had taken out a large knife from it.

"Yes." Harry slowly answered him as he held the knife in his hand. "Classified Ministry business."

Lupin quietly nodded at him.

"Would you like a sandwich?" he asked him. "I'm going to make one for myself."

It was disturbing.

The way he held the knife and the way his tone sounded.

"No." Lupin said keeping his ground by the doorway. "I'm good."

"Good." Harry said as he turned from him and began making himself a quick breakfast.

"Do you need help?" Lupin asked him as he opened drawers and cases around the kitchen as if he didn't know what he was looking for.

"No." Harry answered as he took a large loaf and rigidly sliced it into two.

Lupin watched as he threw the knife aside and threw some ready sliced tomatoes, greens, cheese and a few slices of ham from the previous night's container.

Lupin watched in silence and the only sound in the kitchen was the spatter of spread and ingredients that Harry was throwing over his plate.

"I can help you there." Lupin offered again even though he didn't move from where he was.

"I said I'm fine." Harry said in a dead tone. "I've been doing things all my life, professor. I think I can handle making a sandwich for myself."

He finished up and threw everything back in their rightful places making the most annoying sound in the kitchens early that morning.

Lupin walked closer when Harry settled himself behind the chair with his plate and coffee.

Even from a slight distance, he could smell the stench of blood, soil and what smelled like sea water from Harry.

Three guesses where he has been.

"I'm going out with Hermione later." Harry said as he began to chew on his sandwich.

"Yes." Lupin said staring at him. "She's told us about your itinerary with her today."

"One day and hours to go." Harry said with a smile over his face. "I can't wait."

Harry's eyes bore over the cup of coffee before them.

But Lupin saw differently.

His gaze was there but something in the glimmer of it nor in the tone of his voice told him that he was somewhere.

That there was a Harry before him who was disturbed, troubled and slightly scary and then there was the glimmer of the Harry they all knew of.

Had they neglected him this much through those years?

How could he have failed James so miserably?

There was silence between them.

"I have to go." Harry said. "'Mione is going to wake up early. We have a long day. You've seen and tried your suit out, right?"

Lupin turned as he stopped by the door.

Harry was looking expectantly at him – a glimmer of that boy he knew too well was somewhere ein there.

"Yes." Lupin said and he gave him a small smile as he nodded. "Fits perfectly."

"Great." Harry said as he stared up at his beloved mentor and friend. "You have one job on that day."

"I know." Lupin said. "To stand next to my bestfriend's son right down that aisle as he waits for his one true love."

Their eyes met.

Harry smiled at him – the Harry Potter – the boy he knew.

"One job alone." Harry said as he smiled up at him.

"One job alone." Lupin agreed with a smile back at him. "I always had one job, Harry."

Something in their words felt very differently from what they sounded like.

"Your job was never easy." Harry sighed back at him. "And I never belittled it."

"I never said you did." Lupin smiled at him placing his hands over the boy's shoulder.

There was a mixture of raw emotions from Harry's eyes – of pain, disdain and at the same time the look of being grateful and regretful towards the man before him.

"On the day, your job isn't really different from what it has always been." Harry said.

"Eh?" Lupin quietly asked him.

Harry stared back at him as if replaying all the good memories he had with the man.

"On the day, your job is to stand by my side – the father r who always stood by his son's child."

It took a moment for the whole sentence to really sink in Lupin's mind.

It took him a while to recover.

Harry smiled back at him and that smile he has not seen in years has slowly turned away from him as he moved around and about and left the kitchen with Lupin's eyes burning in tears as the boy left him alone.

 _"_ _You called for me?"_

 _"_ _Come in."_

 _Draco slowly entered his mother's room._

 _It was dark and the hue from the sunset made the whole room a bit more depressing than it usually was already._

 _"_ _Are you done packing?" Narcissa stiffly asked Draco without turning._

 _She stood by the window, eyes staring down at her beautiful gardens that was overlooking from the bedroom._

 _"_ _Not yet." Draco dryly answered her as he walked to the middle of the room._

 _Narcissa didn't say anything and Draco couldn't help but wonder what in the one-thousand in one things he has done it could be that seemingly called his mother's attention for her to call her to their bedroom._

 _They usually talked in her office or in the library of the manor._

 _Sometimes when she was in a better mood, she would ask for him to come to her gardens._

 _At some other good or bad times, she would come to visit him in his quarters._

 _But to be called in the master's bedroom was a different story._

 _He was rarely ever invited there especially when his father was around – it was a place of privacy for the King and Queen of the manor._

 _There was only a limited number of circumstances for which he has been allowed or summoned to their bedroom and both were even not the best stories._

 _Draco felt that he had done something severe to be called forth there at that very moment._

 _"_ _When do you plan to begin packing?" Narcissa asked him._

 _In truth, he really didn't want to pack his belongings at all._

 _The war was seemingly at its peak and would soon surely come to its end._

 _It has been three months since the death of the great Albus Dumbledore._

 _The death of him was a failed mission for the Malfoys – or rather for Draco._

 _He had done his best all the last school year to do something – anything – to be able to prove himself to the Dark Lord in the hopes of bringing back the dignity, pride and the name of the Malfoys in the line of the Dark Lord's allies._

 _He had hoped against desperate hopes that he could claim their place after the failure of his father who has recently been taken out of Azkaban only to face the same shame._

 _The war was all-out in the open by now._

 _Deaths were everywhere and the recklessness of his aunt Bellatrix was bringing forth twice the fear to the Wizarding World._

 _She was relishing each and every moment of her duty as the Dark Lord's most loyal lieutenant._

 _But his mother was different._

 _Calculated, restrained and composed as she has always been – she kept their heads above their sinking boat with her wise decisions._

 _She had been making most of the major decisions since Lucius had been punished at his failure in his mission in the Department of Mysteries._

 _And so, in more than a month, Narcissa has decided to bring Draco out of the war._

 _She knew and believed that they can never reclaim their name in the Dark Lord's circle and there certainly wasn't any place or them in the society._

 _But she was Narcissa Malfoy and a Black at that._

 _She has all the money she needs as a Black heir alone if she had a choice to leave it all._

 _But she had Draco._

 _And begrudgingly, she would take the Malfoy money that Draco has rights to and her fair share as the wife of the man who owns it all._

 _What she has will always be Draco's._

 _And with what she has left and resources she can still use, she will do anything to bring Draco out of harm's way._

 _She had settled and decided to bring Draco out of the country whether Lucius wanted it or not._

 _She had decided to take Draco out of whatever the outcome of the war would be._

 _She no longer cared which side won for as long as she can ensure a secured life and future for her only son._

 _"_ _I will finish by tonight." Draco promised her as he walked closer to her mother who kept her back at him._

 _"_ _Then you must not forget all your belongings." Narcissa quietly said with a slight quiver in her voice._

 _Draco didn't miss it._

 _He looked up at her mother in wonder and noticed that she seemingly was holding something in her hands._

 _But before he could even ask her, she sharply turned and faced him._

 _"_ _Then make sure you don't forget to pack away all this trash you've been keeping!"_

 _Draco opened his mouth to ask when something came flying his way his way that went straight and painfully right at his face._

 _The weight and shock of it hit him so hard that his visions blackened out for the briefest of moment._

 _But before he could even completely recover something a bit more painful came his way._

 _The blow of a slap so hard came over his right cheek that he thought his jaw had been realigned._

 _Draco gasped and felt his visions blurring but it was the cry of his mother that came down at him._

 _"_ _HOW COULD YOU!" Narcissa screamed recklessly at him. "HOW COULD YOU, DRACO!"_

 _She was red in the face out of anger, breathless and looked ready to murder her own son._

 _Draco stared up at her and before he could even take a look at what she threw at him, Narcissa grabbed it back from him and hit him twice with it._

 _"_ _I TOLD YOU – I TOLD YOU, DRACO!" Narcissa yelled back at him as she painfully pushed it towards him._

 _Draco stared back at her mother's reckless anger that he didn't understand._

 _And then he grasped the object she was hitting it with._

 _It was one of his oldest school bags – a long, zipped one that he had kept away._

 _His eyes widened in fear and realization._

 _In their tugging, the old and weak zipper slipped open and all of its contents poured out of it._

 _There were scraps of old parchments, pieces of old notes, a very old looking notebook of his, two broken quills, a red scarf and then photographs._

 _Stolen shots._

 _Stolen shots of Hermione Jean Granger._

 _Draco's eyes turned from the objects that scattered all over the floor and back to his mother._

 _His face was pale and he looked ready to run for his life._

 _"_ _Mother-"_

 _"_ _I told you to stop this nonsense!" Narcissa screamed. "I told you that this is going to be the death of you!"_

 _"_ _Mother – please –"_

 _"_ _For fuck's sake, Draco!" she angrily screamed at him as she lost control of everything. "Goddamit, Draco – she's a Mudblood!"_

 _"_ _Do not call her that!" Draco screamed back at her forgetting who he was talking to._

 _Then came another blow._

 _His left cheek now endured the second slap._

 _It was less painful but it still gave him the same dreadful feeling._

 _Caught red handed in the situation, Draco knew that he couldn't lie or reason his way out of this one._

 _"_ _I told you from the very beginning Draco – this nonsense – this – this fascination of yours-"_

 _"_ _It's not fascination!" Draco yelled back at Narcissa and looking very insulted and hurt._

 _Narcissa looked back at him with a mixture of anger and vast disappointment at her own son._

 _"_ _You are my only son, Draco!" Narcissa screamed back at him. "You are my only son and you – you want to die because – because of some stupid, foolish schoolgirl crush-"_

 _"_ _I didn't do anything, did I?" Draco yelled back at his mother._

 _He bent forward to pick up his belongings but Narcissa pulled him by the collar of his suit and pushed him away from all of it._

 _Draco's eyes widened as she pushed him, she had stepped forward and on the photos and over the scarf._

 _"_ _If you - you aren't thinking – I've never – I've always taught you to control your emotions –you Draco – my only boy-–" Narcissa was so angry that she could barely contain herself and complete her sentences_

 _"_ _This is why you failed!" Narcissa said. "This is why – this is why you are half-hearted all along! I told you from the beginning – I told you-"_

 _"_ _AND I TOLD YOU THAT I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" Draco screamed back at him._

 _He looked back at her, arms raised and ready to defend himself because Narcissa raised her hand again._

 _But she didn't hit him._

 _Their eyes met._

 _Draco knew that look from her and Narcissa knew that look from him._

 _"_ _I am trying to protect you – I have – I told you that you can love anyone else –anyone, Draco! Anyone – but you – you cannot – I can't – I won't let you – Draco – my son - you can have anyone else Draco- anyone – anyone but her!"_

 _"_ _Please – I didn't – I don't want to-"_

 _"_ _If the Dark Lord finds out – if the Dark Lord –"_

 _"_ _He doesn't know." Draco said through gritted teeth. "And he wouldn't know because there's nothing to know."_

 _"_ _How could you defy me." Narcissa whispered. "I have dedicated.. I have given you everything."_

 _"_ _I didn't defy you." Draco answered her as tears leaked down from both his eyes. "I never did."_

 _Narcissa was at lost for words._

 _She was so angry that Draco thought her shaking was already a sign of an upcoming heart attack._

 _"_ _Please." Draco quietly pleaded as he cried in front of her. "Mother.. you just.. I would never..."_

 _Narcissa looked back at him with such disappointment in her eyes that he has never seen before._

 _"_ _Please." Draco begged her. "You're the only one I've got."_

 _Draco looked ready to get down on his knees to beg for her forgiveness._

 _A tear fell from Narcissa's eyes that she had been holding back the whole time._

 _Her hands were shaking in fists by her sides as if restraining to hit Draco or embrace the boy._

 _"_ _Mother…"_

 _Narcissa heavily sighed and turned to face away from him._

 _"_ _Keep all these away." Narcissa said in a more controlled voice and manner as she quickly recovered and gained self-control._

 _Draco looked unbelievingly up at her._

 _. "I would go and have the dining hall prepared for dinner."_

 _"_ _Mother-"_

 _"_ _I want this place cleared." Narcissa coldly said. "I want you in the dining within an hour."_

 _And then without another word, she left her own bedroom for Draco to clear his things away._

 _It took him a moment to have the courage to even move a muscle from the encounter._

 _His eyes slowly moved down his fallen belongings._

 _And with a clouded mind and a heavy heart, Draco slowly got down to his knees to pick everything up._

 _From the broken quill Hermione once left when she stayed very late in the library for Snape's essay about werewolves, the Gryffindor scarf that he found over the stands one afternoon where she had sat after watching Harry's practice for the match they lost because of the Dementors, pieces and scraps of her worksheets he had stolen from a pile of old students' checked and recorded worksheets at the faculty room where Snape once left him, an old notebook where all the secrets of his nights were written and then the stolen shots._

 _Hermione and Harry studying for their O.W.L.s at the corner-most part of the library._

 _Hermione studying by herself against the large tree by the lake the weekend that Harry and Ron had Quidditch practice._

 _Hermione happily cheering for Harry as they played against Ravenclaw._

 _Hermione dancing with Krum at the Yule Ball._

 _Hermione sitting alone in a table at the Great Hall while she waited for Krum to get them drinks._

 _Hermione studying alone in the library one very late Friday night and toying with what looked like coins over her table._

 _Hermione reading a book she was about to purchase behind aisles of books in a store at Diagon Alley the day he revisited Burgin and Burkes._

 _Hermione by a corner at Three Broomsticks saving a table for the three of them while the other two finished their purchases at the Weasleys' new shop at Diagon Alley._

 _And lastly, a photograph of Hermione descending the Hogwarts Express that very school year when she doubled back to find where Harry was and why he wasn't with their group descending the train._

 _It was the last photograph._

 _It was his last photograph of her._

 _It may have been creepy or called stalking, but he wasn't at all._

 _Tears leaked down Draco's face as he slowly picked up each and every object and each photograph and placed them all back in his bag._

 _These were chances upon chances he came across her – hidden behind the shadows and taking glimpses of her and eternally keeping memoirs of her in time in fear that it could be the last time he would ever see her again._


	62. Chapter 62

**_Chapter Sixty One_**

 ** _Memoirs_**

 _A definite and deafening scream echoed all over the room._

 _It would have alarmed the whole inn had Snape not casted a Silencing Charm all over the room._

 _Narcissa lay crumbled over the carpeted floor, screaming her lungs out and tears streaking down from her usually cold eyes._

 _Snape sat on the same floor, holding her down as she struggled with the pain inside of her._

 _She was kicking, tugging and clawing on Snape's arms and her eyes were tightly shut and a few dried blood were still visible at the side of her nose._

 _It was their second time experimenting on taking the curse out of her blood._

 _And it was also the second time that it didn't work and only ended this way._

 _Snape already warned her as he had a hunch that the curse in her blood wasn't something curable or to be messed with._

 _But Narcissa wouldn't take no for an answer._

 _He warned her that the results may be unwanted or agonizing or both._

 _But as for what she was, she wouldn't take a crap from anyone – not even Snape._

 _So she forced him to finish the potion that she drained in one go an hour ago._

 _They waited and waited patiently for results._

 _It had been a good and quiet half an hour._

 _Until she started getting dizzy and she threw up once._

 _And then nothing._

 _And then her nose began to bleed and her insides suddenly grew with a pain that resembled her organs being eaten up._

 _She was as good as dead._

 _Snape had brought in a counter-potion to the one she had taken and he hoped against hope that it would work._

 _Judging by the colour of her skin and her eyes, he couldn't tell if the counter-potion would work but she wasn't worsening given the bleeding of the nose had stopped abruptly._

 _But the pain inside her was agonizing._

 _He couldn't even look at her with dry eyes._

 _He held her closely, tightly._

 _He held her still, letting her painfully claw her finger all over him as the pain in her went through._

 _He kept whispering words of comfort to her._

 _But Narcissa was a strong woman._

 _She may scream in pain but she wasn't going down without a fight._

 _It was the most physically agonizing twenty minute of her life._

 _And then it all stopped._

 _Her fingers slackened from Snape's arms and she remained still._

 _"_ _Cissy?" Snape called back alarmingly._

 _He moved her face to him and shook it several times._

 _No movements._

 _He bent closer her to feel and hear her pulse._

 _It was so weak it didn't feel like it was there at all._

 _"_ _Cissy!" Snape called again shaking her._

 _He took her jaw by his hand and shook her several times._

 _"_ _Cissy, wake up!" Snape called in alarm, eyes wide._

 _Part fearful and part angry of himself on why he had allowed this, Snape held her tightly._

 _Until she coughed out._

 _Her skin began to return its usual colour._

 _"_ _Cissy!" Snape called out to her kissing her forehead and gently rocking her back and forth._

 _She coughed again, her hand very weak as it searched for his._

 _"_ _Cissy! Can you hear me – can you-"_

 _"_ _Draco." Narcissa weakly mumbled. "D-Draco.."_

 _Snape kissed her forehead and placed his other arm beneath her white nightdress._

 _"_ _Draco.. I need to-"_

 _"_ _You need rest." Snape said heaving her up and carrying her back to the bed._

 _He gently settled her back and moved the pillows and arranged the blankets around her comfortably._

 _"_ _D-Dr-aco.." Narcissa mumbled again. "I need.. h-he will look.."_

 _"_ _I will bring you first thing in the morning." Snape assured her as he kissed her forehead._

 _He watched her on the bed, falling back into sleep as the after-effect of the strong Sleeping Draught he infused in the potion and possibly out of exhaustion from the pain she's endured._

 _"_ _An hour.." Narcissa said reaching for his hand and forcing her eyes to open. "An..an..an hour.. He will.. he will look.. Draco.."_

 _"_ _You need rest." Snape said. "I will bring you back to the manor when you can."_

 _Narcissa gave one last movement and whispered Draco's name before falling completely back to sleep._

 _Snape stared down at her with burning hot eyes from tears._

 _She was thinner than he'd ever seen her._

 _And despite what they were both going through, despite her emotional turmoil from the result of Lucius' trial and Draco's own disinterest in life and all the physical pain she was enduring due to the curse, she had forced herself to remain strong._

 _It were all still for Draco._

 _She would rather keep him blind of all things happening to her than let him know of her dying state._

 _She loved her on so much that she'd rather endure all that were ugly and disdainful all by herself._

 _She wanted to give Draco only the good and best memoirs of her and keep all that were haunting away from Draco's knowledge._

 _She wanted to take with her all the best and worst of all their memoirs._

 _And she wanted to leave behind only the best of her to Draco and nothing short of it all._

 _How could he say no to her?_

 _How could he say no to the woman who had been there for him despite and in spite all of it?_

 _It was the littlest way possible he could pay her back._

 _He couldn't leave her._

 _He couldn't neglect her littlest of requests out of the many she had given him._

 _He couldn't leave his dearest Cissy._

 _He couldn't bring himself to fail her in any way._

 _Not now, not ever._

 _To hell and Azkaban it may all be._

Bill and Lupin were quietly staring as Harry washed his hands off from the kitchen sink.

His clothes were drenched in sweat and what looked like soil and blood altogether.

Lupin, Mrs. Weasley and Bill were having an early morning coffee when Harry arrived just as Mr. Weasley left for work.

One look at him and Bill and Lupin were already both alert with their wands.

One look at Mrs. Weasley and she quietly nodded and told them to make coffee for Harry while she walked up the stairs to the girls' room.

It was probably better than the girls knew of Harry's arrival and appearance before they come downstairs for breakfast a few hour later.

When Draco left for the night, Fleur offered that Hermione and Ginny sleep with her in their room while Bill sleeps in Ginny's room instead.

Hermione had been too emotionally tired to protest and Ginny who was slowly seeing the turnout of events around them, agreed to follow whatever Fleur, Bill and Lupin thought would help their situation – or rather, Harry's situation.

Despite that Hermione and Ginny weren't as much in speaking term as Fleur and Hermione, they no longer argued nor talked about what has been.

Hermione seemed to care more of her than what she has done even if it placed her in a difficult situation.

It was quite alarming to have Harry arrive an hour early before the sun even rises and looking like he had been from some sort of battle.

Lupin warned them not to ask questions – not yet anyway.

He had not spoken to any of them the moment he arrives except for the time that he greeted Mrs. Weasley a good morning when he told Bill to make coffee for him.

Bill and Lupin were exchanging looks as Harry's back was turned to them.

Lupin kept telling Bill to go up the stairs or get out of the kitchen so he can 'ask' Harry where he has been and why he was looking like he just buried a dead body.

But Bill wasn't comfortable.

He didn't want to leave Lupin alone with Harry given their last encounter that Lupin told them about.

They could only be more than glad that Draco had decided to leave two hours earlier the moment Hermione had finally fallen into a deep sleep.

Before Bill and Lupin could agree upon something, Harry had finished and had turned to them.

His eyes were sunken deep like he had not been sleeping for hours or rather days.

"Can I use Ginny's bathroom?" he asked them.

There was no hint of anything in his tone.

He looked exhausted and sleepy.

"Yes." Bill said. "I also have some extra clothes. Would you like to borrow? I can get you one."

"Yes, thank you." Harry simply answered wiping his hands off from the towel that Bill handed him.

Bill and Lupin eyed one another.

"I'll get the clothes." Bill said giving him a small smile.

"Thanks." Harry muttered grabbing a mug from the cupboards he knew too well.

Lupin quietly watched by the door as Harry moved around the kitchen, grabbing coffee, milk and sorts for his drink.

He had ignored the one that Mrs. Weasley had asked Bill to make for him.

"I'm not here to make any scene." Harry quietly said without looking up at Lupin as he stirred his coffee.

"I didn't say you would." Lupin casually replied.

It was unnerving.

The silence in the room was indifferent and the exchanges of tones – they were quiet yet restrained beyond effort.

They literally didn't meet eye to eye but Lupin was highly alert and Harry still had his wits about him.

"Where have you been?" Lupin calmly asked him.

"Why do you care?" he asked back.

His emerald eyes slowly turned up to him – a deep and dark spark in them glimmered.

It was scary as if he was being possessed.

For a moment, Lupin expected that Harry would say something to emotionally wound him once more.

But he didn't.

Harry heavily sighed and finished stirring his coffee before answering him.

"I worked on a problem." Harry casually said as if they were talking about an overnight job he had to finish for the Ministry.

The _'I worked and took care of a problem'_ wouldn't have sounded so relevant if Harry's mental and emotional condition haven't been alarming lately.

But the way it sounded at the moment – working and taking care of a problem – sounded more like 'I murdered someone' to Lupin.

"Ministry business?" Lupin slowly asked him, closely watching his body language.

Harry had slowly opened a drawer and had taken out a large knife from it.

"Yes." Harry slowly answered him as he held the knife in his hand. "Classified Ministry business."

Lupin quietly nodded at him.

"Would you like a sandwich?" he asked him. "I'm going to make one for myself."

It was disturbing.

The way he held the knife and the way his tone sounded.

"No." Lupin said keeping his ground by the doorway. "I'm good."

"Good." Harry said as he turned from him and began making himself a quick breakfast.

"Do you need help?" Lupin asked him as he opened drawers and cases around the kitchen as if he didn't know what he was looking for.

"No." Harry answered as he took a large loaf and rigidly sliced it into two.

Lupin watched as he threw the knife aside and threw some ready sliced tomatoes, greens, cheese and a few slices of ham from the previous night's container.

Lupin watched in silence and the only sound in the kitchen was the spatter of spread and ingredients that Harry was throwing over his plate.

"I can help you there." Lupin offered again even though he didn't move from where he was.

"I said I'm fine." Harry said in a dead tone. "I've been doing things all my life, professor. I think I can handle making a sandwich for myself."

He finished up and threw everything back in their rightful places making the most annoying sound in the kitchens early that morning.

Lupin walked closer when Harry settled himself behind the chair with his plate and coffee.

Even from a slight distance, he could smell the stench of blood, soil and what smelled like sea water from Harry.

Three guesses where he has been.

"I'm going out with Hermione later." Harry said as he began to chew on his sandwich.

"Yes." Lupin said staring at him. "She's told us about your itinerary with her today."

"One day and hours to go." Harry said with a smile over his face. "I can't wait."

Harry's eyes bore over the cup of coffee before them.

But Lupin saw differently.

His gaze was there but something in the glimmer of it nor in the tone of his voice told him that he was somewhere.

That there was a Harry before him who was disturbed, troubled and slightly scary and then there was the glimmer of the Harry they all knew of.

Had they neglected him this much through those years?

How could he have failed James so miserably?

There was silence between them.

"I have to go." Harry said. "'Mione is going to wake up early. We have a long day. You've seen and tried your suit out, right?"

Lupin turned as he stopped by the door.

Harry was looking expectantly at him – a glimmer of that boy he knew too well was somewhere ein there.

"Yes." Lupin said and he gave him a small smile as he nodded. "Fits perfectly."

"Great." Harry said as he stared up at his beloved mentor and friend. "You have one job on that day."

"I know." Lupin said. "To stand next to my bestfriend's son right down that aisle as he waits for his one true love."

Their eyes met.

Harry smiled at him – the Harry Potter – the boy he knew.

"One job alone." Harry said as he smiled up at him.

"One job alone." Lupin agreed with a smile back at him. "I always had one job, Harry."

Something in their words felt very differently from what they sounded like.

"Your job was never easy." Harry sighed back at him. "And I never belittled it."

"I never said you did." Lupin smiled at him placing his hands over the boy's shoulder.

There was a mixture of raw emotions from Harry's eyes – of pain, disdain and at the same time the look of being grateful and regretful towards the man before him.

"On the day, your job isn't really different from what it has always been." Harry said.

"Eh?" Lupin quietly asked him.

Harry stared back at him as if replaying all the good memories he had with the man.

"On the day, your job is to stand by my side – the father r who always stood by his son's child."

It took a moment for the whole sentence to really sink in Lupin's mind.

It took him a while to recover.

Harry smiled back at him and that smile he has not seen in years has slowly turned away from him as he moved around and about and left the kitchen with Lupin's eyes burning in tears as the boy left him alone.

 _"_ _You called for me?"_

 _"_ _Come in."_

 _Draco slowly entered his mother's room._

 _It was dark and the hue from the sunset made the whole room a bit more depressing than it usually was already._

 _"_ _Are you done packing?" Narcissa stiffly asked Draco without turning._

 _She stood by the window, eyes staring down at her beautiful gardens that was overlooking from the bedroom._

 _"_ _Not yet." Draco dryly answered her as he walked to the middle of the room._

 _Narcissa didn't say anything and Draco couldn't help but wonder what in the one-thousand in one things he has done it could be that seemingly called his mother's attention for her to call her to their bedroom._

 _They usually talked in her office or in the library of the manor._

 _Sometimes when she was in a better mood, she would ask for him to come to her gardens._

 _At some other good or bad times, she would come to visit him in his quarters._

 _But to be called in the master's bedroom was a different story._

 _He was rarely ever invited there especially when his father was around – it was a place of privacy for the King and Queen of the manor._

 _There was only a limited number of circumstances for which he has been allowed or summoned to their bedroom and both were even not the best stories._

 _Draco felt that he had done something severe to be called forth there at that very moment._

 _"_ _When do you plan to begin packing?" Narcissa asked him._

 _In truth, he really didn't want to pack his belongings at all._

 _The war was seemingly at its peak and would soon surely come to its end._

 _It has been three months since the death of the great Albus Dumbledore._

 _The death of him was a failed mission for the Malfoys – or rather for Draco._

 _He had done his best all the last school year to do something – anything – to be able to prove himself to the Dark Lord in the hopes of bringing back the dignity, pride and the name of the Malfoys in the line of the Dark Lord's allies._

 _He had hoped against desperate hopes that he could claim their place after the failure of his father who has recently been taken out of Azkaban only to face the same shame._

 _The war was all-out in the open by now._

 _Deaths were everywhere and the recklessness of his aunt Bellatrix was bringing forth twice the fear to the Wizarding World._

 _She was relishing each and every moment of her duty as the Dark Lord's most loyal lieutenant._

 _But his mother was different._

 _Calculated, restrained and composed as she has always been – she kept their heads above their sinking boat with her wise decisions._

 _She had been making most of the major decisions since Lucius had been punished at his failure in his mission in the Department of Mysteries._

 _And so, in more than a month, Narcissa has decided to bring Draco out of the war._

 _She knew and believed that they can never reclaim their name in the Dark Lord's circle and there certainly wasn't any place or them in the society._

 _But she was Narcissa Malfoy and a Black at that._

 _She has all the money she needs as a Black heir alone if she had a choice to leave it all._

 _But she had Draco._

 _And begrudgingly, she would take the Malfoy money that Draco has rights to and her fair share as the wife of the man who owns it all._

 _What she has will always be Draco's._

 _And with what she has left and resources she can still use, she will do anything to bring Draco out of harm's way._

 _She had settled and decided to bring Draco out of the country whether Lucius wanted it or not._

 _She had decided to take Draco out of whatever the outcome of the war would be._

 _She no longer cared which side won for as long as she can ensure a secured life and future for her only son._

 _"_ _I will finish by tonight." Draco promised her as he walked closer to her mother who kept her back at him._

 _"_ _Then you must not forget all your belongings." Narcissa quietly said with a slight quiver in her voice._

 _Draco didn't miss it._

 _He looked up at her mother in wonder and noticed that she seemingly was holding something in her hands._

 _But before he could even ask her, she sharply turned and faced him._

 _"_ _Then make sure you don't forget to pack away all this trash you've been keeping!"_

 _Draco opened his mouth to ask when something came flying his way his way that went straight and painfully right at his face._

 _The weight and shock of it hit him so hard that his visions blackened out for the briefest of moment._

 _But before he could even completely recover something a bit more painful came his way._

 _The blow of a slap so hard came over his right cheek that he thought his jaw had been realigned._

 _Draco gasped and felt his visions blurring but it was the cry of his mother that came down at him._

 _"_ _HOW COULD YOU!" Narcissa screamed recklessly at him. "HOW COULD YOU, DRACO!"_

 _She was red in the face out of anger, breathless and looked ready to murder her own son._

 _Draco stared up at her and before he could even take a look at what she threw at him, Narcissa grabbed it back from him and hit him twice with it._

 _"_ _I TOLD YOU – I TOLD YOU, DRACO!" Narcissa yelled back at him as she painfully pushed it towards him._

 _Draco stared back at her mother's reckless anger that he didn't understand._

 _And then he grasped the object she was hitting it with._

 _It was one of his oldest school bags – a long, zipped one that he had kept away._

 _His eyes widened in fear and realization._

 _In their tugging, the old and weak zipper slipped open and all of its contents poured out of it._

 _There were scraps of old parchments, pieces of old notes, a very old looking notebook of his, two broken quills, a red scarf and then photographs._

 _Stolen shots._

 _Stolen shots of Hermione Jean Granger._

 _Draco's eyes turned from the objects that scattered all over the floor and back to his mother._

 _His face was pale and he looked ready to run for his life._

 _"_ _Mother-"_

 _"_ _I told you to stop this nonsense!" Narcissa screamed. "I told you that this is going to be the death of you!"_

 _"_ _Mother – please –"_

 _"_ _For fuck's sake, Draco!" she angrily screamed at him as she lost control of everything. "Goddamit, Draco – she's a Mudblood!"_

 _"_ _Do not call her that!" Draco screamed back at her forgetting who he was talking to._

 _Then came another blow._

 _His left cheek now endured the second slap._

 _It was less painful but it still gave him the same dreadful feeling._

 _Caught red handed in the situation, Draco knew that he couldn't lie or reason his way out of this one._

 _"_ _I told you from the very beginning Draco – this nonsense – this – this fascination of yours-"_

 _"_ _It's not fascination!" Draco yelled back at Narcissa and looking very insulted and hurt._

 _Narcissa looked back at him with a mixture of anger and vast disappointment at her own son._

 _"_ _You are my only son, Draco!" Narcissa screamed back at him. "You are my only son and you – you want to die because – because of some stupid, foolish schoolgirl crush-"_

 _"_ _I didn't do anything, did I?" Draco yelled back at his mother._

 _He bent forward to pick up his belongings but Narcissa pulled him by the collar of his suit and pushed him away from all of it._

 _Draco's eyes widened as she pushed him, she had stepped forward and on the photos and over the scarf._

 _"_ _If you - you aren't thinking – I've never – I've always taught you to control your emotions –you Draco – my only boy-–" Narcissa was so angry that she could barely contain herself and complete her sentences_

 _"_ _This is why you failed!" Narcissa said. "This is why – this is why you are half-hearted all along! I told you from the beginning – I told you-"_

 _"_ _AND I TOLD YOU THAT I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" Draco screamed back at him._

 _He looked back at her, arms raised and ready to defend himself because Narcissa raised her hand again._

 _But she didn't hit him._

 _Their eyes met._

 _Draco knew that look from her and Narcissa knew that look from him._

 _"_ _I am trying to protect you – I have – I told you that you can love anyone else –anyone, Draco! Anyone – but you – you cannot – I can't – I won't let you – Draco – my son - you can have anyone else Draco- anyone – anyone but her!"_

 _"_ _Please – I didn't – I don't want to-"_

 _"_ _If the Dark Lord finds out – if the Dark Lord –"_

 _"_ _He doesn't know." Draco said through gritted teeth. "And he wouldn't know because there's nothing to know."_

 _"_ _How could you defy me." Narcissa whispered. "I have dedicated.. I have given you everything."_

 _"_ _I didn't defy you." Draco answered her as tears leaked down from both his eyes. "I never did."_

 _Narcissa was at lost for words._

 _She was so angry that Draco thought her shaking was already a sign of an upcoming heart attack._

 _"_ _Please." Draco quietly pleaded as he cried in front of her. "Mother.. you just.. I would never..."_

 _Narcissa looked back at him with such disappointment in her eyes that he has never seen before._

 _"_ _Please." Draco begged her. "You're the only one I've got."_

 _Draco looked ready to get down on his knees to beg for her forgiveness._

 _A tear fell from Narcissa's eyes that she had been holding back the whole time._

 _Her hands were shaking in fists by her sides as if restraining to hit Draco or embrace the boy._

 _"_ _Mother…"_

 _Narcissa heavily sighed and turned to face away from him._

 _"_ _Keep all these away." Narcissa said in a more controlled voice and manner as she quickly recovered and gained self-control._

 _Draco looked unbelievingly up at her._

 _. "I would go and have the dining hall prepared for dinner."_

 _"_ _Mother-"_

 _"_ _I want this place cleared." Narcissa coldly said. "I want you in the dining within an hour."_

 _And then without another word, she left her own bedroom for Draco to clear his things away._

 _It took him a moment to have the courage to even move a muscle from the encounter._

 _His eyes slowly moved down his fallen belongings._

 _And with a clouded mind and a heavy heart, Draco slowly got down to his knees to pick everything up._

 _From the broken quill Hermione once left when she stayed very late in the library for Snape's essay about werewolves, the Gryffindor scarf that he found over the stands one afternoon where she had sat after watching Harry's practice for the match they lost because of the Dementors, pieces and scraps of her worksheets he had stolen from a pile of old students' checked and recorded worksheets at the faculty room where Snape once left him, an old notebook where all the secrets of his nights were written and then the stolen shots._

 _Hermione and Harry studying for their O.W.L.s at the corner-most part of the library._

 _Hermione studying by herself against the large tree by the lake the weekend that Harry and Ron had Quidditch practice._

 _Hermione happily cheering for Harry as they played against Ravenclaw._

 _Hermione dancing with Krum at the Yule Ball._

 _Hermione sitting alone in a table at the Great Hall while she waited for Krum to get them drinks._

 _Hermione studying alone in the library one very late Friday night and toying with what looked like coins over her table._

 _Hermione reading a book she was about to purchase behind aisles of books in a store at Diagon Alley the day he revisited Burgin and Burkes._

 _Hermione by a corner at Three Broomsticks saving a table for the three of them while the other two finished their purchases at the Weasleys' new shop at Diagon Alley._

 _And lastly, a photograph of Hermione descending the Hogwarts Express that very school year when she doubled back to find where Harry was and why he wasn't with their group descending the train._

 _It was the last photograph._

 _It was his last photograph of her._

 _It may have been creepy or called stalking, but he wasn't at all._

 _Tears leaked down Draco's face as he slowly picked up each and every object and each photograph and placed them all back in his bag._

 _These were chances upon chances he came across her – hidden behind the shadows and taking glimpses of her and eternally keeping memoirs of her in time in fear that it could be the last time he would ever see her again._


	63. Chapter 63

**_Chapter Sixty Three_**

 ** _Victims of Fate_**

 _The sound of the shower water continued to spatter down from the inside of the bathroom._

 _But Hermione felt safe for the first time in days._

 _Snape was out and he told her that he wasn't going to come home until sundown for a couple of business he had to tend to._

 _She agreed and was quiet, awaiting the whole time with great anticipation for him to leave._

 _She wanted to be alone._

 _She was never really alone in the cottage with him._

 _He was always watching her, always with her or his presence was simply always there that she felt that even her thoughts had no privacy at all._

 _It has been hours, days and perhaps a few weeks since their first intimate exchange._

 _It had occurred once and twice again._

 _Repeated a few more times until the point that Hermione had lose count and control of it anymore._

 _They didn't speak about their relationship – he hardly ever spoke with her._

 _And she felt more miserable that way – not really knowing what's going on out in the world and there in the cottage._

 _She felt she was going mad._

 _Her only solace was him and the very bit by bit of news and hopes he'd bring her._

 _Without him, she would be at total loss in the outside world._

 _If only she could leave him._

 _But she couldn't._

 _Her life depended upon him whether she outright admits it to him or not._

 _She was absolutely barred from the outside world and without any means of contact except for Snape._

 _He would only tell her repeatedly that it was 'unsafe' and that the Dark Lord would immediately use her if he would find out that she was still alive or anywhere he could take her and then use her against Harry._

 _She had lost her wand and she felt that her magic was waning away as the days passed._

 _Snape wouldn't really allow her and wouldn't understand how much it meant for her to have her wand with her since he was very good with non-verbal magic._

 _But he was all she's got and if she does something that would likely anger him or make him decide to just abandon her when he loses his patience with her, she didn't know what to do._

 _She didn't know where they were and she didn't have her wand and enough magical strength and ability to get herself out of that place if he abandons her._

 _Her mind – it was all she's got and she couldn't even ensure that he wouldn't be able to go through that and penetrate that if he desires to see it._

 _A weak physical and emotional state would make her mental state and capacity very weak and open for magical means of mental penetration which he was very good at._

 _Hermione closed her eyes and slowly sank down against the wall and cold tiled floor._

 _Her tears streaked down together with the streaming water from the shower._

 _Her cries were loud enough to tell of her pain but the sound of the shower drowned the sound out._

 _Yet no matter how heavy the water's fall was, it couldn't completely drown out her sorrows and her will to just die._

 _She was so lost and confused at the turmoil that was brought upon her._

 _What was she going to do now?_

 _Harry and the rest of the Order of the Phoenix was nowhere within her reach for any kind of help._

 _There wasn't any means to seek them out._

 _Were they looking for her?_

 _Would they have believed that she was dead by now and had now stopped looking for her?_

 _"_ _Harry…" Hermione cried not knowing what to do anymore. "Harry.. I'm here.. I'm alive.. please.."_

 _And the worst part of all her thoughts was the idea that she has not told him for the last time how much she truly, deeply love him and will forever just love him._

 _And now that she was in this situation, she could just forever lose him and the very thought that he was never going to find her ever again in his belief that she was gone._

 _She couldn't let it._

 _She couldn't let him forget her._

 _She couldn't stay there forever._

 _There must be something – anything – she could possibly do to survive and get out of there and go back to Harry._

 _She needed to be strong, she needed to be the brilliant mind they all told her that she was._

 _She needed to rely with what little, with what handful of resources that she has in order to survive – in order to be strong enough to find a way and make it out of the cottage._

 _Hermione forced her mind to think clearly as tears steamed all the way down her cheeks as she downed in the taste of tears and water that continued to flow all over her._

 _She only had one goal – to survive by any means possible until she is strong and capable enough to get out._

 _And to do that, he needed to please Snape – to distract him, to go under his whims and wills._

 _It may be easy if she disregarded the probable currency to that._

 _But if she can control her emotions, if she can get it out of her head that he wasn't guilty of anything, if she can condition herself to believe that he was a traitor, she would be able to muse him, to use him and get herself out of there._

 _She only needed to focus and ensure that her emotions wouldn't rule her out._

 _She needed to make herself believe that he was guilty of everything there was and dislodge herself completely at the idea that he was good and feeling guilty every single time that he makes her feel cared for and protected at each moment they spent with one another._

 _It wasn't going to be easy but she knew that she needed to give it a try._

 _She couldn't just go down without a fight even if she no longer knew what was happening out in the world they were fighting for._

 _She needed to try._

 _For it killed her._

 _The idea that Harry would believe her to be gone would hurt him very deeply but that time would slowly ease him out and eventually, he would slowly live again and soon forget about them, forget her and as time would pass, he would soon move on with his life without her._

She was hurting him.

Hermione knew that she was killing him inside.

But the pain that he was also killing her inside was something she didn't expect enduring, least of all from Harry.

Her brown eyes focused at the nice view from the window where she stood.

London had always been beautiful – whether it was sunny, raining or snowy.

Today, it chose to give a gloomy sky with a touch of rain.

However, as time was passing, the sky was darkening and the temperature was getting colder by the moment.

The coming several hours would mark the crucial hours not only of her future but that of Snape's.

She and Harry were going to go downtown to get his wedding suit and her wedding gown.

A simple lunch with the Weasleys before the wedding where she will take a final check with her wedding list with Fleur and Ginny whilst Harry goes down at the Ministry to confirm all security that he had requested for at their wedding day and the last things to be done and met before the wedding day itself.

Tears gleamed at the corners of Hermione's eyes as she stared outside the window.

Sighing heavily, she moved away from it and slowly settled down her half-filled cup of hot chocolate down over the small end table in the living room.

She looked up and tried to not let her tears fall down her cheeks as she looked around the room, trying to look for something – anything – to distract her from her thoughts.

And then she saw it.

Hermione sighed knowing it was going to make her cry anyway.

She walked forward the corner of the living room where a small old cabinet was that has been dumped with different trinkets, Muggle collections and other random things of the Weasleys that they barely used.

There was an array of old photographs.

Hermione sighed heavily and picked up one of the frames.

The largest one of the group was the Christmas they had spent at Grimmauld Place.

It was pretty obvious that Harry had collected it and then had decided to put it up there at Grimmauld Place where it may have been dutifully placed aside by Mrs. Weasley through time.

Their smiles on the photograph had been epic.

It was taken right after their meal and in the middle of the time that they were opening their presents.

It was one of the most beautiful Christmas she ever had in her entire life.

Everyone was there.

Harry and Ron.

The Weasley children with Mrs. Weasley and Mr. Weasley embracing one another at the side of the photograph as Mr. Weasley excitedly held a box with Muggle items that Harry collected and bought for him as present.

Lupin was at the corner holding a fresh new book that she, Harry and Ron had bought for him.

Fleur and Bill stood next to him, holding out their couple sweaters made by Mrs. Weasley.

Ginny and Tonks were over the floor holding out Crookshanks and Hedwig while the other Weasley boys surrounded them holding out their gifts with Moody giving a grumpy smile of his own with the rest.

At the side of the picture was Sirius, holding out a goblet of wine and proudly holding up a gift that Harry had given him and a Weasley sweater hung at the side of his arms that he hasn't worn yet.

And next to him over the side of the couch by the carpeted floor sat Harry and herself.

She sat in between Harry's legs while his arms were around her waist.

He had put on his Weasley sweater for this Christmas, a Gryffindor scarf from Ginny around his neck that he had tried to wrap as well around Hermione and a barely eaten apple pie in his hand that he never got to finish because of the twins' jokes before the photo was taken.

But the most distinct feature of him in the photograph was his smile.

He was sporting the biggest and most beautiful smile in the photograph.

He was smiling like there was no tomorrow.

She was smiling herself – sporting her sweater that matched Harry's, a small fresh notebook and quill in one hand that was half open from the gift wrap from Lupin, a set of new quills from Ron in a box lay by her side, a Gryffindor scarf from Ginny, a small bracelet from France from Fleur hung around her wrist and a beautiful wrapped gift from Harry she has yet to open that he had in his hand that was around her waist.

It was a picture perfect photograph.

It was one of the best Christmas she's ever had.

And it was also the last Christmas that they were all happy and together.

Hermione couldn't help the tears around her eyes at the thought of how this photograph still embed raw emotions in her and yet this has been taken a very long time ago – like a lifetime ago.

The changes that happened between each individual and the lives that were still present in the photo but were no longer with them in real life – it was such a wreck in the heart.

She was never going to see them again.

She was never going to see them all this happy again.

She was never going to see Harry this genuinely happy ever again.

They were going to get married but they were never going to be this happy.

Hermione held the picture tight in her hand and took it from the top of the shelf it has been standing and dusting through time.

She held it carefully in her hands, touching it dearly and recalling all the memories of the day this picture held.

It wasn't just the Order of the Phoenix and the Golden Trio – it was her family for as long as she could remember.

She knew that she can no longer bring back the years she's lost with them and the years that were.

She knew that marrying Harry won't bring him back either and Snape evading the Dementors would certainly not make her feel better.

Snape rotting in Azkaban while he evades death and wait until his mind rots in there doesn't even mean anything at all.

If any, all damages have been done the very night that the ambush had taken place.

Not only to her, to Harry, to their friends and not even just to Snape – all of them have been tangled and miserably damaged by that night.

It wasn't just her nor Snape and Harry – it was each and every one who had loved them or were connected to them in some way.

Looking through all of it, Harry was the very first victim of it all.

She believed that Harry doesn't mean what he was enduring – he was as much as a victim as she was; the only difference was that neglect and abandonment from their friends had been his unfair punishment that caused and was causing him his sanity.

He was a mere victim of neglect by the people who believed that the world needed him more than he needed any of them, least of all, more than he needed himself.

Snape may not be innocent, but that never meant that he wasn't ever a victim as well.

Ten years – ten long years of taking her, isolating her from the world – when if he wanted to, he was intelligent enough to create some means and way to let the Order know of their situation – of her situation.

But he didn't.

He was enduring what debt he had to pay – because whether he meant well at the beginning or not, he always had the power to whirl her fate for the better and he chose differently.

Despite that she had vouched for him in the court, somewhere in the depths of her logical mind she knew that he could have done something but he chose not to.

It wasn't that he was evil, but he was just as human as the rest of them were.

He might have taken her for his so-called protection which he had done so marvelously at the beginning but Hermione knew that he could really have done something else, something more for them – for her.

But he had fallen ill-victim into despair in their overwhelming and frustrating situation that he had lost all sense of responsibility and had succumb into emotions that he had been detached of – or rather been bottling up - for so long with no one else but himself.

Draco may have been another story, but he isn't separate from the fact that he was also a victim of their tangled situation.

He had to endure year of emotional suffering for 'not being good enough' for his father despite the façade he had to the world that he was a wealthy boy, from the old-gold and traditions family that he absolutely needs nothing from anyone.

But he needed love.

He needed to be truly loved.

And even if he had all the galleons in the world, he couldn't have bought that one thing he also deeply, secretly desired.

He had suffered growing up – forcing himself to be detached from his own feelings , from making his own choices in fear of being rejected by his own father.

He grew up doing things he didn't want to, he had to believe in things he didn't even really understand and he had gone through circumstances for which he did have a choice to leave if he wanted to.

Draco had fallen victim into being unloved by the people he had.

He had endured the loss of people he never really had and the only person who ever truly loved him, he had severely lost as well.

And because of all these, he would suffer for the rest of his life trying to prove himself that he was worthy of something – of someone – even if he needs not to prove anything for he had always, always been more than enough.

Hermione quietly sat over the couch, still holding the photograph in her hand and staring at Harry's smile.

She would always love him, always.

It wasn't that her love for him had lessened over time or had differed though the years – it didn't and will never be anything shorter or less than what it had always been.

It will always just be there, deeply embedded inside of her and will always be a part of her. She would always love him no matter how bad to worse things had escalated – bringing out the monster in him that was created by all their unfortunate fate.

Loving Severus Snape never meant she had forgotten him or had ever loved him less.

If any, he will always be her first love.

And Snape.

There was Severus Snape.

She despised him at first especially when she didn't understand the circumstances from which they were put in.

She had despised every bit and moment with him at the beginning because he had taken her from her loved ones in order to 'protect' her and them from what possible occurrence the curse may bring out.

Snape had taken not only a big part of her life, but her life and possibly the rest that it ever would be.

He had taken everything she had, she ever was and ever will be.

No amount of apology, of years at Azkaban nor time that will ever come to pass will ever bring back the years that were wasted and lost.

He had taken her life away from him in belief that he was preserving it for the greater good, for the better cause.

Had she forgiven him?

Ofcourse she had; she always did.

She had loved him.

It may have been a different kind of love than the one that she has only for Harry, but she has loved him nevertheless.

And she knew that she will unlikely forget all that were back at the cottage and in her own belief, even if she is Obliviated, inside of her – she would never forget all the feelings that she had for him and the circumstances they had shared with one another.

In spite and despite it all, she will always be grateful of his sacrifices despite that they had all gone wrong in his lack of correct judgment in times of their despair.

His demise had arrived not at the moment he had realized his love for her, but at the moment that he lost faith that things would still be better, that there was still hope in their situation.

And as painful as the truth may be, Hermione knew that he had to pay for what he has done.

Whatever his reasons were - no matter how logical it was at the time it had all been convenient for him or for the both of them – taking her away from all of them, keeping her and isolating her from the world – for whatever reason of all his actions it would never ever be called valid.

He would and he needed to pay his rightful dues at Azkaban in his time.

She would love him too, differently, but she will not be a liar never to admit that even just to herself through time.

And in order to right all his wrongs, in order for all of them to heal, in order for their peace of mind, Hermione knew that he needed to go to Azkaban and the only thing she could ever do for him out of her love, is to ensure that he is saved from the Dementors.

Hermione deeply believes that by saving Snape's life from them, she was always saving Harry's life from what ill-fate he may further succumb into if she does not stay with him.

But what of her?

What of her then?

She could no longer think for herself.

As logical or illogical she had been, she could no longer think for herself.

Maybe that could be dealt with later on – but at the moment, she needed to save them both.

She was hurt and was destroyed physically, emotionally and mentally – maybe even beyond repair.

But things she was very sure of – she had loved both men too deeply, too much that she was willing to overlook their flaws, was willing to forget herself in order to save them both.

Because in spite and despite it all, whether she had been taken for all those years, whether she had to make illogical choices now – she knows the Hermione Granger that she always has been. And that Hermione Granger, the one that had lived and loved them both, the girl who she had always been even before those ten long years - will always sacrifice herself no matter of the currency life demands of her.

 _The place had been a total wreck as he arrived._

 _He wasn't sure whom to call first because he knew that he knew that he was the best person already to be there at that very moment._

 _"_ _Harry?" Lupin called out as he entered the mess that was Grimmauld Place._

 _It had always been dirty and with the sense of abandonment but Molly and the rest of them had tried their best to make it look better and to put it into a good living condition for all of them._

 _And now, it looked somewhat worse than it had always been._

 _The air of loss and despair were quite distinct all over the place._

 _It was no longer just Sirius' loss now; it was also Moody's, Hedwig's, and the other Order members._

 _It was also Ron Weasley's recent passing._

 _But most importantly, it was the loss of Hermione Granger._

 _It has just been three days since Harry had been taken out of St. Mungo's and was presently recovering from the weeks he had been there._

 _It has been weeks since the ambush and yet it feels very fresh in their memories._

 _"_ _Harry!" Lupin called out again around the house as he took the stairs for the second floor._

 _Since getting out of the hospital, Harry had requested to be alone and had requested he take the rest of his 'recovering days' at Grimmauld Place instead at the Burrow with the Weasleys where he could be fully tended to by everyone in there._

 _But he requested to be alone, he desperately wanted to be alone._

 _It wasn't advised by the Healers since he had shown signs of slight depression in his denial that Ron was gone and that Hermione – missing as she may be – may also be dead._

 _But Harry had begged Lupin and being the father figure and present Order leader, he had all the say on the matter._

 _Lupin agreed for Harry to take his recovery period at Grimmauld Place under the condition that he was to stay there with him and that other Order members or Weasley member would be able to visit him from time to time._

 _Harry agreed without another word._

 _Three days later and Lupin noticed his failing emotional stability._

 _He had done nothing day and night but wait for news of Hermione._

 _He would always ask for the Daily Prophet and send owls at the Ministry inquiring to Kingsley and the other Aurors for any development._

 _He would barely eat but he would stay up late for hours and stay up late by the fireplace waiting for anyone who could possibly bring him any news of Hermione's whereabouts._

 _But their search for her wasn't only getting pointless and pointless with each passing day, but was also beginning to be a miserable failure._

 _There was no trace of her._

 _There was no witness, no body found, no magical means of finding and tracing her._

 _Nothing._

 _It was like she had vanished into the face of the world without any trace._

 _But how?_

 _It was like she had purposely been drained off the surface of the world for there was absolutely no trace of her._

 _She had her wand with her- with her intellect and skills, she could as easily send message to them for rescue if she needed one._

 _And if by any chance she had lost her wand, she had all other means of reaching for them._

 _And if by worst case scenario that she had lost her wand and was physically unable to seek for rescue but was still very much alive, there would be something – anything._

 _And if she has been taken by death – shouldn't there be any body floating at the waters of London from which she had fallen after the attack?_

 _Nothing._

 _Absolutely no trace of her as if she never existed to begin with._

 _"_ _Harry." Lupin gasped as he reached the second floor.._

 _One door was ajar – the room from which Hermione had stayed in at the course of the weeks before the ambush._

 _He sat on the floor by the bed and was holding something in his hand._

 _It was Hermione's scarf she had the night of the ambush._

 _It was all that was left of her._

 _"_ _Harry." Lupin worriedly whispered as he entered the room and tried to get him up the floor._

 _He didn't look up at him, he didn't even show any sign that he knew of his presence in the room._

 _His eyes had dark circles around them and the smear of tears were all over the sides of his face._

 _It was two in the morning when Lupin got a call from his overnight shift at the Ministry from Mrs. Weasley's Floo that there had been no answer from Harry for the past hours at Grimmauld Place._

 _Seeing his form at the moment, Lupin knew that when he left him that morning, he had been on the very same state and had not moved a muscle at all._

 _His wheelchair lay askew by the side of the room._

 _He had obviously attempted to try to walk again when the Healers said that it may take time and therapy to do so._

 _It was killing Lupin to see him this way – hopeless and helpless as the war draws closer in._

 _If only he could carry his burden – but he couldn't._

 _And he knew that Harry still had to carry the burden of saving the world despite his present condition and the greatest loss he had to endure._

 _He would never admit it to Harry, but he is the first to believe that Hermione could truly be gone for good._

 _And that couldn't be – he couldn't bear for Harry to realize that – it would destroy him._

 _It would destroy the boy for which he had promised himself to love, guide and protect as a son._

 _It wasn't that the world needs Harry._

 _But it was because he couldn't bear lose that one person he truly loved and cared for – that one person who is the last reminder of the bestfriend who always loved and took good care of him no matter what he was._

 _He couldn't bear to lose Harry – not to the Dark Lord who has tried to kill him, not to the world the boy is trying to save and most importantly, not to girl's untimely death that will become the boy's downfall._

 _He cannot lose Harry at the loss of Hermione._

 _He would mourn for Hermione and would deeply regret losing her in this war but he couldn't take it any longer if he looses Harry as well._

 _If he would find any trace – the little most trace and evidence – that Hermione was still alive, he would take it and would do anything to get the girl back._

 _But until that happens, until it was there for the taking, Harry was the main priority in his hands._

 _Harry had to survive the war despite all the losses that they had already endured._

 _"_ _Harry, you need to sleep." Lupin gently said kneeling over the carpeted floor and staring at the boy._

 _His eyes were focused over the scarf, hands touching the Gryffindor colours._

 _He was surely reminiscing Hermione, desperately wondering where she was at the moment._

 _"_ _Harry, please." Lupin said slowly reaching for him and touching the back of his hand._

 _The boy remained unmoving to his gesture._

 _"_ _Hermione would not want to see you like this." Lupin gently said feeling the burden in his heart as he watched Harry in this state._

 _Thoughts and worry reeled inside Lupin's head at Harry's present condition._

 _He was lost already in the reality they were in and that just couldn't be at the moment._

 _"_ _Harry…" Lupin desperately whispered again. "Please. You have to move on. You have to live.. Hermione would want you to live."_

 _Still there was no response as if he couldn't hear him._

 _But what if he could really no longer hear him?_

 _What if he had already lost all the good sense that was left in him?_

 _"_ _Hermione will.." Lupin slowly began, voice constricted in his own throat. "Harry, I promise you that we would look.. look for her. We will find her, Harry.. please."_

 _Still no response._

 _Lupin heavily sighed, tears straining the side of his eyes already as he moved closer to the boy holding the back of his hand._

 _"_ _Harry, please.." Lupin desperately called for him. "You can't stay like this.. you have.. we have to fight for her. She would not want you to live this way. Please.. I promise you that we would find her. I promise you, Harry.. we would find Hermione."_

 _Lupin waited but there was nothing._

 _And just when he was about to let his hand go, Harry spoke._

 _"_ _I had her." Harry's voice was barely a whisper. "I had her.. she was with me.. I made her come with me at the flight.. I was-"_

 _"_ _Harry, nobody wanted what has happened. Nobody will ever know the outcomes and circumstance of the war – please don't punish yourself-"_

 _"_ _I promised her that I would protect her and I failed her." Harry whipered._

 _Tears trickled down his face but his eyes remained focused over the scarf._

 _A tear fell off Lupin's face._

 _"_ _We will find her. We will fight for her. And to do that, you can't stay here – you can't stay like this.."_

 _"_ _I have.. I shouldn't have taken her with me at the flight.. she should have gone with you as planned.. she would have been… she would still be here-"_

 _"_ _Harry, please don't think this way." Lupin said pressing his hand firmly. "Harry, pelae.. please don't think this way.. nobody wanted what happened.."_

 _"_ _I will never see her again." Harry gently cried. "I promised her that I will protect her. I made her come with me that night.. I made her.. I lost her.. professor Lupin, I think I've lost Hermione."_

 _Harry slowly looked up at him and Lupin's tears had fallen._

 _Never had he seen those emerald eyes – that very face that resembled his father – so despairingly broken beyond repair._

 _"_ _Harry, please.."_

 _"_ _Professor Lupin, I think I've lost Hermione.." Harry cried like a little boy._

 _His voice carried all the burden and regret and all the dark and inevitable harmful thoughts inside his head._

 _"_ _Harry, we will carry through.. we will fight for her. Please fight, please fight back..you have to get up, you have to… Hermione would not want you this way."_

 _Harry's emerald eyes slowly looked up at him again, tears gleaming at the side of his face._

 _"_ _It's my fault, professor.. It's all my fault.."_

 _"_ _Look at me." Lupin quietly said holding his gaze. "It's not your fault – nothing is ever your fault – none of these. We would fight, you hear me? We would take her back – we would find her-"_

 _"_ _I can't – she's gone – she was – her hand, I've lost her hand – and I just – I promised her I would protect her-"_

 _"_ _And I promise that we would find her." Lupin seriously said. "We would find her.. I promise you that we would find her but please.. you can't stay this way.. Hermione wouldn't want you to be this way. Harry, you're strong, strong enough to withstand anything."_

 _"_ _I've lost her." Harry whispered with all pain and regret evident in his eyes. "Professor Lupin, I think I've lost her and I will never ever see her again."_

 _Lupin opened his mouth to say something but slowly, Harry began to cry hard butt soundlessly, slowly kicking and shaking, convulsing in his despair._

 _Lupin could no longer hold back all his tears._

 _He moved to him, pulled him closer and like a father tending to a son who had lost a fight, he tightly held Harry who tightly held the scarf in his hand and cried as hard and as painful as he could in his dear mentor's arms until his silent tears turned into frightening wails of pain that was even more painful at Lupin's cry at the night of the full moon._

 _And thus, Lupin himself had fallen into becoming a victim of being self-righteous - of the same fate that tangled them up from a bad situation into worse in his fear of losing Harry Potter, in fear of losing his bestfriend James all over again._

"Ready?" Lupin asked by the door.

"She'll be out with Fleur in a moment." Bill said as he straightened his robes and placed his wand in his pocket.

Lupin quietly nodded at him and Bill responded accordingly.

"This is dangerous." Bill quietly said. "What we all agreed to do for them, for her today."

"We don't have a choice." Lupin quietly said. "He's the only one who can help the whole situation. He promised it wouldn't take longer than necessary."

"But what good would it be?" Bill asked him. "What good would it still be?"

The doors opened and Fleur and Hermione came out ready to take their jaunt at London to get her wedding gown.

"To us nothing." Lupin quietly said as he smiled and stared at Hermione with Fleur walking to their direction. "To her? Everything."

Bill looked at the very spot where Lupin was staring at Hermione.

She was smiling and was obviously trying to hide her growing despair by the days, by the hours.

They had arrived at the street where the wedding shop was and where they were to meet Harry and Ginny who had come to pick up their rings after its final touches.

Harry smiled happily as they arrived by the door of the shop with rings and quickly walked towards Hermione's direction.

"Sorry, it took a while." Hermione said as Harry placed a kiss at the side of her face and was smiling excitedly back at her.

"It's alright." Harry said taking her hand and nodding at Lupin and the rest in acknowledgement. "We'll see you later?" Harry asked them.

Lupin and Bill nodded.

"We'll be back after two hours." Lupin said as Bill bid Fleur a kiss over the cheek. "We'll just check back some things at the Ministry and meet you over for lunch."

"The girls will lead Hermione to the wedding gown shop. I have to tend to something."

Hermione quickly looked back at him.

"I thought you're coming with us?" she asked him. "I thought you said-"

"I have somewhere to tend to." Harry quietly said. "Something came up. I need to tend to it but I'll be right back on time for lunch. I might come earlier than professor Lupin and Bill."

Bill and Fleur looked at one another but Lupin took one glance at Bill in an understanding.

"It's alright." Fleur said with a short smile for Harry. "We'll make sure the dress fits her perfectly well."

"Yes, I'm sure." Harry said turning to Hermione. "Can I just have one moment with her, please?"

Fleur and Lupin looked at one another.

"Ofcourse you can." Fleur said staring at Ginny who looked as clueless as the others did.

"We'll meet you at the shop." Fleur said kissing Bill as he prepared to Disapparate with Lupin.

They nodded at them and Ginny and Fleur walked down the street while Lupin and Bill disappeared.

"Let's go?" Hermione quietly said turning to Harry with a smile.

He smiled back at her and kissed her over the forehead.

"I'll meet you over lunch." Hermione said as Harry opened his bag and pulled something out from it.

"I want to show you something, 'Mione." Harry said with a proud smile.

Hermione stared at what looked like copies of the Daily Prophet.

"Open them." Harry said staring proudly back at her, obviously excited about something.

She wondered whether it was a news article about their wedding again.

"Come on." Harry said handing the two copies over.

She smiled at him and reluctantly took both papers in her hands.

She slowly opened them and read the newspapers.

At first, she thought it was a mistake – but then she realized that both papers were indeed dated a day after their wedding day.

She looked up at Harry with narrowed eyes, waiting with a glimmer over his eyes.

She turned her attention back to her book and read through the front page article.

A large photograph of Snape was plastered over both papers.

But there was something else.

The other paper had a large photograph of their wedding at the and the second major article was that of Snape's judgment by the Wizengamot which were years of imprisonment at Azkaban.

The other paper held the same article except that it was front page news and that the headlines was different – that he was about to receive the Dementor's Kiss at first light.

In this edition of the paper, there was nothing about their wedding.

She looked up at Harry with a bewildered expression over her face.

"Well?" Harry asked her with a smile. "Did you like it?"

"Like it?" Hermione asked him. "I don't even understand it."

Harry chuckled at her and took both papers from her and folded them neatly back inside his bag.

"I'm not kidding." Hermioe seriously said. "I don't understand this, Harry."

Harry smiled back at her and gently held her hand in his.

It was scary – his smile, the gleam in his eyes – it was like he was different all over again.

"The edition of the paper the day after tomorrow will be largely based on you, 'Mione."

"Based on me?" Hermione asked him back. "Why would it be based on me?"

But it didn't take her another to realize what Harry was trying to say.

Her eyes widened and Harry smiled even more as she already got what he was trying to say.

Harry had Snape's fate in his hands – he had the Wizengamot to do what he wanted them to do based on Hermione's decision on marrying him or not.

Even at the last minute of it all, Harry wanted to ensure that Hermione was going to marry him - that she was going to be his.

"Come." Harry said as he smiled at her and quietly dried her falling tears at the side of her face with his own fingers as she kept her gaze tight and locked on him.

Hermione was at loss for words.

"Come, 'Mione." Harry said putting away the stray of hair over her face. "Now, dry your tears because I don't want them to think you're being forced on this marriage, alright? I mean, you do want to marry me and you will marry me, right?"

Hermione didn't answer and Harry didn't wait either.

He moved forward and kissed her hand and pulled her into him as he moved her to bring her to Fleur and Ginny.

Hermione could barely breathe as her anger was rising inside of her – as her emotions were overwhelming her at that very moment that she was walking towards her dress gown with Harry holding her hands tightly and smiling at the people they passed by.

Hermione knew the answer to that question very well.

For whether she marries him or does not marry him – she already knew what the day after's Daily Prophet edition would come out for Snape's fate wasn't in the Wizengamot's hands any more but would be based at her 'I do' down the aisle in several hours' time.


	64. Chapter 64

**_Chapter Sixty Four_**

 ** _Far Future_**

 _"_ _Professor?" Hermione's small voice came._

 _The door of the classroom slowly opened and Hermione reluctantly entered._

 _"_ _Professor, sorry, I was just-"_

 _"_ _It's over your table, Miss Granger." Snape said without looking up._

 _Hermione nodded and tiptoed inside the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom with her eyes on Snape._

 _His back was turned to her and he was staring out onto window where the view of the gloomy sky was visible._

 _It had been rainy for days now and Hermione couldn't help the foreboding feeling that the weather had been bringing around the castle._

 _She had left her academic journal where all her assignments, school work deadlines, researches to be done and many other school notes in the room._

 _They had just finished their Defense Against the Dark Arts right before lunch and Harry and Ron were in a hurry to take their lunch that they dragged her with them and she had forgotten it on the shelf of the classroom where she placed it over when she had to fix her bag on the way out._

 _She was grateful that it was still there and that Snape had found it._

 _"_ _Thank you, professor." Hermione quietly said as she walked to her table and retrieved it._

 _Snape didn't answer._

 _Hermione felt that he was in deep thought to even hear her or notice that she has entered already._

 _He had missed lunch and breakfast for the day._

 _A few days ago, he had missed meals as well._

 _Was taking over Defense Against the Dark Arts subject taking too much of his time these days?_

 _She heard from Harry that other than the DADA position he had other tasks for Dumbledore that he had to do this year; ofcourse there were several Order tasks he had to lend and dedicate himself to._

 _She had seen it in actual when he visited twice over the summer at Grimmauld Place._

 _Being a double-spy seemed to be taking a toll on him despite his age, skill and intellect._

 _"_ _Professor, I'm sorry but – I – are you alright?" she asked him._

 _Hermione quickly bit her lower lip after asking._

 _How could she dare._

 _How could she not hold her tongue and meddle with his thoughts or however he wanted to act around the castle._

 _She shouldn't care any less if he'd die out of starving himself out of stress._

 _She felt like she wanted to run for her life already when Snape actually answered her._

 _"_ _There are just many things to be done." Snape quietly said. "Just like yourself, Miss Granger."_

 _She noticed that there was no hint of coldness in his tone – something quite rare._

 _Hermione nodded and for some reason, she still didn't leave the room._

 _"_ _Thanks for finding.. how did you know this is mine?" she asked, eyes narrowed._

 _Her journal didn't have her or any name on it._

 _Snape sighed and slowly turned back to her and pointed over the journal in her hand._

 _"_ _It was lying open on the shelf by the door when I found it." Snape explained to her in a bored tone. "I don't believe any other student in this castle would dedicate so much effort and time to write down everything they have to do in their academic life…in a very orderly and organized manner."_

 _Hermione blushed._

 _She had opened her journal on the way out to write down something she needed to research in the library before their next class when her bag's zipper gave away again and she had to put it up on the shelf and then Harry took her by the arm and hurried her out._

 _"_ _I'm just trying to be organized." Hermione quietly reasoned out with a small smile. "I tend to have a lot of things in my mind professor and I don't want to forget any of them."_

 _"_ _Not a surprise." Snape said staring back at her._

 _There was something in his eyes that Hermione couldn't read._

 _It made her very curious – to be quietly standing there and alone with Snape._

 _His eyes seemed to keep something – not just from her, but from the rest of the world._

 _Well, it was Severus Snape, what was so surprising with that._

 _"_ _Is there anything else, Miss Granger?" he quietly asked her, his black eyes observing her._

 _Hermione looked back up at him and blinked away her gaze._

 _She was somewhat fidgeting over her journal and she didn't know why she didn't even want to leave the room._

 _"_ _Professor, I was wondering what – what would be required of my grades if I – if – if say, I want to become a Healer?"_

 _It came out of nowhere._

 _She didn't even know why she had to ask it now and why it suddenly came out of her mouth._

 _It has been taking a toll in her in some ways – the war and the victims of it._

 _And somehow, she dreamed that if Harry does win it over and they would help on rebuilding the new world order, she wanted to be on the side that didn't just fight the Dark Lord and his allies – but also one of those who helped in the healing process of it all._

 _Snape was staring at her in a peculiar way._

 _"_ _I hardly believe Defense Against the Dark Arts is a priority in the-"_

 _"_ _No, I mean at Potions." Hermione quickly clarified. "Grades. In Potions, professor."_

 _Snape sighed at her._

 _"_ _I believed we've already discussed this a few weeks ago? That professor Slughorn is now your present Potions Masters and therefore, all questions regarding the subject should be directed to none other than-"_

 _"_ _Please?" Hermione asked him taking two strides forward him without even thinking of it._

 _Snape stared at her in a frustrated kind of way as if wondering which sin in his life he has done to deserve her pestering arse._

 _He slowly turned and walked to his table and Hermione quickly followed through._

 _He opened one drawer and Hermione watched as he leafed through parchments after another with his long fingers._

 _Her eyes were excited as Snape pulled something out and stared back up at her._

 _It annoyed him in some way but at the same time, there was a relish of being proud that she was seeking his advice on this instead of Slughorn._

 _"_ _List of subjects priorities, grades required and other criteria prior into applying into an apprenticeship into becoming a future Healer." Snape explained to her moving the paper over his table towards her._

 _Hermione quickly grabbed it and read it through._

 _"_ _Although I don't think you should be worried about the grade level and criteria given that ever since, you've gained above average grade requirement for anything you wish to apply for after you finish schooling. Given the same facts, I do not think you should be worried of your future. With your grades, you can take-on any career path you would choose to go for, Miss Granger"_

 _Snape watched her as he spoke and as her eyes seriously skimmed through the paper in her hands and was mouthing the words written._

 _"_ _Skill level though?" Hermione inquired looking up at him. "I feel I'm not that adept at the application process though. I don't feel as confident and feel I still need some practice"_

 _"_ _You've proven enough Miss Granger that you are way past Mr. Potter or anyone else's grades in my class. If you're talking about your recent grade standing next to Potter, I think we both know that his skills are… questionable lately."_

 _Hermione looked up at him with so many questions in her eyes._

 _"_ _Let's not discuss Potter's current grading status." Snape coldly said. "I am yet to find out how he is doing what he is doing at the moment but I tell you this – you have more talent in the subject than he does or will ever have."_

 _Hermione wasn't sure if it was a compliment or some cold-blooded snide remark against Harry._

 _She ignored it._

 _"_ _But I would need practice." Hermione said. "After Hogwarts. It says here that a career to become a Healer would need-"_

 _"_ _I believe this one is a matter you can discus and request from professor Slughorn. I would assume that he would do so even without tuition. If you would have noticed, he is very fond of those with popularity flourished over their name or more than enough intellect to-"_

 _"_ _Don't you give apprenticeship?" Hermione interrupted him. "I mean, over the summer or something? This is outside of class decorum so I suppose-"_

 _"_ _Miss Granger-"_

 _"_ _I just want to know." Hermione interrupted him. "Please tell me if you give or you don't."_

 _Snape stared at her in disbelief and at how demanding she sounded._

 _It wasn't that he doesn't give or that he doesn't want to give._

 _But did she not think about the future of the Wizarding World?_

 _Was she in dire belief that Harry will win this war out and everything will come down easily and everyone will live happily ever after?_

 _Was she that ignorant and gullible to what the Dark Lord could do?_

 _What he was presently doing?_

 _Was she not aware of the possibility that if miracle to the gods that they survive – he himself for some reason – wouldn't?_

 _"_ _Miss Granger, the future is a little… far off." Snape simply said turning away from her._

 _"_ _Doesn't mean we don't ever think about it, do we?" she asked him._

 _There was something in her tone that made him look back at her._

 _"_ _For some." Snape answered after a while._

 _"_ _Don't you?" she asked back at him, eyes wide._

 _His black eyes narrowed._

 _She was really, really trying him and his patience now._

 _But he wanted to answer her that he does not wish to think about the future for he does not believe that he would live and survive to see it._

 _"_ _No." Snape coldly said. "I do not think of it. I simply live the present as it comes at me. I do not have the luxury to think about the future."_

 _"_ _Why?" Hermione bluntly asked him. "You are with professor Dumbledore trying, fighting so hard to build a future for us? For all of us?"_

 _Snape's black eyes now gleamed in anger._

 _"_ _Miss Granger, I think you should leave now-"_

 _"_ _But isn't that the whole purpose why the Order is fighting for us? Isn't that why you're in the Order? You're fighting and trying to protect a future for us?"_

 _"_ _If you do not have anything that is relevant that you have to ask about Miss Granger, you are quite welcome to leave."_

 _It silenced Hermione._

 _He tried not to look towards her to not see the obvious hurt in her eyes._

 _She quietly nodded at him in an understanding._

 _"_ _I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry."_

 _He didn't say anything._

 _Why won't she just leave him alone?_

 _"_ _We cross the bridge as we get there, right?" Hermione's voice came again. "Isn't it that way for you?"_

 _Snape stared at her, at loss for words for that very brief moment she had made that comment._

 _Then after a while of realizing that she wasn't going anywhere until he answers it, he quietly nodded at her in surrender._

 _"_ _We cross the bridge when we get there." Snape simply said turning away from her with a heavy sigh._

 _That was if fate would be cruel enough to him to make him survive the war and make him cross that fucking bridge._

 _Hermione stood there, wanting to stay – wanting to ask him why he thought that he didn't have the luxury to think a future for himself._

 _Was he depressed?_

 _Does he think that he wouldn't survive the war to have a future?_

 _To have a family?_

 _To be happy?_

 _But Hermione knew when it was really time to leave._

 _"_ _Thank you for this, professor." Hermione said. "I'm sorry I took up some of your time."_

 _Hermione waited for a moment but got no response._

 _She nodded to herself and quietly left the room with her journal in her hand and completely oblivious to the fact that as she had left, Snape had been quietly watching her and was reading her thoughts as she left._

 _Her mind had always been very vulnerable or rather open to her._

 _By now, he would think that she'd learn to use Occlumency as well since she had been helping Harry since he abandoned that supposedly tutoring job of his._

 _But now._

 _Her mind was always quite open for him – quite inviting and vulnerable for him to penetrate._

 _And for the first time in those long years that he had been able to glimpse through her thoughts from time and again whether purposely and by accident, her last thoughts as she left the room were the very precise thoughts he had been evading to think about most of his life._

 _Draco sat by the café in the train station as he read through his ticket._

 _If half an hour, he would be boarding the train that will take him out of the city and into a new life._

 _A few years of studying abroad was the priority that lay ahead for him._

 _If there was anything else, he didn't want to think about it._

 _He stared at his large black luggage – clothes, identification and other documents, parchments and quills, a journal where he wrote down everything that was important that he needed to remember, a pocket watch and an album filled with photograph of himself and Narcissa Malfoy._

 _The war has come and gone and has been won over by the light side._

 _Has it been weeks? Months? Years?_

 _He couldn't really tell – the time was just passing and passing and passing._

 _His mother has just gone._

 _His father rotting at Azkaban after the Wizengamot's judgment._

 _Death Eaters were gathered and taken at the wizarding prison, awaiting their fate._

 _And he, Draco Black Malfoy – had successfully escaped all these because of the love of his mother._

 _Narcissa Malfoy's lie to the Dark Lord and all evidences at the manor that she has given up made her and Draco escape Azkaban prison._

 _But not Lucius._

 _There have been too much blood in his hands to escape Azkaban._

 _But she was able to save herself – she was able to save Draco._

 _Despite all these, the world had kept on turning, the world had kept on spinning – unaware of the lives it changes, oblivious to the drastic measures that were taken to the world it controls._

 _With the help of the Order of the Phoenix, the Aurors and Ministry of Magic were putting the world back up together – a better world for the future, a better world for those who have been left behind by the war._

 _Draco wasn't sure what he wanted to do with the freedom in his hands and in his life right now._

 _He may have all the wealth in the world that he couldn't even spend even if he lives for three more lifetimes, but he was alone._

 _Abandoned and alone._

 _There was nobody to share his billions worth of money and assets._

 _What was the whole point of it all?_

 _But he needed to leave London._

 _He needed to start anew, start somewhere else, start something else._

 _Whatever it was, he didn't know what really._

 _He wanted to cross the bridge first and when he does, that's when he'd decide on what it was he needed and wanted to do next._

 _He may be a rich heir and his sins may have been atoned by his mother in a way as he clearly escaped Azkaban, but in the eyes of the Wizarding World, he had been the son of a Death Eater and he will always be condemned for it by these judging eyes._

 _Starting over wasn't going to be easy but he rather do it somewhere else than in the place where it had all began and had taken place._

 _The sound of the voice of the personnel calling those who would be boarding the train echoed around him._

 _He stared as some people stood up and started dragging their bags, luggages and hands of the ones they love along as they walked towards the boarding station ready to leave once the right time has chimed in._

 _Draco stared at his ticket one last time and closed his eyes._

 _There were so many good and bad memories alike that came over him at the time he stayed and lived and grew up in London most of his life._

 _All the good and bad memories came from this place but right now, his heavy heart tells him that the bad was weighing a bit more than the other side._

 _There were so many things he wanted to give, to share and to do in order to help rebuild the word he also lived in._

 _But at the moment, whilst the war was still fresh from the hearts of those who survived it, in their eyes – he was still one of them._

 _He will always be one of them._

 _And because of this, Draco knows that he will never ever be needed by this world._

 _There was no need for him to stay there not just because he wasn't needed but because he wasn't wanted as well._

 _He didn't want to leave._

 _But as his mother always told him, not everything he has to do are things he wanted to do – sometimes, they are things that one needs to do._

 _There is a big difference between a want and a need but both has to be done and endured._

 _Draco heavily sighed and nodded to himself._

 _He felt so much despair in that place – he knew there was no future for him at London._

 _He needed to create a new future for him somewhere else._

 _"_ _You'll make it, little dragon." Draco whispered to himself as a reminder of what his mother always told him whenever he felt tired, fearful and in doubt of the world around him._

 _And with a filled luggage and a very heavy heart, Draco stood up from where he sat at the café and began dragging his feet and his baggage with him towards a new life and away from the world that has placed a painful stigma on him._

 _"_ _Where have you been?"_

 _The lights of the master's bedroom lit up and the hearth in the fireplace suddenly ignited._

 _Narcissa's eyes widened for a split moment but she quickly recovered as she entered their bedroom._

 _Lucius was sitting on the large armchair by the fireplace, staring suspiciously up at Narcissa._

 _The storm was howling and blowing outside and it was nearly two in the morning._

 _"_ _I didn't know you've regained enough strength to do wandless magic." Narcissa haughtily said as she walked towards her extravagant drawer-dresser and began removing all her shimmering jewelries from earrings to rings._

 _"_ _I asked you a question, Cissy." Lucius slowly repeated, his voice laced with venom. "Where have you been?"_

 _Narcissa's eyes sharply looked up at him as she was halfway into removing her hair ornaments._

 _From the mirror's reflection, she could see Lucius had gotten up to his feet and had walked forward and stopped a few inches from her._

 _Her keen eyes narrowed at the mention of her name or rather at the way he delivered it._

 _Ever so often, it was only Bellatrix and Snape who called her under that nickname._

 _It seemed that one of them had pissed him off and the reason he was seemingly mocking her at that moment._

 _She would take a grand guess who had angered him._

 _He was looking at her in a deranged sort of way._

 _But Narcissa ignored it; he always looked unkempt, sleepless and unstable since he had lost his position in the Dark Lord's good graces._

 _It was Snape and her brilliant suggestions and words to Bellatrix that were keeping her and her family alive at the moment._

 _But if it were for Lucius, they would be long dead by now._

 _No matter of the outcome of the war, their good future had long been gone the moment Lucius lost the prophecy he was asked to retrieve._

 _"_ _I'm not going to ask again." Lucius said in a soft and icy tone._

 _Narcissa shook her head and resumed into removing her hair ornaments._

 _"_ _The usual, Lucius." Narcissa simply answered him focusing into removing the largest barette with emerald stone over her head. "Parties, social gatherings, no-nautical nonsense talks – you know? The way of life we've always had – keeping our name afloat out into the world while-"_

 _"_ _LIAR!" Lucius angrily said moving forward._

 _Before Narcissa could defend herself, Lucius had grabbed her by the arm and forced her to face him._

 _With a sudden movement, he pushed her against the drawer and her back painfully hit the wood and mirror._

 _She gasped not out of fear but out of shock at the sudden outburst._

 _He looked demented as he held her, keeping her down and hard against the strong wood of the dresser._

 _Narcissa struggled but the weight of Lucius' arms pinned her against the mirror while his other hand struggled to keep her hand from reaching him to protect herself from him._

 _It took Lucius a moment to win over her but Narcissa had enough strength, focus and sanity in her to overcome and overpower Lucius._

 _With a stronger form than Lucius at the moment, Narcissa angrily moved her leg against him and with all her strength, kicked him right at his left abdominal area where a few nights ago, the Dark Lord had tortured him severely out of spite and fun._

 _Lucius screamed in anger and agony as he fell backward but before he could even recover, Narcissa had managed to draw out her wand and when Lucius faced her again, his neck had met the point of Narcissa's wand._

 _"_ _I warned you-" Narcissa angrily gasped massaging the part of her neck that Lucius had hit hard while holding her wand out warningly over his skin._

 _"_ _Cissy-"_

 _"_ _I warned you – I told you before – you-never-EVER-lay a hand on me – EVER AGAIN!"_

 _"_ _Cissy – your wand –"_

 _"_ _Do not, 'Cissy' me!" Narcissa angrily yelled at him._

 _Her wand hand was shaking and her voice sounded like thunder in his ears._

 _He was pale faced as he slowly backed away while Narcissa advanced._

 _He had both his hands raised up at his sides to show her that he was wandless and had no qualms of attacking again._

 _Narcissa looked murderous._

 _All that was elegant and classy about her had completely vanished and was replaced by a terrifying streak over her face._

 _"_ _I told you that the next time you lay a hand on me I'm going to break your arm even without goddamn magic-"_

 _"_ _Please – Narcissa-"_

 _Lucius stared back at her with a mixture of anger and fear over his face._

 _He looked like he wasn't sure of what he had been thinking all along._

 _Narcissa stared back at him, breathless and ready to strike any moment._

 _"_ _Gone were the days you can just lay a hand on me when you felt like I didn't dress elegant enough, when you think my hair isn't perfect for a party, when I don't socialize enough to parade the Malfoy name and status – the days – all those dark, terrifying days when it was comfortable of you to lay a hand on me just because you can!"_

 _Lucius coward before her._

 _Eyes closing in as tears strolled down his face and Narcissa looked ready to cry as well._

 _The emotions have been too much for the both of them with all that has happened in the past months._

 _From Lucius' mistake at the Ministry of Magic, his months spent at Azkaban, the time the Dark Lord has taken him and had severely punished him and his family until the present time._

 _Narcissa struggled to keep her tears inside her eyelids and not shed a single one at the memories of all the years he had lay a hand on her just to prove his power over her._

 _But he had stopped the day Draco was born._

 _He had tried to stop physically hurting her the day Draco was born._

 _The consequent physical abuse she's endured under his iron fist became less and less as Draco grew older._

 _But that never meant that Draco still didn't hear their earsplitting yells and more than enough glasses and artifacts at the manor that shattered at these times._

 _Despite all his cruelty and his ways of raising Draco, he never wanted Draco to see him hurting Narcissa._

 _But he did see him a few more times at his attempts of hurting her._

 _He had failed time and again to completely hurt her and today, even without Draco there – even when emotions were high and their situation at its darkest end of the pit, she wouldn't let him hurt her._

 _"_ _If you want to know-" Narcissa heavily breathed out. "If you want to know something – anything – you will ask and you will not lay a hand on me!"_

 _Lucius' eyes glinted at her defiance, at her almost-admittance of what he wanted to know._

 _She knew they were losing at the war and knew that his power and influence over both her and Draco was weakening for how the Dark Lord was treating him._

 _He knew she was well aware or more than aware of things he wasn't and therefore, she had the guts to act and talk to him this way._

 _"_ _YOU WERE WITH HIM AGAIN!" Lucius suddenly yelled at her with his eyes widening as all emotions burst from him. "YOU – YOU AND SEVERUS-"_

 _"_ _BECAUSE I HAVE TO!" Narcissa yelled back at him. "Because he can save us!"_

 _"_ _Save us?" Lucius repeated with both fear, anger and hurt in his eyes. "I have done everything – everything in my power to keep this- "_

 _"_ _You have done NOTHING for this family!" Narcissa angrily lash back at him._

 _She was shaking in anger and in her full rage Lucius could feel the surge of her power from the wand in her hand._

 _His eyes kept darting still in her wand hand but he kept himself still steady, trying to regain the little pride he had left in himself._

 _"_ _Severus will abandon you the moment he sees it fit that he no longer needs anything from you!"_

 _"_ _Severus has never abandoned us and will NEVER abandon-"_

 _"_ _HE IS NOT LOYAL TO THE DARK LORD!" Lucius lashed back at her and this time, he stood his ground, uncaring if Narcissa would attack him._

 _Narcissa was speechless, eyes gleaming with tears._

 _She knew the truth in those words and knew too well where his loyalty lies._

 _But for as long as Snape could protect Draco from the Dark Lord and anyone or anything that wishes to cause the boy any harm, Severus Snape will be her ally – even if he remains so to be her last and only._

 _"_ _He will abandon you when he finds no use of you anymore, Cissy!" Lucius cried at her._

 _She watched as her once powerful husband slowly went down on his knees._

 _She was at loss for words as she watched the once powerful man crumble down on his knees, begging her to listen to him even for the last time._

 _He was begging a life with him and a loyalty only to him._

 _But Narcissa had enough of Lucius and every wrong decision he has led his whole family into out of his insatiable hunger for power and prestige._

 _"_ _This is the last time.." Narcissa began breathing heavily as she slowly lowered her wand and stared down at her pitiful husband. "This is the last time you will EVER hear me say this, Lucius."_

 _He was still on his knees, crying like a lone wolf defeated and lost from its pack._

 _"_ _If this world comes down to all of us – if I would have a choice – I wouldn't ever think twice of choosing Severus Snape and bringing Draco to safety into his hands. Not to anyone else's – not even to yours. I will choose Severus Snape any other day over anyone who gets in my way of protecting my son."_

 _The silence that followed was quite unnerving._

 _Narcissa remained emotionless as she was slowly able to control her breathing and stopped herself from shaking._

 _She cleared her throat after a while and casually began drying the drops of tears at the side of her eyes as if just cleaning some messed up eye-makeup._

 _"_ _If you EVER attempt on laying a hand on me just because of your jealousy over a man who has more value than you would ever have or for any reason at all Lucius – I swear to you that I will cut that hand of yours and send it back to your beloved master as a gift of doing him a favor for your pathetic existence."_

 _Lucius slowly went silent and unmoving, listening only to the sound of her clicking shoes as she walked towards the door._

 _She halted and slowly opened the door before her._

 _"_ _And if the Dark Lord ever finds out about this Lucius – about Severus - I will cut your tongue out with the very same scissors you've threatened to use on Draco to threaten him when he excitedly told you that he met a very smart Gryffindor Muggle-Born at Hogwarts at his first day."_

The bell of the shop's door rang as Hermione, Fleur and Ginny entered the establishment.

The French woman who made her gown excitedly greeted them at the doorway and immediately asked her assistants to take out the special gown that was to be picked up for the day.

They were entertained into teas and biscuits and Fleur and Ginny waited by the small living room area while the woman tended to Hermione and prepared the gown for her.

"Aren't you coming with me?" she asked the two girls as she was called at the back of the shop.

The two girls stared at one another and shook their heads.

"Try it out and come when there's something you need an opinion about." Fleur said with a small smile and Ginny only nodded coherently.

The two looked completely uninterested and it made her wonder why they were so serious and why they accompanied her in the first place if they weren't going to be the help she needed anyway.

But she was emotionally too tired to care with how they were acting at the moment.

"I'll come out once I have the dress on." Hermione quietly said seeing she can do that since they were the only guests at the shop for the day as per Harry's request.

"We'll stay here." Ginny said looking up at her and constantly staring back at the door as if waiting to be attacked or something.

Hermione nodded at them and walked down the dark and narrow hallway of the shop that led toward the end of it.

She could hear the woman humming to herself and saying some things in French as she waited in.

Hermione entered a very small room with a large mirror and with absolutely a lot of wedding gown ribbons, sashes and other designs to be put up for the remedies or adjustments that were needed.

She wondered why she was being asked to try the gown there.

She whirled around the smaller mirror, trying to check ends and ends of it if there was any damage or anything she wanted to change or anything she thinks that Harry might want changed.

She was struggled and wondered why Ginny nor Fleur didn't want to come with her at the back of the shop when after all, it was their supposedly job for the day that's why they offered to be there in the first place.

"I believe my shop has a trace. You have several moments to do what you have to do. Be quick."

Hermione looked up and heard the old woman say the words in French.

She wondered who she could be talking to at the other room.

Hermione heard a movement and could swear that she felt some sort of magic pass through the air.

"Dear?" the old woman came out after a moment. "Let's go?"

Her English wasn't so bad but Hermione still wondered who she had been talking to because Harry had made sure that the shop was closed down for the day for her needs.

She smiled back at the old woman and they entered the small room.

It took a moment for her to done on the wedding gown.

"Lovely. Precise, perfection.." the old woman complimented her as she gently pulled her sides and back to adjust the wedding gown to its right place.

Hermione turned around and face herself full in the large mirror in the room.

It was the most beautiful wedding gown she has ever seen in her life – far beyond beautiful from the one that Snape had bought for her before.

It was so perfect, so intricately designed and fitted comfortably and perfectly to every inch and turn of her body.

It was a very long tube wedding gown; the designs were intricate small studs of real diamonds that she's heard Harry order from Italy and a specifically designs linings and special silk sash was designed around the beautiful gown.

She was almost perfect.

She could imagine how she would look like at her wedding day.

She could imagine the things people would say about her.

She could imagine how Mrs. Weasley would still be tearful at the sight of her and Harry down the aisle.

She could imagine all things at once on her wedding day with Harry.

But her heart would be elsewhere on that day.

She could feel the burden of it all already.

She could imagine Draco's pain and burden as well.

" _You look beautiful and perfect."_ the old woman said as she finished the small retouches at the end of the gown in her French accent.

She was smiling at Hermione and was extremely proud of her own creation.

She was an old family friend of the Delacours and she was the same woman who designed Fleur's wedding gown and Fleur's mother's wedding gown even.

"It's alright to cry dear." the old woman said as she saw tears that Hermione were holding back.

But she wasn't crying about the gown or how perfect she looked.

She only nodded silently and turned back to her reflection.

"I'll leave you for a moment and come back here for some final touches on whatever you would want changed about it.

And before Hermione could tell her that there wasn't anything she wanted to change any further, the woman vanished from the room and went back to the shop.

She smiled to herself in front of the mirror.

If only the wedding wasn't some sort of 'shot-gun' wedding as the Muggles would coin to term it, she was partly excited to be married to Harry.

He was her bestfriend first for as long and as far back as she could remember and they had beautiful and happy memories.

Harry was always the charming boy in her eyes.

If only things didn't end up the way they did.

The dress was indeed perfect and beautiful – Harry was the one who specified ever bit and piece of design on it – exactly the way they talked about it before in their younger days.

In the old days.

Hermione heavily sighed and turned about one last time before deciding to go back to the shop and tell Fleur and Ginny to take one last look at it first for their comments before she removes it.

She wanted it taken off her – she was beginning to be quite emotional about the idea that she had to marry Harry – not want, but needed to.

"Why are they not helping me?" Hermione muttered to herself turning back to the mirror and pulling her hair up and checking if it was neat that way or if she should just keep it down.

"Maybe because there isn't much revision needed to make you a bit more perfect?" said a man's voice.

Hermione's eyes widened.

From the mirror's reflection, Draco was standing right behind her with a sheepish grin over his pale and pointed face.

Her features looked stricken and tears immediately threatened back in her eyes.

Hermione turned to face him – a moment of silence as she was rooted on the spot not knowing what to say

Their eyes met.

"If you ask me, I'd marry you _now."_ Draco commented with a dry smile over his face. "Like _now_ at this very instant in this ridiculously small fucking space."

Hermione looked both miserable and at the verge of bursting into laughter as well.

He grinned at her.

"How are you holding up, you little know-it-all?"

Hermione shook her head at him with a longing look.

"Not so well you annoying little ferret!"

Draco smiled back at her and opened his arms to her.

 _"_ _Oh, Draco!"_ Hermione heavily sighed as if the world had closed in around her and someone had come to her rescue.

And then she burst into more tears and dived in full into Draco's arms and cried her heart out miserably, tightening her grip around him as the moment passed by.


	65. Chapter 65

_**Chapter Sixty Five**_

 ** _Gemino_**

 _The room was quite dark and the only sounds that could be heard were the subtle sounds of bottles being kept into one container._

 _"_ _Have you finished it?" the soft voice interrupted her thoughts._

 _Narcissa blinked from staring deeply unto the hearth of the fireplace before her._

 _She could hear movements from the next room along with the crackling of the fire._

 _"_ _Halfway." Narcissa quietly responded as she heavily breathed and stared at the glass goblet in her hand._

 _It had a red-wine colour liquid in it and the soothing scent of Dahlia flowers._

 _She stared at it with despise but took the last swig and closing her eyes, she emptied the half-filled goblet with one go._

 _A clank._

 _She swallowed hard and let the warm and soothing sensation of the potion fill in her throat and down her lungs._

 _Her visions immediately cleared and her physical feeling energized and renewed the moment the potion touched her lips._

 _It was so strong._

 _The maker of it is a strong wizard himself._

 _"_ _Have you seen the excess vials I had?" he asked her looking slightly bewildered. "I was quite sure I packed a few more."_

 _"_ _You told me that you used them up, did you not?" she asked looking up at him._

 _Snape shook his head and then nodded at her._

 _"_ _I must be tired." Snape nodding at her. "Are you feeling better?"_

 _Narcissa looked up at Snape by the doorway._

 _He was slightly looking harassed, his hair askew and he sounded breathless._

 _"_ _Way better." Narcissa replied with a small smile. "Are you done packing?" she asked as he turned back away from the room and returned to the next._

 _She quietly followed him to the next room._

 _Two bags lay open over the bed as he filled and organized packages of food in them as he finished settling a small box with atleast two dozen of small vials in it._

 _"_ _Here's what you would need." Snape slowly instructed carefully placing the box into another bag that Narcissa obviously owned._

 _"_ _Isn't that too much?" she quietly asked watching him seal the bag._

 _"_ _This will last you for more than a month." Snape quietly replied. "But if for emergency purposes that you need to take extra of them, it will last you a month."_

 _Snape looked up at her as she nodded quietly in understanding._

 _"_ _Are you alright?" he asked seeing the slight worry pass her eyes._

 _"_ _I'm fine." Narcissa answered in a low tone. "I'm feeling tired. When you've finished up we can clear all these up and go."_

 _"_ _I'm done." Snape said pointing his wand over the little mess over the bed and they slowly cleared themselves and the bags zipped themselves back._

 _She quietly watched with careful eyes as he moved to the end of the room and took the traveling cloak he hung at the back of the door of their rented room._

 _"_ _How is she?"_

 _"_ _She's better." Snape said with another small smile. "She's quite better now. Seems to have finally accepted things as they are although there are days and nights that I feel that she's still in there – you know?"_

 _"_ _She will never go away." Narcissa said standing by the wall and folding her arms. "That girl she used to be will always just be in there, Sev."_

 _"_ _I still feel guilty about all these." Snape said looking up at her and walking closer. "Every waking moment.. every single time.. I couldn't sleep at night, I could barely think things straight at times and then she's just there.. and every bit of guilt just... I don't know.. I mean, I know we've come into terms.. I just.."_

 _"_ _It's alright to feel guilty." Narcissa coldly said. "You were her teacher and you've got that goddamn conscience."_

 _"_ _The conscience you've been trying to get rid off?" Snape asked with a raised brow._

 _"_ _The very same conscience that keeps my son alive." Narcissa answered rolling her eyes and moving away from him._

 _Snape stopped her._

 _She looked up at him._

 _"_ _Severus."_

 _"_ _Cissy. Come here." Snape said moving himself to her and placing his arms gently around her_

 _A slight and warm squeeze and she looked up at him._

 _Something clank in the inside of Narcissa's pockets but before Snape could ask about it she moved herself up to him._

 _"_ _This won't buy your freedom out of our deal." Narcissa gravely said looking up at him through their very close proximity._

 _"_ _I'm not trying to buy it out." Snape whispered giving her the smallest of nod and kissing her forehead._

 _He closed his eyes as his lips remained over that forehead._

 _She used to take very good care of him and she still does._

 _He couldn't bear the thought of losing her – she was the only family he has ever got_

 _He would do anything in his power to ensure that the curse in her blood doesn't spread out or kill her or at the least, stall her life out and extend it for as long as she needed._

 _For as long as he would emotionally need her._

 _For as long as Draco still needs a mother._

 _"_ _Severus, I know this is.. this is all almost impossible and hard. Everything has come too fast and 's a task not everyone can do."_

 _"_ _It isn't.."_

 _"_ _It's a task only you can do."_

 _He didn't answer._

 _He sighed heavily and gently moved away from her._

 _"_ _I need to go." Snape said. "Hermione will be looking for me. I know she doesn't ask as much anymore but I can't be away from her for more than four hours."_

 _"_ _She cares for you."_

 _"_ _She needs me to survive that cottage. There's a difference."_

 _"_ _In time she will grow to love you."_

 _"_ _I don't need her to love me. I don't want her love." Snape spitefully whispered._

 _Something like a glint of hurt passed Snape's eyes._

 _"_ _What's wrong?" Narcissa asked as he carried both bags around his shoulders and closed his traveling cloak to prepare in his flight._

 _"_ _She will always love Potter more." Snape quietly said as they walked towards the door._

 _"_ _He is her first love." Narcissa answered with a smile. "Ofcourse that will never really go away. But that doesn't mean that she would love you any less or never learn to love you."_

 _"_ _I need her to survive." Snape said. "Nothing more, nothing less. And when she does – when all these is over – I can go back into my life and she can go back to hers. With them. With Potter."_

 _Naricssa stared and didn't say anything._

 _She couldn't quite admit it to him that it was a long-shot and not something that she was even expecting herself if she was to be honest._

 _"_ _Cissy?" Snape slowly asked turning to her before they reached the doorway. "Cissy, are you sure that after seven years, I can bring her back? That she's better?"_

 _"_ _She will be better after those years." Narcissa assured him moving away and avoiding his eyes._

 _Something felt different from her gaze._

 _"_ _Cissy?" he slowly asked seeing her turning from him, fidgeting. "Narcissa?"_

 _"_ _There are just some things.. a lot of things… I can't help but think about."_

 _Narcissa looked up at him as if to say something but Snape interrupted her._

 _"_ _Draco?" he concernedly asked. "You told me he's better?"_

 _"_ _He is." Narcissa sighed heavily. "But not as consistent. He still ask about all these. He still.. I know he still try and pry over my things when I'm not around and all."_

 _"_ _There are no evidences for him to find." Snape pointed out with a serious look over his face. "Draco can't find anything if there's nothing to find."_

 _Narcissa didn't say anything._

 _He moved to her and slowly made her look up to him with the tip of his finger along her jawline._

 _"_ _Cissy?" he slowly asked. "There is nothing for him to find, right?"_

 _Their eyes met and a glint passed Narcissa's._

 _"_ _Narcissa?"_

 _"_ _Nothing." Narcissa replied. "Ofcourse there's absolutely nothing for him to find."_

 _He looked back at her with a doubtful stance but he didn't say anything._

 _He held her hand but she softly moved it away from him._

 _"_ _You should go." Narcissa said with a firm tone._

 _"_ _I will see you again." Snape said nodding at her and taking his things with him as he moved to the door._

 _Narcissa didn't move._

 _She was staring up at his back, biting her lower lip with her hand inside her robes._

 _Snape looked back at her as he expected her to leave first._

 _There was that look over her face that told Snape that something was really wrong._

 _He gently and subtly placed his hand inside his wand pocket._

 _"_ _I will see you after a month." Snape slowly said with certain precaution as he moved away from her._

 _"_ _Do take care." Narcissa said moving to him and suddenly embracing him._

 _She placed her arms around his neck and gave him a firm smile._

 _"_ _You take good care of yourself." Snape said bearing the heaviness back in his black eyes. "Send me a Patronus once things go way out of hand. I will see you after a month." Snape said as he stepped out of their room._

 _Narcissa didn't let his hand go._

 _He looked back at her._

 _"_ _I'm sorry." Narcissa said and her eyes actually filled in with tears. "I'm sorry for all these, Sev."_

 _Snape tried to avoid her gaze knowing that he couldn't bear to see her this way._

 _"_ _Cissy-"_

 _"_ _And I'm sorry I have to do all these."_

 _"_ _Cissy? What do you mean-"_

 _"_ _I'm sorry." Narcissa said moving to him and taking her wand out as he held his hand tightly. "I'm sorry for everything."_

 _Snape's black eyes looked doubtfully back at her but since she held his hand he couldn't get his wand back as his other hand held the other bag._

 _"_ _Cissy, what are you-"_

 _But before he could do anything to defend himself nor understand what was going on, a blinding light of white and blue emitted from Narcissa's wand and pelted straight to his chest and the middle of his forehead._

 _He was pushed backward by the force landing himself on the carpeted floor._

 _He had started to convulse out of the spells that were being forced unto him._

 _He felt his hands lose all its feel and senses as he dropped both traveling bags._

 _Then he became rigid and his eyes fell out of focus as Narcissa continued to point the wand over him, muttering nonstop under her breath without blinking._

 _He struggled and tried to fight it off but her magic was stronger and he had been too shock to have enough time to intellectually react against it to defend himself._

 _Before he completely passed out, he could swear he heard Narcissa's sobs as she continued to mutter something nonstop under her breath as she got down on her knees next to him over the carpeted floor._

 _She cradled him in his arms and felt the tip of her wand over his right temple and her tears passed the side of his face._

 _"_ _I'm sorry." Narcissa whispered in between her sobs and her mutter of the incantation. "I'm so sorry."_

 _Glowing white threads after another began to spread out and back from Snape's temple and to Narcissa's wand._

 _The threads were forced out of his head and straight to her wand._

 _"_ _Don't fight it, don't fight it sweetheart.. please.. I'm sorry. This is for you.. this is for you."_

 _The scene took a while as Narcissa finished her spell and then Snape completely blackened out._

 _"_ _I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Narcissa cried as she lowered her wand to her side and embraced Snape's unmoving form. "But I need to think of you as well. I have to think of you…"_

 _Narcissa held him close to her chest, kissing her forehead and crying in their form over the floor._

 _"_ _I'm sorry Severus. I know you wouldn't want me to do all these, but this is the only way I can save your life in the future when I am gone. This is the only thing I can give to you after everything you've done for me and Draco.."_

 _Narcissa lost all composure as she continued to sob over the floor and moved herself around to gather her wand back as Snape lay unconscious in her arms._

 _"_ _I'm sorry for what Bella has done. I'm so, so sorry about Hermione Granger…" Narcissa said kissing his forehead. "You are the only family I have but I can't lose Draco."_

 _She swallowed and gathered herself, trying to calm herself to focus and doing her best to stop her sobs._

 _There was a clink of bottles as she moved her other hand from the inside of her pockets and pulled three small and empty vials out._

 _Narcissa poured out all glowing threads into the three vials as she sobbed harder by the moment, gasping for breath and air as she secured all the threads in the small bottles._

 _She looked back at Snape as she pocketed back the three small vials._

 _She kissed his forehead and pointed her wand over his forehead again._

 _A long glowing blue thread went back into his forehead._

 _"_ _And this is the only way I can save your life. I'm sorry, Severus. You would have to endure everything first but I promise that you will not die in Azkaban. I won't ever let that happen." Narcissa whispered slowly pointing her wand over his forehead again._

 _Snape had completely passed out by now._

 _She wiped the water at the side of his closed eyes and kissed his forehead and whispered, "Obliviate."_

 _"_ _Are you alright? Are you sure you don't need St. Mungo's?" Bill asked as he helped Lupin settle back over their couch. "Fleur – the glass of- "_

 _"_ _Coming! Coming!" Fleur called back from the kitchens._

 _They could hear the hurried sounds she was making in their small kitchens as she scrambled to get Lupin a glass of water._

 _They had been working along in the garden together when he started feeling dizzy again and nearly passed out._

 _It was the third time it happened that week._

 _Fleur returned to the living room bearing a glass of water for Lupin and a warm compress in her hand._

 _They helped put it over Lupin's head when he finished the half of the glass._

 _They stared worriedly at their professor._

 _He was never that sickly of a person outside his usual condition and the full moon was still far off and so it worried them to see him this way._

 _"_ _I'm seeing the same visions." Lupin reluctantly revealed to the couple. "Things.. places..memories I don't recall."_

 _"_ _What do you see?" Bill asked already thinking of having him checked in the Department of Mysteries consultation office. "These visions?"_

 _"_ _A place." Lupin said. "Some sort of small town.. then this… this sort of inn-"_

 _"_ _Inn?" Fleur repeated folding her arms. "Like a hotel?"_

 _"_ _Like an old, small and barren hotel." Lupin specified. "It is dark but I'm sure it's a sort of hotel cause there are doors – rooms – and people around but I keep seeing the last topmost corridor.. floor."_

 _"_ _And then?" Bill asked him. "What else?"_

 _"_ _Then this door.. it always stops there and then I feel all dizzy and.."_

 _"_ _The never opens?" Fleur asked sitting opposite the two men. "Never opens at all?"_

 _"_ _Never ever." Lupin answered. "But I can hear voices inside – sort of whispers…then at times a glowing light from the door like from a spell or something. And then I'd also hear voices."_

 _"_ _Voices?"_

 _"_ _Two difference voices. But I'm sure the other is a woman."_

 _"_ _A woman?" Fleur said. "Can you recall the tone? Can you recognize?"_

 _"_ _I don't." Lupin said concernedly._

 _"_ _Unfamiliar?"_

 _"_ _I couldn't say." Lupin honestly answered feeling hopeless. "But I'm sure between the two voices there is a woman's voice. I could distinctly hear it like it was in some sort of command."_

 _Fleur and Bill stared at one another, thinking deeply where these memories could be coming from._

 _Lupin wasn't a social person and he obviously didn't have a girlfriend._

 _So where were these memories or visions coming from?_

 _"_ _A vision usually comes from a memory." Bill explained as he sat back down over the couch opposite Lupin. "Or rather things that are about to happen. Otherwise, unless you're telling us you're going bonkers-"_

 _"_ _I'm not crazy." Lupin quickly interrupted him._

 _"_ _He didn't say you are." Fleur said in defense of Bill. "Did you see if these memories – visions – can you tell if they come from future or past?"_

 _"_ _Nothing looks modern in the inn I'm telling you." Lupin said. "There is also a feeling that it happened in the past but I'm sure I've never time-travelled."_

 _The couple stared at one another._

 _"_ _Other than the woman's voice is there anything – absolutely anything distinct at all that you can remember?" Fleur asked him._

 _Lupin's eyes narrowed as he tried his best to think, think deeply._

 _Was there anything distinct from all of it that he could recall?_

 _"_ _A letter." Lupin answered recalling. "A note- something of the sort. It appears not in any distinct form of the vision but just appears. Something that is written.. the handwriting is very familiar but I couldn't read no matter how many times I think about it – I couldn't read what was written and then it disappears completely in black smoke."_

 _"_ _Disappears in black smoke?" Bill repeated trying to make sense of it all. "A handwriting?"_

 _"_ _It all just disappears and then next thing, I'm in the stairs at times or just the dark corridor with the doors.. and then the door and the woman's voice.. it all repeats just that way."_

 _"_ _Sounds like a memory to me." Fleur said with a serious look over her face. "But we can't put it back together if we don't know where it came from or when it has happened exactly or anything that could possibly help us trace it all back so we can restore it."_

 _There was silence in the room as they all merely stared at one another, thinking hard and deep where these visions or dreams or rather memories were coming from and how they were going to be able to retrieve it all and find out what it all meant and most importantly, why did he have all of it in his head._

 _"_ _You have a visitor."_

 _There were clanking of several gates that were being unlocked and opened._

 _Footsteps._

 _And then some rigid movements and he felt himself being dragged to his feet and being taken into the spot nearer the last gate of his cell._

 _Darkness._

 _Silence._

 _A door had opened and closed._

 _Hushed voices._

 _"_ _Madam, this is the only time I can ever do this for you."_

 _"_ _And this is the first and last time I will ask this favor of you."_

 _There was silence._

 _A clank of what sounded like coins in a bag had sounded._

 _Another movement and then a door had been opened for her._

 _Her footsteps slowly echoed through the darkened cell and then silence._

 _A slight glow of light appeared and it lit the entire cell room._

 _Lucius' heavy lids slowly looked up from where he sat at the very end and edge of the cell as he heard the unfamiliar clanking of foosteps._

 _In his whole months in Azkaban, he has never heard the Aurors' footsteps sound that way and it interested him._

 _He looked up and his eyes slowly widened._

 _"_ _Hello, Lucius." the voice whispered gently as a figure appeared from the shadows._

 _His eyes tried to figure out what he was seeing but no words were coming out from his dry mouth._

 _He could see a figure that was ever so familiar wearing a long traveling cloak and under a long thick and black hood._

 _The face was slowly revealed – beautiful eyes, thin features and long soft hair._

 _Something in those eyes were very familiar for Lucius._

 _"_ _Narcissa!" he breathed out still trying to comprehend if what he was seeing was a dream or reality._

 _Days and nights were all the same at Azkaban._

 _It has been days, weeks and months – he could barely recall._

 _He had been left there by the world to die._

 _And since being taken there, he hasn't seen Draco nor Narcissa – only in his dreams._

 _And at that very moment, the Narcissa didn't look anywhere like a dream to him._

 _He gasped and crawled with the little strength he has towards the gates of the cell._

 _The figure stood tall, unmoving and thinner than he ever recalled._

 _She walked outside of the cell door with her robes sweeping the floor._

 _"_ _Narcissa?" he gasped again trying to reach through the cell door but an enchantment was blocking him from getting too close to it._

 _He looked up at her with desperate and tearful eyes – with the most obvious form of pain and regret in them._

 _"_ _Narcissa-"_

 _"_ _Not looking at your best, Lucius?" Narcissa's voice softly muttered as she stopped in front of him and stood still by the cell door._

 _Her gaze was cold, unblinking and nowhere faltering at the form of her husband who looked ten times older than she had last seen him._

 _"_ _Narcissa… please.." Lucius cried as he moved to closest inch he could do so by the bars of the cell door._

 _She looked down upon him with utmost hatred and disgust as if she would rather be anywhere else in the world but there._

 _"_ _There is nothing to ask or plea for, Lucius." Narcissa whispered softly. "I will also not stay for long. I am only here to tell you that I have already transferred all inheritance of the Blacks and the Malfoys into Draco's name."_

 _"_ _Inheri-inheritance?" Lucius repeated with a difficult look over his face as if he was struggling to remember what the word meant._

 _"_ _All that he is supposed to inherit and receive as heir of a Black and a Malfoy." Narcissa said in a clear and business-like tone._

 _"_ _Where's Draco?" he asked with tears forming in his eyes. "I want.. I would like to see D-Draco.. please.. I would like to see Draco. Where's my son?"_

 _"_ _Your son does not want to see you." Narcissa firmly said. "No. You-re lying – Draco – he would never-"_

 _"_ _He does not even want to hear anything about you anymore."_

 _"_ _NO!" Lucius screamed and he looked more demented than ever. "My son – my only son!"_

 _"_ _Did you not hear what I had just-"_

 _"_ _DRACO WILL NEVER DO THAT TO ME!" Lucius desperately cried in anger. "Draco – my only son- he will never abandon me – no, please –I would like to see Draco, I beg you ,Cissy -"_

 _"_ _Do not call me that." Narcissa coldly said. "And there's nothing I can do if Draco doesn't want to see you."_

 _He looked up at her as if he wanted to talk to her and discuss anything else but money at that very moment._

 _"_ _Narcissa.. Narcissa… my.. my wife.." Lucius croaked out looking up at her in such desperation._

 _Narcissa's eyes darkened and something like a smirk and insult passed her face._

 _"_ _Your wife?" she repeated with spite in her tone. "Now you are calling me your wife?"_

 _"_ _Narcissa-"_

 _"_ _How dare you call me that. I wasn't your wife." Narcissa spat at him with her hands now at her sides as if she's restraining herself from grabbing Lucius at the other end of the bars._

 _"_ _Nar-"_

 _"_ _I was never your wife!" Narcissa said in a raised tone. "I was your mere arm candy! Some glimmering treasure in your arms that you've paraded around parties after another!"_

 _"_ _That's not true!" Lucius said in spite of himself as he struggled to get into his feet. "I had loved you! I always loved you!"_

 _"_ _You disgust me!" Narcissa said taking her wand out from her pocket in her instinct to protect herself._

 _In reality, there was absolutely nothing Lucius could do to harm her._

 _But in the years they were together, Narcissa had learned to raise her alertness and resistance when she was around Lucius._

 _Her reflexes had always been at the ready ever since Lucius first laid a hand on her._

 _"_ _You never loved me." Narcissa whispered with hatred in her tone. "You've taken me to bed to make you an heir, you've used me in every possible chance and circumstance and you've never regarded my feelings-"_

 _"_ _I love you Narcissa-"_

 _"_ _NO!" Narcissa angrily yelled at him. "You had loved no one else but yourself, Lucius! No one else!"_

 _A spark had emitted from her wand but it didn't do anything else._

 _She was breathless as she stared at him with contempt and hatred in her eyes that bore tears at the sides._

 _She struggled to keep her tears from falling._

 _"_ _I love you – you and Draco-"_

 _"_ _No-"_

 _"_ _I did everything – everything – you hear me? I did everything to protect you and Draco!"_

 _"_ _I DID EVERYTHING TO PROTECT DRACO! YOU NEVER PROTECTED US!" Narcissa angrily yelled at him. "I was the one who made us all survive this war!"_

 _She was breathless._

 _She was fuming in anger and Lucius saw her face turn from red to pale and looked like she suddenly have difficulty breathing._

 _"_ _Cissy-" Lucius worriedly whispered and for the briefest moment, he moved forward and in his worry for Narcissa, he accidently touched through the grills of the cell and a vast and electrocuting pain passed him._

 _Narcissa silently and calmly watched as he screamed momentarily and he dropped back over the stone floor, curled and gasping in severe pain._

 _"_ _Narcissa.." he gasped and Narcissa could swear that there were tears included in the cry of his word. "Please, Cissy…"_

 _"_ _I do not wish for this conversation to continue any longer." Narcissa said in a quiet tone as she took two steps back from the gates._

 _Lucius slowly looked up at her with sweat, tears and desperation all over his face._

 _"_ _Cissy.."_

 _"_ _I wish.." she paused, breathing heavily as if she had difficulty to speak any longer, "I wish that in your time here Lucius.. in all the years you would spend here, you would come to reflect and understand as I have that prestige.. that name and money were never been everything."_

 _"_ _Please don't leave me..Cissy.. forgive me.. forgive me.."_

 _Her eyes slowly narrowed and her breathing was beginning to be tight and difficult._

 _Narcissa tried to avert her eyes from Lucius._

 _"_ _Please forgive me.. I beg you.. I beg for your f-forgiveness..and D-Draco's.. Draco.." Lucius cried desperately._

 _"_ _I forgive you." Narcissa shortly spoke with utter coldness in her voice. "But I cannot answer for Draco's forgiveness."_

 _"_ _Cissy.. my son.. my only son.. "_

 _"_ _Goodbye, Lucius." Naricsa whisered turning away from him before he could see the tears that were forming in her beautiful eyes. "May you find room to forgive yourself as well."_

 _And with that, she turned completely away, walking in a calm and well-paced manner as she tried to block away the echo of Lucius' cries of regret and desperation to gain forgiveness as he calls her and Draco's name._

 _Narcissa closed her eyes and breathed in and out several times._

 _She waited and waited until the pain had come to pass inside her._

 _Her knuckles already white as she tightly gripped the ends of her armchair as the pain passed her._

 _The moment had passed as quickly as it had come._

 _She opened her eyes and her visions slowly returned back to normal._

 _The previous argument with Draco had taken much of her energy already and that's when she knew that she was really dying._

 _She had been out for a few hours and Draco was as brilliant as suspecting already of her._

 _Her eyes settled back over her large mahogany desk where she finished signing documents after another._

 _Everything was secured and settled into place._

 _Everything was going to be alright now for Draco – his future was secured._

 _So was Snape's._

 _She had documented and spared all the inheritance Draco would come to get and receive the moment she passes while Snape would receive in his personal account certain amount of money he would be able to use once the years of seclusion was over._

 _He would never have to worry for the next galleon nor the next meal he was going to eat._

 _Other than these ofcourse, she made sure that his supplies would never run out._

 _She may be running out of time in her life, but she was a bit cleverer than father time._

 _She managed to secure Snape and Draco's future altogether._

 _Even Hermione's._

 _She closed her eyes and sighed heavily at the thought of Hermione._

 _What a headache the Muggle-Born had been._

 _But she wasn't going to lie to herself that she had grown to care for her – even for the slightest bit._

 _She was indeed a very undesirable victim of this war – of her demented sister._

 _Even if she was from the other side of the war, she didn't deserve what happened to her._

 _And if she dies, it would be on Narcissa and her conscience this time around._

 _She had the choice and the power to ensure and secure her safety through the years and she's managed just that._

 _She took pity on the child – yes, she was still a child – but that wasn't enough reason for her to pity her._

 _It was Draco._

 _Draco's undeniable feelings for the girl after all these years for her came as a great big blow for her._

 _She barely managed it and could barely believe and grasp the idea of it – but it came from Draco's mouth._

 _He was deeply in love with the Muggle-Born._

 _How she despised the idea of it._

 _But he was her son – her only beloved son – and she would not be able to stand his suffering._

 _She would have done whatever it has to take her to still give in to her son's despicable life desires and decisions._

 _Draco mattered to her more than anything in the world and therefore, Draco's heart's deepest desires would still be fulfilled despite and in spite of it all._

 _It wasn't easy as it was a strong contradiction to her own beliefs, but she had to do it._

 _Anything for Draco._

 _And so without much of a choice, she agreed to help Snape to save Hermione's life out of a miserable fate – or rather, more miserable fate._

 _But she wasn't going to be caught red-handed through all of it._

 _She would help, give all the aid in the world that Snape would require for Hermione – but Draco should never catch her red-handed in the whole situation._

 _She was saving her life for Draco and was obviously trying to rid her and Snape's guilt out of all their sins but she was still very much guilty of Hermione's present predicament and suffering._

 _Narcissa knew deep in her heart that she was by no means innocent nor hands free from all the guilt of what Hermione would be enduring or had been enduring in those long years._

 _And that's where Snape comes in – to wash her hands off from the filth that her sister created._

 _No, she wasn't using nor betraying Snape._

 _But he was the right chess piece at the right moment and place._

 _He was the perfect chess piece that she required in order to accomplish Draco's wish._

 _And he trusted her beyond anyone else._

 _And she desperately needed Snape as well in order to ensure Draco's safety._

 _If she was going to take a look at the whole situation, there was nothing to lose – each of them would get what they wanted._

 _Draco's wish to ensure Hermione's safety and her survival in the war would be accomplished._

 _Whilst through this, Snape would be the one to oversee that this is thoroughly done – and he would never have to lift a finger because she would be providing him with everything he would need and require to accomplish the first task at hand._

 _And by doing so, Snape would also be ensured safety and protection that he would live through and survive the war as well._

 _And by that happening, he would be able to ensure Draco's safety – incase she passes in an untimely death._

 _Everyone will get everything they wanted._

 _Well, sort of._

 _Weeks? Months? Years?_

 _A few years would quickly come and pass and surely after, Snape would and could return Hermione back to the Order of the Phoenix._

 _Harry Potter would still get what he wanted – Hermione Granger, alive after all the years._

 _Once back there, she was sure that Harry Potter would take her back and thus, she was very sure that he would protect her and never let her in any harm's way._

 _And in doing so, it would be ensure that even if she survives and lives, Draco wouldn't be able to do anything to get in their way – thus, ensuring her to her death that Draco would still never end up with the Muggle-Born despite gaining his desire to let Hermione live through it all._

 _Everything was perfectly planned._

 _Everything was brilliant and would fall into their right places accordingly._

 _Narcissa nodded to herself as she kept repeating the cycle of her plan and how it would benefit each and every one who were involved in it._

 _It was a win-win situation for everyone else._

 _It wasn't going to be an easy one to execute, but if all goes according to her will and plans, nobody was going to die and everyone else gets whatever it is that they desired._

 _Narcissa smiled and nodded to herself, convincing herself that this was a good plan and all intentions behind it were for the greater good – and would save more than one life._

 _And then her eyes narrowed – a possible loophole._

 _But the idea of it was quickly brushed away when she was certain how to prevent it._

 _Hermione Granger, no matter how intelligent she may be and of the stories she's heard of her – she wasn't sure and doesn't know what's in her heart._

 _She may be intellectual and logical, also very full of valor and kindness – but these weren't enough reason for her to be secure and sure that she was going to take Snape's decisions and protection of her in good graces._

 _She was never going to be sure if Hermione Granger would ever have the conscience to give back all the protection that Snape would provide her._

 _She was sure there was going to be questions at Snape's part and worst comes to worst, he could be jailed into Azkaban if things go down the drain._

 _No, that wasn't going to happen – she wasn't going to let that happen._

 _Snape was too dear for her, too beloved to her heart for her to just let him spend the rest of his days at Azkaban._

 _No, she had to secure his future – the rest of his life – before she dies._

 _Because at the end of the day, Snape was as good as family for her and Draco and she wasn't going to let anything happen to him._

 _Narcissa closed her eyes and breathed heavily already knowing what to do._

 _She slowly took her wand out from the inside of her robes._

 _There was only one solution to her last remaining problem._

 _A swish and sacred like circle was done and something was conjured up from out of thin air._

 _Something black and beautiful had slowly appeared and had slowly lowered itself in front of her over the mahogany desk._

 _A page was flipped open on the middle of it and something that looked like a journal._

 _Narcissa whispered and chanted nonstop under her breath – calling in the gods of the heavens and lore, calling out everything she could._

 _Something at the tip of her wand that was the jet spark of purple dispensed and slowly enveloped itself around the journal._

 _The thread of light that engulfed it slowly emitted sparks and extended its way towards her forehead and temples._

 _Narcissa closed her eyes, keeping the end of the wand pointed over the journal as she muttered nonstop under her breath._

 _It wouldn't take a genius to know it was a combination of brilliance and Dark Magic that was taking place at that very moment._

 _But it doesn't matter for her._

 _She would use every last bit and ounce of her energy to ensure that her plans were fully accomplished no matter what it takes._

 _"_ _Gemino!" Narcissa calmly muttered in barely a whisper._

 _Something purple and black shot out from the end of her wand._

 _She pointed it directly over the journal and the black and purple smoke thickened by the moment and slowly enlarged itself, forming into a formidable shape._

 _No sooner than a minute or so, the lights turned into thick smoke, creating a certain pattern and shape._

 _Her beautiful eyes settled over the smoke that was forming a shape that was coming altogether._

 _The smoke enlarged itself enough to take its place and form out of the table and before the table._

 _Narcissa followed its trail and tried to digest what was happening before her._

 _She remained still and passive, watching carefully and observing fully the Dark Magic that she has conjured for the first time in her life._

 _She's only ever read it once and heard of it but has never used it herself._

 _It was one dangerous form of Dark Magic not only for its source but for the purposes that it could be used._

 _But no, this time, even if it was Dark Magic – it was meant to save a life._

 _The smoke whirled and whirled and thickened and slowly faded into a solid shape._

 _Her eyes narrowed and then slowly widened at the figure it was slowly forming into._

 _Her eyes transfixed at the progress of the magic and the intensity of the power before her._

 _If she wanted to back away it was very much late by now._

 _The figure from smoke had now turned into an almost recognizable shape._

 _Narcissa gasped at the magic she has created and invoked._

 _Her eyes very wide at the very sight before her as the smoke completely vanished, clearing away and exposing a life-size shape that was complete in all details except for one thing – emotions._

 _Narcissa slowly stood up, wand still in her hand and her eyes watering at the sight before her._

 _Everything was there – in complete and utter details._

 _The figure was still and it took her a moment to remember she had to say something for it to come to its full form._

 _She waved her wand without blinking and uttered another word._

 _It was scary as the transformation from lights to smoke into a thick misty shape and had come at its end, forming what Narcissa had hoped it would form into._

 _Narcissa's mouth slowly opened and had ran dry as she stood there, eyes transfixed back at the very same pair of eyes now slowly turning up and staring back at her like some clear reflection that had risen from clear water._

 _She was unmoving but her eyes that was that of Narcissa's creepily settled over her._

 _Narcissa was frozen on the spot for a moment as she stared up at the figure._

 _It was unbelievable._

 _Their resemblance was uncanny but there was something more scary and hollow in the figure's soul-less form._

 _After a while, she found her senses back and pointed her hand up towards the figure's forehead with a slightly shaking hand._

 _Something glowing, something long and blue shot out from it and pelted straight to the figure's forehead._

 _The eyes had closed in and Narcissa watched as the long blue thread continuously flowed from her wand and towards the mind of the woman standing before her that held all the same features she had._


	66. Chapter 66

_**Author's Notes:**_ _**Greetings!**_ _**Alive and definitely kicking.**_  
 _ **I've been occupied with watching a couple of movie and series way around and about but have not neglected my stories.**_ _**Before anything else, I'd like to thank those who took time and effort to check and review updates of each of my stories.**_ _**My Dramione "Through the Son" has also been updated recently, please do check it out.**_ _**I've also began another one "Across the Universe" - which is my first crossover fanfic. It is a Loki/Hermione crossover fic and a WIP at that. The thought and idea just came to me right after I've watched Thor: Ragnarok recently. PLease do bear with me on the fic but I promise it has a good concept.**_ _**Still looking for a BETA for my Dramione and my Loki/Hermione fic.**_ _**Other works are on hold if you'd notice as these three are my priority fics at the moment.**_ _**Please do tell me what you think.**_ ___**Now onto this story, yes it took a while as it gets harder to lay out as we reach through the ending.**_  
 _ **If you'd come to notice, I've added a little spice at the end - some scene I've always believed to be and has happened from the second book.**_ ___**Other than please do enjoy.**_ _**Tell me how you all are doing.**_ _**Lots of love always.**_ _**xx**_

 ** _Chapter Sixty Six_**

 ** _Heroes of the War_**

 _A glass shattered._

 _Another long and loud shriek._

 _He looked up from the mess he has accidentally made when her voice echoed all throughout the upper floor and straight from her bedroom._

 _She was having dreams again – no, nightmares._

 _The same night over and over and over again._

 _He was getting tired of it._

 _It was driving him insane._

 _Sighing heavily, he grabbed a small vial from the other table at the side of the room and stalked out of the laboratory and to the upper floor._

 _He reached their ground floor and he could hear the echoes of her cries._

 _She was awake by now._

 _She probably was never able to sleep fully anyway since that night._

 _"He's calling my name." she gasped at the sight of him as he opened the door. "He's in danger."_

 _From the doorway, he could clearly see the sweat and tears all over her face._

 _Her body was thinner than it had been weeks ago and she looked as frail as she could be._

 _It was her first few nights into a room instead of the guilded cage he had placed her in to protect her._

 _The traces of injuries were still physically visible all over her and she was still emotionally unstable._

 _The ambush was still very fresh and true to her._

 _"Here's a Sleeping Draught." Snape said entering the room and slowly walking towards the bedside._

 _Hermione looked up at him with a bewildered expression over her face as if it wasn't the help she required._

 _"I don't need that." Hermione cried at him. "I'm telling you that Harry's in danger – he's not well – I need to see him."_

 _"We've already talked about this, Miss Granger." he said without any hint of emotion in his tone. "You are still unwell – physically weak and incapable to travel back to them and you will put both your locations in danger."_

 _"But I can't – you can't make me-"_

 _"I'm not making you." Snape pointed out with a cold tone over his voice "I am asking you for the sake of the Order.. for Potter's sake."_

 _Hermione's eyes narrowed, her lips quivered as she tried to think of something else to say to change his mind despite the reality of the danger he was telling her about._

 _"But he was – he is – I need to see them – let me send a message." she pleaded as she watched him prepare the small vial of potion for her to drink. "I don't want that."_

 _He looked up at her with a certain glint in his eyes._

 _"I will tell you if there's anything imperative for you to know." he told her as he walked nearer the bed and handed the vial to her. "And you need to take this. You need rest. This will suffice for the rest of the night until the morning. It will provide you a good sleep."_

 _"I said, I don't want it." Hermione firmly said looking up at him with such fire in her eyes. "I want to get out of this stupid place. Bring me back to them."_

 _He only raised his eyebrow at her._

 _"What you're asking is impossible."_

 _"What I'm asking is what's right." Hermione spat at him, forgetting who he was and forgetting her place. "This is illegal."_

 _Now he looked pissed as he stared back down at her._

 _"Illegal?"_

 _"You're keeping me here without my consent-"_

 _"I beg your pardon?" he said walking to her with fury in his eyes. "You are here because you are weak and incapable of completely going back there and we don't know yet the full effects of what happened to you and we can't just parade you back to the Order – you will endanger yourself and the whole Order and most importantly Potter-"_

 _"LIES!" Hermione angrily said and tears were now swelling at the sides of her eyes. "LIES! You can bring me back if you want to-"_

 _"You listen to me you ungrateful little twot-" he grabbed her wrist painfully and stared down at her. "I do not care if you rot in here – unless we are sure that you are better and not a danger to yourself and unto others you will goddamn stay-"_

 _"This is NOT legal professor-" Hermione said struggling to grab her arm back at him without much success. "You can't keep me here – you can't keep me here without telling them – if you mean well you would tell them – you would let Harry-"_

 _"And what?" Snape asked shaking her. "You want me to tell him and have him go ballistic and demand to get himself here?"_

 _She didn't say anything because she was sure that it was precisely what Harry would be doing._

 _"What then next, Miss Granger?" he spat her name out. "Do you want him to cross locations and get himself killed? Is that want you want? To have Harry Potter get himself killed to rescue you because you think you are being detailed illegally here?!"_

 _Black and brown eyes met with such fury from them._

 _She was angered beyond he could tell but she was crying and he looked back at her with the same hatred for her – for their situation._

 _It wasn't her fault but it was neither his._

 _"But he's in danger!" Hermione screamed at him suddenly moving her free arm over and grabbing him as she begged. "He's in danger! I can tell – I can sense, I can feel it! He's trying to – he's trying to communicate-"_

 _"You are dreaming, you are enduring nightmares – you have been traumatized, you hear me?" he said grabbing hold of both her arms. "And you need rest. That's all that's happening-"_

 _"No!" Hermione wailed. "I have a connection to Harry – I'm not lying to you I can tell – I can feel it – he's not alright – he's looking for me, he's calling my name-"_

 _"Do you hear yourself, Miss Granger?" he asked her with utmost sound of disgust. "Do you hear yourself on what you're trying to say? Do you think you make sense? Do you think you're well enough to think this way? Listen to-"_

 _"I can feel it!" Hermione angrily said trying to struggle now against his grip from the bed. "You can't hold me down here – he will look for me – they will look for me-"_

 _"They will search the skies if they must!" he said pressing his fingers over her arms. "But until then, you will remain here and get yourself better before I can let you go back to them-"_

 _"This is not – this is not legal!" Hermione cried at him. "This isn't – what are you doing?"_

 _He let her go and grabbed his wand and the vial from the side of the bed._

 _She looked with fearful and panic-stricken face as he moved back towards the bed._

 _"We can always do this the easy way, Miss Granger." he said as he sat over the bed and grabbed her by the arms and secured her in his tightly. "Or the hard way which I really, really do not prefer."_

 _Hermione struggled but he muttered something and a small glow light emitted from his wand and went straight to her body._

 _"You can't do this.." Hermione's fading voice cried out. "You can't.. you can't.."_

 _"I can." Snape whispered. "And this is for your own good."_

 _"No, please.. you're.. you're a good person.. Dumbledore trusted you."_

 _Snape didn't say anything as he waited for the strong potion to settle into her system._

 _"Professor.. "_

 _"You need to rest.. that is all you need-"_

 _"He trusted you.. we trusted.. we… I trusted..you.." her voice was completely faltering now._

 _"Sleep." Snape firm tone came. "Sleep, Miss Granger."_

 _"No, please… don't.. please bring me back.. please.. I believe you're a hero.. they believe in the good.. the good in you.. please.."_

 _Hermione still tried to struggle despite the sensation that was growing and overpowering her._

 _She began to feel wobbly and weak._

 _She couldn't move against him._

 _She watched helplessly, crying as she could only do so as he forced her to face him and squeezed her jaw right up to open so he could pour the rest of the vial's contents._

 _She cried, struggled against his grip and shook her head to avoid the vial but he was stronger and she felt weak by the moment._

 _He held her jaw painfully and pressed her nose as to choke her down so she would swallow the potion._

 _Hermione swallowed hard and gasped for air._

 _He let her go._

 _She could feel the Sleeping Draught straining down her throat._

 _He muttered another spell and pointed the wand over her temple._

 _"I'm sorry, Miss Granger." Snape said as he laid her back down onto her bed. "But this is a different war and heroes of this war will do just about anything to ensure the survival of those who need to survive."_

 _He wasn't sure if she's heard him but he no longer really cared._

 _Her senses started giving away but not before she has shed enough tears and cried enough tears in her desperate attempt to get back to Harry Potter who was a thousand of miles away from her and who has just woken himself in the middle of the night crying the same tears for her as he struggled against Remus Lupin in his desperation and plea to get out of his sickbed to find Hermione Granger.._

 _"Please, please calm down." Lupin said as he struggled to keep Harry on his feet while Medi-Witches and Healers ran inside the room to try and strain him back over the bed._

 _It was somewhere two in the morning and Lupin was woken from the guardian's couch in the hospital room by Harry's sudden scream._

 _He had woken half the ward of the hospital corner he was being kept._

 _He had another nightmare again from which he wakes up screaming his lungs out – calling desperately for Hermione._

 _He keeps on telling and crying the same thing every night – she was calling his name, calling him in desperate cry for help._

 _She was being kept somewhere, some place he couldn't say but she was being kept and wards and spells of sorts were blocking him from connecting his mind to hers._

 _"NO! NO!" Harry screamed as he struggled against the two Healers that helped Lupin to put Harry back over the hospital bed._

 _They moved and heaved him up over the bed with difficulty due to his inability to use his legs temporarily._

 _They put him back over the bed and one of the Healers eyed Lupin for permission to tie Harry back over the bed._

 _Lupin shook his head in disagreement and the Healer nodded quietly._

 _"We'll have to put him back to sleep though." the Healer said grabbing her wand from her pocket and nodding at the two MediWitches to prepare the potion. "A Calming and Sleeping Draught so he is sedated long enough."_

 _One of them took two vials from her pocket and another took his wand out from his pocket._

 _One of them gently moved Lupin out of the way as he tried to help Harry out of his fit._

 _"Mr. Potter, you need to calm down. You've only had a nightmare. The voice or voices you're hearing aren't real-"_

 _"No, please.. she's calling my name. She needs me. She's calling my name to help her to rescue her."_

 _"Harry, please.. please calm yourself down." Lupin said with tears forming over his eyes as he watched his favourite student being strangled down the bed and being forced to swallow the potion to enforce sleep back to his physical needs._

 _"Professor Lupin – please, please help me!" he screamed as the potion was poured forcedly into his mouth. "Please.. professor.. Hermione- she's – she's in danger.. please.. Hermione.. she needs me.. she's calling me.. please.. professor.. please help.. help her.. help us..help.."_

 _Lupin looked away, closing his eyes and forcing himself not to cry._

 _Another Healer entered the room and went to him._

 _"It's better you leave this room, Mr. Lupin." the old woman gently said. "You better get some rest elsewhere. We would take good care of Mr. Potter tonight. You can come as early tomorrow morning. We would tend to all his needs tonight-"_

 _"You can't just – just force Sleeping Draught to him whenever-" Lupin was lost for words as he was gently ushered out of the room._

 _His eyes were on Harry – who was being held down like some animal over the bed, being forced out of his wits and senses – until his image faded from view._

 _He looked back at the Healer with a furious and confused glare._

 _"He's not – you can't-"_

 _"We would be doing whatever is required for us to do in order to physical get him better." the Healer simply stated at him._

 _"Physically get him better?" Lupin repeated. "Physically get him better? You're sedating him whenever he makes any kind of noise in this-"_

 _"Because this is a hospital!" the Healer said with a firmer tone. "He couldn't just scream every night-"_

 _"But he's not well!" Lupin reasoned. "Is this how he is supposed to be treated here? Is this how you-"_

 _"If you were to ask me, I would have sent Mr. Harry Potter at St. Mungo's Ward for the mentally challenged!" the older woman said with anger in her eyes. "We both know Mr. Potter is not well at the moment but we are keeping him in this normal ward because we don't want the public panicking that their dear –"_

 _"You take back what you said." Lupin spat at the old woman. "Harry is not insane – he may be unwell because of the trauma from the ambush but he is not mentally ill –"_

 _"He has been suffering for days and weeks not if you must know." the Healer explained to him with anger in her eyes. "You know he's been diagnosed not only of severe trauma but of depression and stage one paranoia – he's being treated in this ward to keep words from coming out-"_

 _"Then if he isn't well mentally treat him the way his problem should be treated!" Lupin angrily spat back in gritted teeth._

 _He lost all respect and courtesy to the older woman in front of her._

 _The Healer looked slightly scandalized and grabbed Lupin away from the scene. "We are treating him-"_

 _"You are keeping him sedated and asleep for hours and hours to keep him from screaming-"_

 _"What do you want us to just do?!" the Healer argued at him. "You know that the way to treat him isn't here! Find the girl if you must because she's the only one that will bring back Mr. Harry Potter into his rightful senses!"_

 _Lupin opened his mouth to say something._

 _No words came out._

 _Truth were in those words and there was no answer he could provide._

 _Harry was going down a very dark path if he and the rest of the Order will not be able to find a way to find Hermione and get her back to Harry as soon as possible._

 _But there was a world for Harry to save and it wasn't time to choose his personal needs._

 _Hermione Granger was nowhere to be found and quite possibly dead by now._

 _Harry will not be able to take and accept that truth._

 _There must be a way out of that truth they were all already considering/_

 _There must be a way out of that truth without Harry knowing it and losing it._

 _"What do you want us to do?!" Lupin said. "What do you want me to do-"_

 _"We both know the world is still in danger and we can't leave him that way – we can't have him this way-"_

 _"What do you want to happen –"_

 _"Mr. Potter will need to be distracted out of this trauma, this depression - you need to find a way to treat him out of it-"_

 _"You just said-"_

 _"Lie if you must." the old woman said. "Lie if you must, Mr. Lupin. If this was any other case, I wouldn't tell you this – but at this very moment, the world needs him more than some school girl crush-"_

 _"They are not just-"_

 _"The world does not care what they have." the old woman interrupted. "It only cares if they will survive to live another day."_

 _"You can't make me lie to Harry." Lupin said with anger in his eyes now. "You can't make me – this is as bad as being barbaric-"_

 _"I may sound barbaric Mr. Remus Lupin – but I have saved lives more than you have within this walls and at this very moment I am telling you that if you want the hero of this war to live with the rest of us – you must make a choice!"_

 _Lupin stared at the old woman, disbelieving and disgusted at her proposed solution on how to handle Harry and his present predicament._

 _"This is insane. This is what's insane-"_

 _"You have not yet seen true insanity, Mr. Lupin-"_

 _"How dare you-"_

 _"No, how dare you!" the older woman spat at him. "You may know of the war out there in the world but you have not seen the true horrors of what the war leaves behind-"_

 _"I think I know-"_

 _"No." woman interrupted him. "You have not seen true effect it leaves us all behind – and I have seen worse than what you may endure out there in the field of brawls, firearms and bloodshot – you have not seen anything yet-"_

 _"I will not do this in your favor or the world's favor." Lupin determinedly said. "I will not choose to manipulate Harry Potter with lies of comfort in order to save anyone else."_

 _"Do you really think you have a choice?" the old woman asked him. "Do you think he would survive this war without her? Without the loss of her?"_

 _Lupin opened his mouth to retort but no word came out._

 _His mouth had gone dry._

 _The woman looked back at him with a satisfaction._

 _She shook her head as she made one step forward him._

 _"We must admit to ourselves – and I know deep in your heart you believe – that Miss Hermione Granger is long gone in this war. And right now I am telling you in the name of my profession that Mr. Harry Potter will not survive the truth in that – and if he doesn't, you know his loss would be the loss of the cause of our side."_

 _Lupin still didn't say anything._

 _His face told her that he was badly contemplating as his fists clenched at his side._

 _"I can't do this to Harry." Lupin said with such burden in his voice. "I refuse to do it."_

 _"But you must do it." the older woman said. "And if you really have been a long soldier of this war, you know that there are things that must be done – things we do not want nor like – but must be done in order to gain advantage."_

 _Silence._

 _A long, heavy and burdensome silence filled the air._

 _"This is insane." Lupin said. "I'm not going to let you or any of you use our war hero into anything."_

 _"You're also a hero of this war, Mr. Lupin." the woman whispered each of these words with adamant determination in her eyes._

 _"This isn't right." Lupin protested._

 _"Heroes of this war will absolutely do just about anything to survive and win a war." she sighed heavily as if she didn't want to tell him all these truth. "And you know at this very moment that we cannot lose Mr. Harry Potter."_

 _"You're insane!"_

 _"Heroes of this war will do just about anything to let others survive – because that's what heroes do!"_

 _"NO!" Lupin angrily yelled advancing as if to attack her. "YOU'RE INSANE! ALL THESE ARE INSANE!"_

 _"Call it whatever you want to call it, Mr. Lupin." the old Healer said straightening her robes. "But I will do what I have to do in order to ensure that Mr. Potter physically gets back to his feet as soon as possible no matter what it costs all of us –"_

 _"I WON'T LET YOU DEMENTED WOMAN TO-"_

 _"I may be insane if that is what you wish to call it but I will not let our world die because your hero still believes in some insane truth about some girl's disappearance!"_

 _Lupin looked ready to attack her._

 _"Hermione Granger is alive and we would find her."_

 _"Find her like looking for a needle in a hay if you must." she replied with such harshness in her tone. "But do something about it. Do something about him. Do something – anything – that would ensure that he would still want to live and not give up in life completely because gods of the heavens know that we need him now more than ever."_

 _Lupin couldn't find the right words to say._

 _He seemed to just want to punch the hell out of the woman._

 _She stared back at him with same contempt and desperation in her eyes._

 _War does change people and make them want to survive no matter the price it pays._

 _She straightened up and heavily breathed and gave him a curt nod and small smile like a professional._

 _"If you don't mind, I need to get back and tend to my patient." she said nodding towards Harry's room._

 _And without another word, she turned and stalked away from him and went back to Harry's room slamming the door right at his face._

"Some connections, huh?"

 _"Some connections."_

"Must be more powerful and brilliant than connections of the mind." she said with a chuckle in her tone.

"Connection of _Galleons_ has always been more powerful than anything else." Draco proudly said as he slowly reached up and held her hand.

Hermione's face faltered and she looked slightly disappointed at him.

"And I did not mean it that way." Draco quickly corrected himself flushing red.

"I know what you meant." Hermione said regaining her smile.

They were both crunched up at the very corner and small of the shop.

Hermione was in her wedding dress and Draco sat there staring at her with all the beauty and glory in her.

"I'm not holding up well Draco if you want an honest answer."

"I know you're not." Draco said staring at her pale hands as he held them in his. "Look, I know we don't have much time-"

"Have you found out where the key should be?" Hermione hopefully asked him. "What it is for?"

Draco looked up at her and slowly shook his head.

It was the topic he was avoiding to discuss with her but since she's brought it up there was nothing he could do.

"I understand." Hermione said in a small voice as she nodded at him and was obviously losing all the hope in the world already.

"No look, we still have time-"

"Draco, we only have a day. Several hours if we'd only be a bit more specific in all honesty." Hermione said taking hold of his hand. "Listen, just – there's no way out of this one and we must now admit that between ourselves-"

"Hermione-"

"No Draco, listen to me – just listen…" she said firmly grasping his hand as she made him look at her.

The small space at the back of the shop was making Draco feel slightly uncomfortable and he suddenly felt slightly dizzy or lacking air in his lungs.

But he sat still and stared at Hermione as she held his hands this time.

"Even if I marry Harry, just promise me that you would have Severus into safety-"

"Hermione, you're about to get married to some maniac-"

"Please don't say that." Hermione said. "We both know that Harry had become like this.. well, because of the circumstances that we all didn't want-"

"But Hermione-"

"No, just let me finish." Hermione whispered with a weak smile. "I know you've tried and done your best to save us all – but you can't.. you just can't save the world, Draco."

"Hermione, please-"

"You can only try, but you can't."

He looked back at her with certain hurt in his eyes.

He's heard that phrase before and he didn't like the memory of it either.

"And maybe Severus can't escape Azkaban either, but please.. please do everything in your power that you can in order for him to evade the Dementor's Kiss."

"Hermione.."

"If it's any worth at all – even the slightest bit – I swear to you that he doesn't deserve to die that way. Maybe he deserves Azkaban.. but not the Dementor's Kiss. He doesn't deserve to end that way. Nobody deserves to end that way."

There was silence in between them.

"You do love him, don't you?" Draco asked already stating what was very much obvious. "You have really fallen in love for him, have you not?"

Hermione gave a small chuckle at him and nodded pressing his hands.

"We all sometimes really fall for the wrong person.. or the person we can't ever have, don't we?" Hermione said with a weak smile. "Don't we all experience just that?"

Draco didn't say anything despite that he was agreeing with all the morsel of his body.

Hermione's brown eyes were kept on him, awaiting for his answer.

"Draco? Have you never experienced that?" Hermione asked him with a gentle smile. "Falling deeply, madly – insanely – in love with a person you can't _ever_ have?"

She looked back at him with expectant eyes, desiring his answer and curious beyond her wit for his answer.

It took him a moment to answer and Hermione thought she had to repeat herself again.

" _No_." Draco quietly lied right up at her face and discreetly avoiding her gaze.

"Really?"

"We don't all experience everything." Draco answered. "I guess I'd come to face the rest of my life without knowing how that one feels like."

"Well it's not entirely a nice feeling at all if that could be of any consolation." Hermione pointed out.

"We don't always get what we want, Hermione."

"Well, you almost had everything that you wanted – you're a Malfoy after all."

Draco squeezed her right in his arms.

If only she knew.

"How can you still tell such jokes when you're already in some sort of inevitable predicament?"

"Inevitable predicament." Hermione repeated with another chuckle. "Wow Malfoy, such big words."

"Hey." Draco said pinching the bridge of her nose. "I had always been intelligent – if you must know, I've always come second into that Know-It-All head of yours-"

"Second." Hermione said with a proud smirk over her face. "You've always ended up second to all my grades. Let that word sink in for all eternity."

Draco pinched her nose again.

And then Hermione's laughter slowly died.

He looked back at her.

"But I guess that doesn't get me anywhere, does it?" she asked him with a sad tone this time.

"My secondary arse will save yours." Draco proudly said. "So you don't have to worry about it."

"You can't save the world." Hermione said. "Not this time, Draco."

"We only need to find where all those objects belong.. or where they are."

"I'm quite sure even that secondary head of yours will figure out that it's impossible to save me any longer. But you can still save Severus."

Draco looked back at her and opened his mouth to say something when they both heard something outside at the back of the shop.

"We should go." Draco said. "I really only needed to see you. You should go back to them." Draco said standing up and helping her up back to her feet from their tightened space at the corner of the room.

Hermione suddenly flung her arms around his neck and without second-thoughts, cried right at him.

"Please save him." Hermione begged. "He may not be completely innocent but he does not deserve to end that way – he doesn't – Draco, he did his best to save my life, to protect me – he did what was due of him but it were the circumstances that came with it that became.. that became.."

"Hermione-"

"I've been insensitive and selfish and everything you can think of –" she sobbed harder in his arms. "And that's – that's exactly what led for Harry to be this way – it's all my fault – I should have been, I should have known, I should have seen – felt – that something was wrong with him, something within was destroying him-"

"I won't let it destroy you." Draco firmly said. "That's not going to happen."

"Draco, I wouldn't let you hurt Harry either." Hermione quietly said. "He may not be himself – and may never be – but I will always love him, there will always be a place for him in me. I only ask you save Severus-"

"Hermione, we can't change what the Wizengamot has for him until we find enough evidence-"

"Please, please.." Hermione cried. "Please…. Please save him Draco.. "

He looked back at her as helpless and hopeless as she was.

He knew the impossibility of that task unless he finds some evidence that would come out of the littlest bit of hours they have.

Another movement from outside made the both of them look back at the narrowed door of the room.

"Come, we need to go." Draco said taking hold of her hand. "We'll need all the miracle that we need 'Mione but I'm not giving up on you, do you get that?"

"I know you won't-"

"No, look at me." Draco said holding her to him and making her stare back up at him. "Look at me."

Hermione's brown and tear-strained eyes looked up at him.

He moved his fingers under her eyes to wipe away all the tears that were still there.

"We still have time. I still have time to do something.. You have go to trust me, okay?"

"Draco-"

"Promise me that you trust me." Draco whispered taking a firm hold of her. "Tell me you trust me, 'Mione.. I will get you out of this, alright You hear me? I will get you out of this. Do you understand?"

"Draco-"

"Do you trust me?"

"Draco-"

"I asked you."

"I trust you." Hermione honestly answered, nodding vigorously. "I trust you completely."

"Promise me." Draco whispered. "Promise me that you would –"

"I trust you with my life." Hermione said embracing him tightly. "I trust you with my life, Draco Malfoy."

They looked at one another at the small space and Hermione could swear that he saw that firm determination mixed with fear in Draco's eyes – that same one she had seen so many years ago in that library.

"Draco-"

"Hermione, we can't save them both. And when the time comes, tell me – who will you save?"

"What do you mean-"

"We both know this isn't going to end well – and one way or another you'd come to make some sort of decision – tell me, who will you choose? Severus? Or Potter?"

Hermione's eyes turned into narrow slits as she tried to understand what Draco was trying to tell her.

"I don't understand-"

"We can't save all the heroes of this war, Hermione." Draco explained to her holding her hand tightly. "Who will you save when the time comes?"

Hermione opened her mouth, confused than ever.

"I couldn't.. I don't.." Hermione stuttered and struggled to answer him.

Draco opened his mouth to say something but out of the blue something loud exploded just right outside their doorway and the small door was blasted into pieces.

He quickly covered her and grabbed her down over the floor as he whipped his wand out for a quick Shield Charm for the both of them.

It barely made its full potential but he managed to shield her from the debris but had reached the impact of the external force that blew them away.

They coughed under the powerful surge of magic from the outside.

Before he could comprehend the situation, he heard Hermione wail in pain as someone had crossed the room.

Voices could also be heard.

Draco tried to get up but something painful had been pointed at the back of his head.

He remained still in his painful form over the floor with his facedown.

"Nope, nope, don't get up, you're already fucking hurt as it is – you wouldn't want more injuries. And if you try to get up, I'm going to blast those _secondary brains_ out of your head."

"You let her go and leave her be, Potter." Draco said through gritted teeth as he felt Harry painfully step over him to pass through back to the door.

"No." Harry casually said. "Shopping's over. My bride to be is coming home with me right now."

Draco screamed as Harry painfully kicked him at the side of his torso.

His visions blurred but he could see Harry painfully dragging a struggling Hermione in his arms.

"Draco – Harry, no please-" Hermione cried as Harry dragged her and she kept on pulling herself away from him.

He let her go after she scratched the side of his face with a sudden attack.

He stared back at her with angry eyes and a wand still pointed at Draco.

She tried to get to the other man over the floor but Harry threatened her with his wand.

"We're going home and I mean NOW, Hermione." Harry said with a crazed look over his eyes.

"You monster –" Hermione cried at him. "Harry, you're being-"

"We can do this the hard way." Harry pointed his wand directly over Draco's head. "Or the easy way, 'Mione."

Hermione looked up at him, unmoved by his threat.

He closed his eyes as his patience ran out.

"Alright, I can be amended." Harry said losing it as he moved forward and placed his arms painfully and tightly around Hermione's waist and began dragging her out of the small corner and out and back into the shop.

"Potter!" Draco cried in pain as he tried to get up. "Don't hurt her! Don't hurt her!"

He cursed as he struggled to get back up to his feet.

But he didn't listen nor did he look back.

Wand in his other hand ready to strike at anyone who attempts to stop him as his other hand tightly held Hermione around the waist, dragging her still in her wedding dress.

"Potter!" Draco angrily yelled getting to his feet as he took out his wand. "Potter! You're making a goddamn mistake – you're going to regret all of this-"

"Don't make me." Harry angrily said.

He suddenly turned around, pointing his wand at Draco and all the while tightly holding a struggling and yelling Hermione in his other hand.

Draco and Harry's eyes met and there was nothing but murder in the both of them.

"No." Draco whispered. " Don't make me." Draco said pointing his wand at his face as he took two steps forward with a straight stance.

He threatened him ferociously with his wand as he moved about to block their way.

 _"Move, Malfoy."_ Harry whispered in a low tone. "You can't save him nor can you pretend to the world that she's for you to save. You're not a hero of this war."

Draco shook his head.

"And are you?" Draco mocked him back as he sharpened his point of his wand at Harry's face.

He was just about as prepared to do right about anything crazy in the world at that very moment to get Hermione out of harm's way.

Harry's emerald eyes glinted as he gripped his wand harder.

"Let Hermione go." Draco quietly demanded of him.

"This isn't your battle, Malfoy." Harry said. "Don't make me do something you would regret."

Draco stood still, unmoving and without a trace of fear in his handsome face.

"I'll ask you one last time." Harry whispered aiming his wand directly over his chest. "Move, Malfoy."

Hermione stopped yelling and had stared up at Draco knowing what was about to happen.

Her brown eyes wildly looked back at Harry in great alarm.

"Harry, _please.."_ her voice begged him but Harry was full of hatred enough to block any other thought at the moment.

A look of resignation appeared over Harry's face.

Draco stared back and he knew what was about to happen.

Hermione tried to reach for Harry's hand and for a very split moment, Draco saw a momentary mixture of fear and regret appear in Harry's eyes – the innocence in it completely leaving him forever as these expressions left him.

Draco gripped his hand tighter in his hand, blood tensed and heart beat fast as Harry tilted his hand over the side as if a gesture of regret of what he was about to do.

"Malfoy…" Harry heavily said.

"Potter…" Draco heavily whispered staring fully at him with the same aim of his wand.

Harry remained motionless and emotionless for that moment he called his name – it was as if he was no longer there, like he no longer felt Hermione in his hand nor heard anything else in the world.

His eyes remained unblinking and blank as if he was watching another reality from another time.

There was a split moment of silence that brought great fear to Hermione at that very moment more than anything else.

Hermione's eyes widened in realization.

She looked up at Draco who showed no sign of retreat nor fear either.

Hermione looked back at Harry.

Her hand tightened its grip around Harry's arm that held her painfully.

"Please.." she begged him. " _No…"_

Her cry and scream of anger and fear echoed all over the small hallway of the shop.

 _"Avada Kedavra."_ Harry whispered without a blink nor remorse in his eyes that reflected the strong green light that erupted from his wand and pelted straight forward.

 _His eyes moved back and forth onto the words he was reading._

 _His heart was pumping fast and his bloodstream was tensed._

 _He breathed heavily, contemplating whether to do it or not as his hands began to slightly shake at what he was about to do._

 _If he was caught, he would be banned in the place for god-knows how long._

 _And then there was the fact that he was going to lose a lot of points from his own House and a letter would surely be sent back at the manor – which was the worst of them all – because his father would then find out what he attempted to do._

 _But he just couldn't let the opportunity go – not when he was so close to the answer he knew was desperately needed at this most drastic of times at the castle._

 _Fear had already taken over the castle and was consuming each individual within the walls – spreading panic all over._

 _And at that very moment, he had the answer in his very hands that would right all the wrongs that had been._

 _He was a jerk and an abominable being as he already knew it himself, but he wasn't a murderer and he definitely didn't want anyone to actually die in this incident._

 _The goal was to open the chamber and spread fear amongst the people in the castle – but actually killing or knowing that someone could actually die this time around – wasn't something he want to remain embedded in his conscience._

 _Not when he could prevent it._

 _Not when he had the answer in his very hands that could save lives – that could save her life._

 _He then came to a decision that he wasn't sure of but felt incredibly right at that very moment._

 _"I'll be damned." Draco muttered as he closed his eyes and came onto the final decision that he would help them even if it meant sacrificing a lot of things in his part._

 _If he succeeds, he could save them despite that he wouldn't be named a hero of this little event and Harry would claim the title and right for it._

 _But fuck that._

 _He didn't care if he was a hero or not._

 _He doesn't really care if he becomes a hero of this war in the future._

 _But if he doesn't succeed in his little plan of rescue and found out, his father would never forgive him._

 _Lucius Malfoy would probably disown his own son, his only heir._

 _To hell with all of it._

 _Draco heavily breathed and pocketed the ripped page of a book back into his pocket after comparing its content with the open book in his hand._

 _"Mr. Malfoy!" yelled a strict-sounding voice._

 _Draco opened his eyes in alarm and panic._

 _"Mr. Malfoy!" called the voice again and he heard hurried footsteps. "What are you doing?"_

 _Draco's heart drummed fast and panic and fear were consuming him all over._

 _He could feel his knees getting weak at the sound of her every footstep towards him._

 _He knew it._

 _He was going to get into trouble for doing this and now things would escalate as fast as he could say Quidditch._

 _They would all be damned now._

 _"What are you doing?" she repeated as she reached him and forcing him to face him._

 _Madam Pince was staring back at him with question in her eyes._

 _Draco slowly looked up with his hand over the stack of books on the table._

 _The librarian's face turned to him, at the stack of books and back at him._

 _"I asked you a question, Mr. Malfoy." she said with obvious annoyance in her tone. "It's nearly midnight. Do you have permission to be here at the Restricted Section?"_

 _"No." Draco simply replied. "I was just about to borrow these-"_

 _"You know you can't borrow books from this section." she said quickly taking the stack away from his hands. "And you know you aren't even allowed in this section of the library without permission most especially at this hour and in times like this."_

 _Draco nodded coherently back at her trying to make sure that she does not see his hand that he was drawing out of his pocket._

 _Her eyes fell over the first book out of the stack._

 _It was a book on dragons and their blood uses._

 _Her eyes narrowed at him._

 _"Light reading?" she asked him._

 _"I was just – I thought maybe.." but his voice was trailing off knowing he wasn't that used to lying – not yet anyway._

 _Her eyes narrowed down to the second and third selections._

 _The second was about extraordinary plants and how to grow them specifically and the third was a book about various of rare beasts and how to catch them._

 _Her eyes narrowed further as she just held them at her side, staring at Draco and his taste for books._

 _"You have to go back to your dormitory, Mr. Malfoy." she said with warning in her voice. "I will not take points off from you but you have to promise me that you're going straight back?"_

 _"Yes." Draco said, eyes lit up at the thought that he wasn't caught and that he wasn't even to lose points._

 _"But I will report this to professor Snape, yes?"_

 _The smile from his face faltered but he nodded anyway._

 _"Yes. I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking – I was doing some research and I thought – I'm really sorry."_

 _"Never mind." the woman said. "Your mother used to do this a lot as well. Ms Black she was back then – and I always just catch her reading things way ahead of her time – perhaps it runs in the genes."_

 _Draco nodded at her, agreeing with whatever he had to agree to in order to get away already._

 _"I need to close down the library. I will ask Mr. Filch to accompany you back to your-"_

 _"I'm fine." Draco said as he straightened up and ready to leave. "I promise I'll go straight to my dormitory."_

 _She looked suspicious but she nodded at him._

 _"Best you go back boy." she said carrying the stack of books. "In this night and times, we don't know who to trust and who to be scared from. If these attacks doesn't stop soon, we are likely to close down the school."_

 _Draco has heard of that news straight from his father._

 _Hogwarts was doomed to close down if the attacks doesn't really stop soon._

 _And he didn't want that._

 _Hogwarts has always made him feel home more than the manor._

 _He couldn't let that happen._

 _He couldn't let her die._

 _"Run along now, Mr. Malfoy." Madam Pince said turning away from him._

 _"Yes, thank you." Draco quietly said and waited for her to disappear._

 _He waited when he was sure she was back in her small office at the back of the library and he did make a run for it._

 _But not back to the Slytherin Common Room._

 _No._

 _With a gleam of triumph in his eyes and thought that he was successful to put the book at the very end of the stacks that Madam Pince didn't notice when she took them from him, he thought of nothing but the chance to do the right thing – even for once._

 _He pulled the parchment from his pocket._

 _It was the ripped page from another book that has been crumpled badly through time._

 _He had been carrying it all year long everywhere he went throughout the school year with a heavy heart and confused mind on what to do with it._

 _It was something he had stolen back in the summer when he went to Diagon Alley with his father._

 _And since then, he had carried it along with him – waiting for the precise moment to present itself in order to help him decide if he should do the right thing or not._

 _He had been contemplating for the longest hour as he compared the page to the paragraph in the book he had been reading back in the library._

 _It was the answer that will save them all._

 _It would give Harry Potter everything he needed to know about the Chamber of Secrets._

 _Clutched in his hands in the inside of his pockets, Draco Malfoy made a run for his life towards the Hospital Wing to ensure that the right answers would be found by the right people to save them all just at the right time._

 _So they could save her._

 _He best hope that he wasn't too late yet._

 _As his footsteps echoed down the halls, he became more uncaring if someone sees him or hears him._

 _For all his thoughts were to make it as fast as he could at the Hospital Wing to leave behind the trail and answer to all the questions that could save Hogwarts and those who dwell within._

 _He knew that he couldn't save the world but he best hoped that atleast there was one he could in the world that was to come into war in the later future he knew was coming._

 _He didn't care if Harry Potter would get the credit for all of it._

 _He doesn't want to be a hero anyway._

 _Not of this event nor of any war of the future that his father told him would come to arrive soon._

 _He only wanted to save one life and one life alone while he can._

 _He ran as fast as he could, tears threatening to leak down at the side of his face as he made his way in desperate hopes and attempt that Harry Potter and Ron Weasley will quickly find the answer they so desperately need to save all those who had been Petrified._

 _To save Hermione Granger._

 _His Hermione Granger._


	67. Chapter 67

_**Author's Notes: OMG.**_ _**I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE TO BEGIN.**_ _**I didn't mean to go away and leave the cliffhanger like that. But life got into the way and I couldn't write out of busy schedule, writer's black and just pure and adamant lazy behavior.**_ _**Thank you for everyone who were patient enough to check in this story from time to time and see if the story has been updated and the author is still alive.**_ _**How's everyone doing?**_ _**Hope everyone is well.**_ _**Hoping this chapter consoles something in you and answers a tad bit of questions around the story.**_ ___**Please do let me know what you think of this one.**_ _**Again, sory for not updating as soon.**_ _**Hope to hear form everyone.**_ _**Lots of love**_ _**xx**_ _For those interested I have other stories:_ _Through the Son - Dramione smut lemons dark_  
 _Beyond the Veil - Dramione. smut. lemons. new fic and very dark so if you're not up for heavy reads, not this one but I tlel you the plot is good though if you want dark_  
 _Across the Universe - Loki/Hermione - MY VERY FIRST CROSSOVER please support! hahaha_

 ** _Chapter Sixty Seven_**

 ** _The Visit_**

 _"Are you kidding me?"_

 _"No." Hermione said as she took his bag from around his shoulders. "Just go, do it."_

 _He looked back at her with complete disbelief as people started walking out of the Great Hall from the welcome feast dinner._

 _"You heard Dumbledore and you told me yourself that he's been telling you that professor-"_

 _"I'm not going to apologize or thank him in any way." Harry said trying to take his bag back from her but she tugged harder._

 _She looked at him with cold eyes._

 _"I'm not apologizing for anything." Harry said determinedly._

 _"Then don't." Hermione said. "But still thank him because if not for him, all of us would be dead by now. He still saved us."_

 _"He's rejoicing with his arse that Sirius died, Hermione." Harry spat back at her grabbing his bag this time._

 _He looked angrily back at her wordless expression._

 _"Are we seriously arguing about this?" he spat at her quickly lowering his voice when he noticed that McGonagall was exiting the Great Hall with other teachers and they could be overheard._

 _Hermione gave him a look._

 _"No one wanted what happened to Sirius, Harry. And I'm quite sure-"_

 _"I'll bet anything I have right now that he wanted it-"_

 _"That's not nice Harry. We know they're not friends and they hate one another, but I don't think he would ever want any Order dead-"_

 _"Let's not forget how he sold my mum and dad-"_

 _"We both know who was the snitch that did that." Hermione pointed out._

 _She looked back at him with such ferociousness and seriousness in her face that Harry knew he was going to lose this argument._

 _"I'm not apologizing."_

 _"Atleast consider what he's done for us." Hermione said. "I know he's not.. Harry, he still saved us. If not for him, the Auror and Ministry wouldn't find us down there at the Department of Min-"_

 _"The Order and Aurors are dying in number." Hermione interrupted shaking him out of his state. "We're only a handful. Are we really going to fight amongst ourselves?"_

 _He didn't say anything._

 _He only looked away, obviously battling with his head and also slightly humiliated with his immaturity._

 _"I don't need to fight him." Harry bitterly said with glint in his eyes. "But neither do I need to thank him for anything."_

 _Hermione stared back at him and moved as his eyes moved towards Snape's direction as he was about to leave the hall as well._

 _Hermione looked back at Harry._

 _"If you don't do this, what difference does that make you from him?" she asked. "Don't you want to be the better man than him?"_

 _Her words caught Harry's thoughts._

 _He looked back at her, conflicted._

 _"I never said-"_

 _"You've always told me that you never liked the idea of your father bullying him or anyone else-"_

 _"You know I never liked him that way – I'm not like him in that-"_

 _"Then prove it." Hermione said with challenge in her tone. "Just prove it, Harry. Be the better man than he is."_

 _Harry didn't say anything, he looked away from her and was obviously still unwilling to give in._

 _"If you can't be a better man than he is, then atleast show some gratitude to where it's due." Hermione angrily said grabbing her books from his hands._

 _And before he could argue further, Hermione stalked away from him, following Ginny and the rest of the Gryffindor girls._

 _Harry stared after them knowing that he wouldn't be able to talk to her anyway and then to the direction where Snape was headed to.._

 _"Bloody hell." Harry muttered, straightening his robes and quickly turning to the other direction where Snape was heading._

 _He heard him twice, thrice._

 _But it wasn't until they were quite near the staircase that led to the dungeons did he stop to enable him to reach him._

 _"Professor!" Harry's breathless voice came after him. "Professor Snape!"_

 _He could hear his footsteps gaining speed now that he has stopped down the empty corridor._

 _"What?" Snape asked turning to him, black cloak billowing._

 _Harry stopped, hands up in the air as he tried to catch his breath._

 _Snape was already as impatient as ever._

 _The first term of the year was just about to begin tomorrow and he was already stressed out._

 _The summer that passed didn't go well as he had hoped._

 _There was no rest._

 _The Dark Lord was gaining power and allies, Narcissa Malfoy had asked him to do the Unbreakable Vow in order to protect Draco and the imminent danger for which Draco and his future-victims were also all inside his mind._

 _Not to mention the classes he still had to tend to and ofcourse, the truth on Dumbledore's condition for which no one else knew about._

 _He would be extremely lucky if he lives through and survives the year._

 _"Professor Snape.." Harry breathed out, staring at his obviously irritated form. "May I speak with you?"_

 _Snape raised an eyebrow at him._

 _"What I mean is that-"_

 _"Speak, Potter." Snape interrupted him. "Unlike yourself, I do not have free time for the semester."_

 _Harry heavily breathed through and swallowed hard._

 _He stared up at Snape and thought how if it wasn't for Hermione, the hooked-nose teacher wouldn't be standing there, hating him at the moment._

 _"Potter-"_

 _"I want to thank you." Harry blurted out. "for.. for what you did."_

 _Snape's black eyes turned into slits._

 _"I'm not going to waste my time comprehending-"_

 _"Thank you, professor Snape." Harry said in barely a whisper as if ashamed. "For what you did.. last year.. You called the Aurors and the Order.. to come after us at the Ministry."_

 _His eyes turned differently and Harry couldn't read the gaze he was giving him._

 _He only stared up at the man before him unsure why he was even doing it in the first place._

 _His black eyes pierced him and Harry was almost sure that he was reading his thoughts._

 _Harry quickly blinked and broke the eye contact._

 _"It is my job." Snape slowly said after a while. "There is no need to thank me-"_

 _"We wouldn't be alive if it weren't for you." Harry said. "I just wish to show my gratitude."_

 _"Show or gloat of it?" Snape asked him._

 _Harry's eyes turned to slits._

 _"I'm here because I need to put gratitude to where it's due." Harry said unable to stop himself._

 _Snape stared._

 _"I'm quite sure your capacity cannot put such words together." Snape mocked him with a smirk. "Or even truly mean it."_

 _And that was it._

 _All the patience and look of being a tamed sheep vanished from Harry's face._

 _He looked up at the man with all the hatred he really had for him._

 _"You're right." Harry spat at him. "Hermione told me to be here to be grateful of you and everything you've done."_

 _Something gleamed across his black eyes that Harry couldn't figure out what exactly._

 _"Then tell Miss Granger that I am merely doing my job." Snape slowly said folding his arms across his chest. "And that there is no need to suck up to me because she already has more than enough grades in her school records to last her more than one lifetime."_

 _They stared at one another for a few moments, neither giving in to looking away._

 _"Now, if you please, Mr. Potter. I have things to finish."_

 _And then he turned away from him._

 _It didn't take him far before Harry called him up again._

 _He closed his eyes, fists clenched at his sides._

 _"Potter, do you really-"_

 _"The headmaster trusts you." Harry said quickly running forward in front of him._

 _Snap noticed the change in his tone and whether he wanted to admit it or not, he could tell that this time, the words came from Harry and he meant what he was saying._

 _"What?" he asked turning to him._

 _Harry halted and stared up at him._

 _They were close to one another that Harry could feel all the hatred surging from his body towards him._

 _The feeling was just as mutual._

 _"The headmaster trusts you." Harry quietly said. "Professor Dumbledore trusts you."_

 _There was determination over his face as he stared up at the black eyes before him._

 _"Potter this is completely-"_

 _"I need you to know that despite and in spite of everything – every bit of hatred you have for Sirius, for my father and for me – I want you to know that I trust you. I trust you, professor Snape."_

 _Snape stood still, completely taken aback and unable to utter a single word._

 _He wasn't expecting this and now his head wasn't working its usual speed into preparing a lash at Harry._

 _But he looked livid and that Harry was sure of._

 _"Potter-"_

 _"You need to hear it." Harry said. "We all know the war is coming, it is too close – no, it is already here. And we need to say the words that are meant to be spoken."_

 _Snape didn't say anything._

 _His black eyes pierced Harry's gaze and he could swear that for a split moment, he saw the same look of pity that Lily always gave him with her same emerald eyes._

 _His eyes softened at him but it quickly vanished from sight when he decided to break their eye contact._

 _"The year wouldn't be easy professor and we all know it." Harry said. "The headmaster knows your job isn't easy and I know that it isn't – to be out there, risking your life for all of us and-"_

 _"It is my duty and job and there is nothing-"_

 _"But it could not be." Harry interrupted him. "And yet you still choose to the right thing. You could easily just walk away and leave all of these – abandon all of us – you don't owe us anything-"_

 _"Enough-"_

 _"-you need to understand that our gratitude and you must know that we trust you. We trust you completely, professor Snape. I know I do."_

 _His black eyes were set on him, unblinking._

 _He was almost lost for all words for the boy – he had never heard him speak this way towards him nor was he able to comprehend that he was able to do so at all._

 _"Enough, Potter." he said and there was obvious warning in his voice. "Go to your dormitory. We are all tired and meant to receive certain amount of rest while we still can."_

 _His voice was still made of ice but Harry was unmoved by it._

 _Hermione was right even if he'd never admit it to her._

 _The man was cold but there were certain dues owed to him._

 _He could only give as little and as much gratitude to him._

 _"I know this doesn't change anything – but the headmaster trusts you and he tells me-"_

 _"I said, enough!" Snape angrily said and this time, he looked like he meant his fair warning._

 _Harry stared up at him and slowly nodded in recognition that it was time to leave and that he has said more than enough._

 _"Goodnight, professor." Harry said slowly looking away from him._

 _"You're right." Snape's cold voice echoed at his back. "It doesn't change anything, Potter. None of these does."_

 _Harry stopped on his tracks to listen as Snape continued._

 _"The war has arrived as well all know it." Snape said and he could tell the seriousness in his tone this time without any hint of hatred and just pure warning._

 _Harry nodded at him but he didn't say anything._

 _"And at this moment, all the headmaster needs from you is your complete cooperation and focus. Get your head into it Potter. This isn't a game where luck can just save you."_

 _Harry slowly turned to face him._

 _Black eyes met green ones._

 _"Death doesn't discriminate from sinners or saints, Potter." Snape warned him and his tone gave Harry chills he's never felt before. "It only takes and it takes."_

 _And with that, he turned and walked passed him, leaving Harry completely wordless in his wake as his words crippled him with fear._

Hermione's earsplitting scream of terror drained every bit of energy from her lungs.

She felt as if she had broken her own vocal chords and had completely lost her voice.

Draco had felt as if his own eardrums had exploded with the echo of her deafening scream.

And then he felt himself.

He could hear his heart beat very loudly _– it was still beating._

He still had a heartbeat.

His eyes shot open at the realization – _he was alive._

It took him a moment to take in that he was actually still alive and another moment to comprehend what had just happened.

His eyes moved from a long slice of clothing at the side of his sleeves that must have come from the surge and force of the curse that had narrowly missed him – very, narrowly.

Draco's eyes flashed up ahead at the two of them.

Hermione was on the ground, stricken, eyes wide and mouth hanging open in shock.

Harry was standing next to her, body slightly askew and his wand hand still tightly held by Hermione around the wrist.

He looked up at his still form with an impassive and undaunted facial expression.

All the emotions and warmth has completely left his eyes – leaving the impression that darkness has completely consumed and taken over him.

The silence between the three of them was broken by Harry.

Draco watched in his stillness as Harry slowly lowered his wand and gently removed Hermione's fingers around his wrist.

He moved about with such ease and calmness like nothing has just happened.

"Get yourself up from the floor, 'Mione and go change." Harry quietly and calmly said as he pocketed his wand and straightened up his suit. "I'm going to ask the girls to bring you back home because I forgot to double check if the blue roses we decided to change last minute was already corrected."

Draco's eyes slowly turned to Hermione across him over the floor – she still looked extremely shocked and confused that she was still in the very same position.

She couldn't speak but her eyes told Draco all the fear in them.

Harry bent down and kissed Hermione over her head from which she still couldn't resist from out of shock.

Harry straightened up with his eyes on Hermione and then the emerald pair moved towards Draco who stood gaping at his direction.

"I've worked so hard to become an Auror out there so that when the time comes that I have to face whatever it was that took her from me-" his eyes settled momentarily at Hermione who began crying silently. "- I would have enough strength and ability to end or kill whatever I would need to face in order to keep her safe, protected and out of harm's way."

He took steps forward and Draco held his breath, eyes never leaving him.

Harry walked and passed him without as much as a touch of a finger, a graze nor a gaze.

And then he stopped by the doorway as he straightened up his suit again with his wand now back in his hand again.

He stood there for a moment as if contemplating what to say.

 _The silence was killing Hermione._

Harry slowly lifted his wand hand and from where Draco stood he could tell that he was smoothening and straightening the cuffs of his suit as he held his wand as if unconsciously displaying it before his eyes.

But Draco knew better than what that meant as he had seen his father do the same display of threat and power before.

"Ten years of training and hard work to become the best Auror out there – _I do not miss._ " Harry said in a very deadly tone as he carefully and clearly emphasized each word at the both of them.

His head turned a little but not to completely look at either of them.

"I've never missed an aim before." Harry clearly said with an obvious threat in his voice and then for a moment his eyes moved towards Hermione and back at him before continuing. "And I swear that I will _not_ miss the next time."

He paused, letting his words sink in to the pair.

Draco could tell that Harry was restraining himself with all the might he still had left in his body.

And then without another word, he sighed heavily and walked out and away from them in a very relaxed pace and casual manner placing both hands inside his pockets.

It felt like a very long and dragging minute had passed before they heard hurried footsteps coming their way that signaled them both that Harry had gone and left.

Hermione looked up from the mess she was over the floor right towards Draco who was still a few feet from her as if contemplating or letting it sink in him that he had just missed death with barely a centimeter of distance.

Their eyes met and melted into one another.

Footsteps halted by the doorway and Fleur's voice echoed all over.

But neither Hermione nor Draco had heard of it.

Because Draco had dived towards the floor to catch Hermione right into his arms in all the mess, tears and scream of frustration she could possibly still vocalize and with all the remaining strength she had in her.

She was at the verge of fainting out of all the pain and frustration and all energy exhausted at the realization that had she not pulled Harry's wrist hard enough to move and make him lose his aim, Draco would be long gone by now.

Draco took Hermione into his arms, tightly claiming her in them as she cried and poured her heart out at him not realizing then at that very moment in their encounter against Harry, the other boy was able to take something from him – something he hadn't meant to, but something he suspected was of some importance and could be gained into his own advantage.

 _The house-elf retreated from the large library at the west wing of the manor._

 _The elf was bowing his way out and upon realization that Draco was standing outside the door, he bowed even lower._

 _"Mother's home?" Draco asked with his eyes still over the double doors of the library as he stood leaning by the grand tapestry on the opposite wall of the library._

 _"Yes, young master." the elf quietly replied with a lower bow that was possible._

 _"Don't tell father." Draco warned as he slowly stood straight and entered the library pulling out his wand._

 _The elf nodded and made her way away, her soft footsteps ebbing away as she listened to the door opening, closing and locking by Draco's magic._

 _"You look tired." Draco quietly said shutting the door behind him. "Do you require anything?"_

 _Narcissa heavily sighed and closed her eyes, trying to keep herself standing still._

 _She had not only exhausted herself from the travel but had also exhausted her magic away when she took Snape's memories._

 _All she wanted at that very moment was to completely retire into her vast bed and sleep the hours away._

 _But with Draco at bay, watching her every move closely and suspecting her of many things more than one, she knew that it was impossible._

 _"I require silence." Narcissa said. "I want to rest and be left alone."_

 _"I will leave you alone." Draco quietly said his eyes kept still at his mother's back. "After we have a little chat."_

 _Narcissa heavily sighed, gripping the ends of the mahogany desk at the other side of the room in order to keep her body standing still._

 _The pain was becoming heavier by the moment and the little most energy she has was ebbing away._

 _She could hear Draco's footsteps nearing her._

 _"Where were you mother?" Draco asked giving her the hint that he was close by, a few steps from where she was._

 _"I had to do some errands."_

 _"We have servants to do all errands for you." Draco said his eyes closely watching her breathing pattern. "Why don't you have a seat? You seem… exhausted."_

 _Narcissa didn't say anything._

 _She stood still and after a moment, she knew that she couldn't remain standing._

 _She turned to him with a forced smile and slowly say by the large wooden armchair nearest them._

 _Draco saw her sigh heavily, relaxing and exhaling all the pain away._

 _He could not be mistaken, she was terribly ill and as the days were passing. It gets harder for her to keep it from him._

 _Her sudden way of aging was one sign, but the look in her eyes and the slow motion of her body told Draco that her body was decaying by the days._

 _And despite it all, she still claims that she was perfectly fine and nothing was to be worried about._

 _But he wasn't daft, he wasn't stupid._

 _He knew that she was dying whether she tells him or not and it worries him not just because he was about to lose a mother but also because she knew that there were things she would be leaving behind – unspoken and kept secret even from him forever._

 _"I want to rest, Draco." Narcissa firmly said watching him pull another chair near her and settling himself close by._

 _"You can rest." Draco quietly said sitting straight over the chair and watching his mother's life decaying. "After we talk."_

 _Her eyes moved to him and they were still cold and piercing, refusing to succumb into her death._

 _"What do you want, Draco?"_

 _"Where have you been?" he asked her but the look over his face told her that he already knew. "There's no point of lying to me."_

 _Narcissa turned to him with such coldness in her face that Draco already knew that she was never going to let herself be caught guilty in her deathbed._

 _She heavily sighed at him as she deeply inhaled to control her pain._

 _She folded her legs together and stared back at Draco keeping a straight and cold facial expression._

 _Up until the end, she wanted to show the face of a strong woman._

 _"If you already know, then there is no point asking me and I, answering you." Narcissa said and her tone gave away everything that Draco desperately wanted to know._

 _His eyes narrowed and his heartbeat was skipping beats._

 _"You do know where they are." Draco whispered keeping his gaze straight at his mother's._

 _Her eyes met his and her silence gave him another answer._

 _"Why won't you tell me?" Draco asked her. "Why won't you?"_

 _"If you had a daughter or a son – would you burn them to flames yourself?" Narcissa asked him back in a tone that sounded like she was talking about some serious business deal – unemotional and straight to the point._

 _"I don't have time for your riddles, mother." Draco said slowly losing his patience. "I want to know where she is and I want you to take her back."_

 _"Take her back?" Narcissa repeated with a raised brow. "Tell you where she is?"_

 _"I'm not playing games!" Draco said and he began to sound like a child wanting a Christmas present he couldn't have. "Where is she, mother?!"_

 _Her eyes widened at him._

 _A pain passed her chest but she was able to control herself from showing any emotion._

 _Draco stared back at her with eyes filling in with tears, face in desperate need of a mother and of a truth he knew that she was keeping._

 _"Please." Draco begged her and he suddenly got out of the chair and went on his knees, "Please, mother…"_

 _Narcissa's eyes widened at Draco's actions._

 _His wand clattered over the carpeted floor as he moved closed, reaching and grasping his mother's hands as he begged on his knees._

 _"Please tell me where they are." Draco cried, burying his face into the hands that held hers. "Please tell me… just let me.. just let me.. you will never need to worry about her nor of us.. just let me save her.. please.."_

 _Hatred beyond what she could comprehend passed her senses._

 _How could his son – his only son – that she had raised to be strong, intelligent and capable – fall into this despicable trap of love?_

 _How the mighty had fallen._

 _But she loved his son, more than anyone else and anything else._

 _Despite her hatred for the Mudblood, she would save her life – just as he would save Snape's and Draco's._

 _And Draco's desperate desire to keep her alive, to save her life was going to be granted._

 _But he will never have her – never._

 _He already endured enough suffering in his life at such a young age to be tangled with even more suffering because of the Mudblood._

 _He was young and naïve and he thought of all of it as some beautiful love._

 _Young love – how tragically despicable and foolish._

 _She was his son, his only son and she was going to secure a good future for him even if she was no longer around._

 _And that meant administering things that neither of them wanted and diminishing things that were irrelevant for his life._

 _She would love Draco and love his only son even beyond the grave._

 _Narcissa closed her eyes._

 _She wanted nothing at that very moment but to turn deaf as the agonizing cries and desperate plea of Draco at her feet was also crushing her heart by the moment._

 _She sighed heavily restraining to keep her own tears from falling._

 _"My only son.." she whispered as she slowly reached back and held his hands in hers then._

 _She bent forward and kissed the top of Draco's had like she always did when he was a child to calm him down._

 _But she knew that nothing short of her caress, kiss and love for his son would save it from breaking his heart._

 _But it was something that must be done – for the greater good, for Draco._

 _"Mother, please.." Draco desperately begged with his life. "Please…"_

 _Silence._

 _Narcissa blinked away the tears forming in her eyes._

 _A tear escaped her left eye but she managed to get a grip over herself._

 _She pressed Draco's hand firmly in hers to comfort him._

 _"I have done everything I could do to raise you to become the man I wanted you to." Narcissa spoke to him. "I have loved you Draco with all that I could as a mother and there is nothing I wouldn't do to ensure you survive this hell and have a future."_

 _"Then tell me where she is.. let me save her life.. please let me take her back."_

 _Another pause._

 _"I have done everything I could to become a mother to you." Narcissa whispered before slowly letting his hand go. "A mother.. even not a good mother. But a mother nevertheless"_

 _Draco paused and listened._

 _Her voice had turned ice again and as he looked up, all emotions had vanished from her face._

 _Question passed Draco's facial features._

 _"When you are older, I hope you would understand." Narcissa quietly whispered at him. "One day, I would hope that you would understand that everything I have done is for you."_

 _"What did you do?" Draco asked, fear and panic showing over his face. "What did you – what did you do?!"_

 _Her eyes looked down at him – sharp, unrelenting and cold._

 _She let his hand go and slowly stood up without breaking their gazes._

 _"What did you do, mother?" Draco whispered as tears flowed from his eyes as she reached for her hands again as she stood before him._

 _Narcissa let him hold her but she didn't return the gesture._

 _But neither did she recoil from him._

 _Her gaze pierced him before she answered in a firm tone._

 _"What a mother would do." Narcissa quietly and truthfully said. "What no other mother would do for an only son she loves deeply."_

 _He knew how she deeply loves him._

 _But he also knew the crimes for which she could possibly and was truly capable of committing in the name of the love of a mother for a son._

 _Draco felt his heart breaking as he looked up at her, frozen on the spot._

 _Narcissa stared down at him with nothing but the show of the strong, determined and cold woman he knew her to be._

 _And then Draco's fingers slackened around his mother's._

 _Narcissa broke their gaze as she looked away but Draco's eyes never left her retreating form._

 _She still wore her cold stance as she retreated from him, eyes filling with tears that he could no longer as she turned away from him._

 _And as Narcissa moved and walked away from him, even without any trace of the substantial truth, Draco already knew the horrifying truth his mother knew after all this time._

"A few hours sleep would help." Draco said as he closed the door.

He looked back at all the people staring at them all.

Few hours would make all the differences in the world and yet there still has no evidence for which could change Snape's fate at Azkaban.

Perhaps it was time to truly give up.

"Thank you, Draco." Lupin said as he led the boy away and they all walked back to the living room of the Weasleys. "We haven't heard from Harry."

"It's best this way." Bill said as he leaned agains the wall of the small corridor. "Let's have something to eat downstairs."

Bill slowly took Fleur's hand and followed his mother down the corridor with the rest of the Weasleys.

Draco held back and asked Lupin to remain.

He patiently waited until everyone else was gone before turning to him and keeping him aside.

"Draco?" Lupin asked him as he pulled him in a corner.

"I need to do something." Draco said. "I don't need your permission because I wouldn't care what you say. But I need you to know of my plan."

"Plan?" Lupin asked worriedly. "Draco-"

"Just let me finish." Draco said.

He pulled a parchment from his pocket and handed it to him.

"If it all goes down the drain, just follow this." Draco said handing it to him and keeping it. "Until the last minute. Please."

Lupin took it and stared back at Draco feeling fear all over him.

"Draco, whatever you're planning – I'm telling you that we really-"

"Please just give us enough time." Draco whispered at him placing his hand over his old mentor's shoulder. "And take this- keep this for me incase things happen- and we can't-"

Lupin watched as he placed his hands inside his pockets, looking for something.

Draco's face turned pale, eyes narrowing as he fretted along all the pockets he could reach in his clothes.

He looked up at Lupin with panic in his eyes.

"What's wrong?" Lupin asked as he pocketed the parchment he had given him.

"The key." Draco whispered heart thumping fast as the realization dawned on him. "I can't find the key."

"What key?" Lupin asked back, completely bewildered. "What's going on?"

"There is a key." Draco said as his body shuddered and his brains worked its way trying to remember if he placed it somewhere. "I've kept – Hermione and I have been – where the fuck is it-"

Lupin grabbed him and shook him as fear crippled Draco and panic showed all over his features.

"Draco, what's going on?" he firmly asked him, gripping him harder.

"I found a key." Draco explained, trying to control his breathing as he spoke. "A key that Hermione and I have been trying to figure out for what. It's very important."

Lupin looked back at him trying to figure out and comprehend what he was saying.

"Important?" he repeated slowly. "How important?"

"We both believe that it has something that couldn't possibly save Severus' life."

Lupin's eyes widened.

"But where would you lose it?" he asked him as now, panic was also rising inside of him.

Draco shook his head.

"I don't know." Draco answered as he continued to look for his pockets knowing it wouldn't be there anyway. "I never leave without it since we got it. I never keep it out of my sight.. I would never lose-" he stopped, eyes wide.

"Draco?"

"I didn't lose it." Draco said eyes narrowing at the possible realization came to him. "I didn't lose it, professor."

"Then where is it?"

He looked back at the man unsure if he should continue.

But the concern in Lupin's face told him that he was an ally and not an enemy.

"Someone has stolen it." Draco said as the possibility dawned upon him on where he might have lost it. "Someone took it from me."

The hours had waned and had fallen.

Harry was exhausted, spent and bore bloodshot red eyes.

He sat alone at the corner most part of the bar with three large bottles of whiskey by his table and holding a fourth one in his hand.

He had finished all errands and loose ends needed to be done and prepared for on his wedding.

All invitations had been sent out, news spread of the event sent all over, food and wine all ready and everything else in between.

It was dubbed as the grandest wedding of the year.

It was grandioso at its finest and the world just couldn't wait for the union of such a pair with such a love story.

"Granger-Potter Nuptials 3:00pm" read the invitation in Harry's hand.

He took another swig from the bottle, his eyes with tears still reading the names over and over.

In just a few hours, his dream wedding was about to happen.

But why, why did it feel wrong somehow?

Was it wedding jitters?

He knew that Hermione would never leave him at the aisle – not out of fear of what he'll do – but because of his faith in her.

Ofcourse he still had faith in her.

He has loved her all his life and that would never change.

But why did she change?

His eyes narrowed as he took another swig long swig from the bottle at the thought of Snape.

The man would deeply suffer at Azkaban – he would make sure of it.

If he wouldn't die now, he would make sure that he would die a slow and painful death with enough suffering that it would be unimaginable.

He took Hermione and there was no getting back all the years he has lost her and all the years that should have been his with her.

Harry took another long gulp from the whiskey in his hand as tears strolled down his face.

He should be celebrating tonight, but he couldn't.

Not when things had gone too far.

He was nowhere far from the man Snape was now – not after two Unforgivable Curses and another that would have been the end of it all if Hermione didn't shake him out of it at the last moment.

He hated Snape for taking everything from him.

And he also hated himself because he knew he couldn't hate Hermione for all the faults and pain she was even causing him.

He still loves her beyond anything and will always love her beyond anyone else.

Another hard and long gulp from the bottle.

Harry's eyes narrowed as two men in Auror uniform was walking straight to his table.

He looked up at them with a blurry vision, barely recognizing his own men from the department.

"What do you want?" he demanded in a slurry voice.

The two men looked at one another before moving closer his table to ensure that they weren't going to be heard.

"Confirmed, Mr. Potter." one of them quietly whispered. "Just as you had guessed it to be."

Both men had their faces half hidden under the hoods of the cloak over their uniform.

They were both standing there, waiting for Harry's orders.

But Harry seemed distant, his eyes were staring out of nowhere and tears were just leaking at the sides of his eyes.

And then sudden darkness passed his eyes.

Harry nodded at both men as he slowly lowered the bottle back on the table and sat up straight.

He wiped his tears with the sleeves of his clothes.

"Give them what they think they have right now." Harry quietly said as he moved about to draw something out of his pocket.

The Aurors looked down at him.

"We'll just let them.. Mr. Potter, how about your other request?"

Harry gave them one dark look before looking back in his hand where he was holding something.

"Let them be." Harry whispered as he wiped the last of his tears. "Follow everything as planned."

"But Mr. Potter-"

"I said, follow everything as planned." Harry said and he moved his hand slowly from his pocket again and drew his wand out and placed it calmly over the table.

The two Aurors fell silent.

"As you wish, Mr. Potter." one of them said with a curt nod. "Would there be anything else you would require?"

They watched Harry in silence as they waited for anything else he needed.

His eyes were set on something as his lips moved gently.

Harry heavily sighed.

"There is something else." Harry slowly said looking up at them.

The Aurors stared and waited as he conjured a piece of parchment.

One of them picked it up, opened and read it.

His eyes slightly widened as he stared back at his companion who read it as well.

They both stared at Harry's still facial expression while he played with his wand over the table.

"Mr. Potter-"

"Not a moment too early nor too late." Harry quietly said without even looking up at them. "You may go."

They stood still, waiting if it was the final order.

But Harry spoke no more.

Slowly, they both retreated from Harry's table.

Harry slowly looked up and when he was sure that they were out of sight, he slowly opened up his other hand.

He heavily sighed as anger, pain and tears consumed him even more.

And out of his frustration, he tossed a gleaming key over the table that he found on the floor hours earlier when he had encountered the boy he hated most next to Severus Snape.

His eyes glinted at the sight of it.

He didn't mean to and he didn't know of it.

But the unsuspecting boy had dropped it and was too preoccupied of him and Hermione's well-being that he had not noticed what he had dropped.

If it were any circumstance, Harry would have let it go.

But he knew Draco Malfoy.

And he knew too well that if it wasn't that important, he wouldn't be bringing it with him.

He stared at the glimmering key, contemplating very hard.

He looked at his watch – he still had an hour to get his clearance and another to get things done.

He could almost tell where the key belonged.

Deciding everything to fate, Harry made up his mind.

He was going to do everything he needed to do even if it meant sacrificing a few lives on the line.

Severus Snape was going to pay for what he has done to him, to Hermione – his Hermione.

Harry stood up and wiped away all the tears in his face and rearranged his glasses.

He reached over and picked up his wand and then the key from the table.

Harry's emerald eyes stared at it for a moment as he wondered the secrets it kept.

He pocketed the key securely and with his wand in his hand, he discreetly walked out of the bar and into the night.

The cold breeze momentarily swept into his face before completely losing the sensation and was replaced by the lulling and dizzying feeling of Disapparating into another place.

The next time Harry opened his eyes, cold breeze swept his face once more – but with touch of water.

He looked up at the dark sky that seemed to give a foreboding fate.

He looked around him and could hear the water splashing from a very short distance.

A storm was coming.

He moved his feet and looked at the other direction, eyes narrowed.

With the wand in his hand and the key at another, Harry kept his eyes straight ahead where the view of the cottage at the Island of Beltane was growing larger as he drew closer towards it.

"In here." whispered a low and familiar tone.

Snape's black eyes opened and he carefully listened to the sounds around him.

He had been woken a few hours earlier and was dragged into another chamber.

He waited as he knew something was about to happen to him.

What was the surprise there for he was sure that Harry was going to do something to him.

His wedding was to happen in a few hours' time and what best way to receive a present than to have his head served on a golden platter.

"I can't see anything-"

"Hold my hand- here, take it-"

His black eyes moved to the gates a few feet ahead of him.

There weren't lights but he could tell someone was making their way down the cold stone steps and down at the distilleries.

The voices were familiar.

But he was too lost in his thoughts, too drained by the Dementors and too tired for everything else.

He knew he was dying and he knew that he was going to die soon enough.

Why was he given the unmerciful way of waiting for death?

"In here, come – just a few more steps-"

"Draco, I can't see anything-"

 _That voice._

He knew that voice too well.

His black eyes faltered and closed in again.

Was it all a dream?

Was he hallucinating by now?

He no longer wanted to ear nor drink and so he was sure that at this point he was dehydrated.

But what was the point of it all if he would die anyway?

He longed for death.

And his body was slowly decaying in its misery within the bars of any cell he was taken into.

It were all the same and he was going to die there anyway.

More sounds of footsteps that told him it were all hallucination and reality combined together – it didn't make sense but it made sense to him.

Perhaps that was really what it felt like to be dying – to hear and feel things that were neither here nor there.

But he was too consumed, too tired to even move a muscle.

He had given up in life and had given up completely.

Nothing was saving him from this place and he would await death to come for him – one that he so deserved and dearly longed for.

 _"Hermione, don't let my hand go."_

Snape's black eyes opened again

 _Hermione._

He knew that name.

He knew that name from somewhere.

"Hermione, he's in here. Come closer."

He also knew that voice.

His brains worked fast and hard and it made him feel dizzy.

And then he heard them, footsteps right outside his cell door and he heard spells after another being muttered continuously in an attempt to open the cell.

There was the feel of strong magic engulfing the place.

And then the locks moved and the gates of the cell moved and opened.

Snape's eyes shot wide open as he bolted right up from the bed.

He looked towards the cell where the soft glow of light was floating with silhouettes were behind the glow.

The footsteps became louder as they drew closed.

The light from the wand was growing and slowly blinded him but he fought hard to see and understand what was happening.

It wasn't until they were too close that he slowly realized that this wasn't a dream at all but was happening before him.

He felt himself growing awake as he tried to see through the blinding darkness and floating light.

His heart raced as he listened hard to the footsteps, desperate to hear the voices again to assure him that he wasn't running mad – not yet anyway.

His black eyes narrowed as he tried to see and he moved his hands like a blind man to feel around him.

It has then dawned on him that he could really be running mad.

He was at Azkaban and nobody was going to rescue him any longer.

Lily had long been gone forever.

Narcissa was also no longer there to protect him, to guide him, to give him the smallest hint of comfort she always gave him.

He also asked Draco to live his own life and let him be as if he was dying anyway.

Hermione was far and was going to live a new life.

He was never going to see her ever again.

After everything he had given, every sacrifice he had done – he was still going to end this way.

He was completely abandoned and nobody was coming to his rescue like he had done so for many others.

He was alone.

A gasp of fear and cry of frustration escaped his lips that echoed all throughout the darkened cell.

Dying.

He was dying.

Tears started to consume his eyes as fear poked its way through his head.

He was alone and he was going to die alone.

And he was never going to see Hermione Granger ever again.

The reality of it all, his frustration, fear and anger, his conscience – were killing him and eating up everything that was already rotten in him.

This was his end and despite that the pain of it all were beginning to crawl up to him, eating his insides he knew he deserve to die this way.

There was no excuse to everything that he has done.

He wasn't afraid of dying but he was afraid of never being given a chance to ask for her forgiveness.

But he was unforgivable.

There was no excuse to what he has done, to everything he has done for her.

"Forgive me.." he cried as he felt all of it, felt it all too overwhelming and overpowering everything that remained in him that he knew he would succumb into madness soon if not death first.

"I'm sorry.. I'm sorry…"

His cries echoed and the silence around him was broken.

And then he felt it.

A gentle, soft and familiar touch came over his hand.

His tears faltered the echo of his cries slowly faded.

He didn't want to believe it but he felt like he was running mad.

But he knew that touch too well, he knew that sensation of warmth too well.

He had her touch memorized, every bit of her body was memorized by every bit of him – in touch and in feel.

Snape shook his head as he refused to believe what he thought he was imagining.

And then a pair of hands held his, drawing them closer and holding them gently.

Snape cried out in frustration.

This was his end.

Madness has taken over him.

 _"Severus…"_ her voice spoke – it was warm, gentle, consoling and assuring.

Snape shook his head, disbelieving what he was hearing.

The pair of hands held him tighter.

"Severus." Hermione whispered as she knelt by the cold stone floor holding his hands and kneeling before him. "Severus, I am here."

He didn't want to believe it but he only had a few of his sanity and life left in him.

And if by the gods this was true, he wanted to look her in the eye and see the beauty in them for the last time.

"Severus, look at me." Hermione's gentle voice came as he felt her reach for his face, gently placing her other hand over his left cheek.

Tears fell in his eyes as he reveled at the familiar and comforting touch of her hand.

Black eyes that were consumed by tears slowly opened up.

He blinked away his tears to clearly see.

A shadowy figure stood next to her holding out a wand for a light.

And then his eyes moved back to the reality he had been denying.

"I am here." Hermione said shaking him into reality.

And then he faced her, his eyes meeting hers.

His black eyes met her soft brown ones.

Her hand slowly moved up to him, reaching for his face.

His black eyes closed as his body quickly gave in the sensation, the consoling and comforting feel of her hand and touch.

And despite the reality, the fear, the frustration and everything else in between – nothing else mattered.

For he knew that she was really there existing in that time and place in reality with him.

And the world could stop and come to an end and nothing else mattered in the world at that very moment.


	68. Chapter 68

_**Author's Notes:**_  
 _ **AND YES I AM MOTHERFUCKING STILL ALIVE AS THE STORY!**_  
 _ **Now this is quite long because I've missed everyone and for some reason I'm very emotional as go reach the near-end of this story I've dedicated so many hours and nights and burning morninglights and coffee and cigs with hahaha.**_ _**I know it took forever and I'm going to apologize all over it again. There was work, and some other work and some other things like family and social drama and then there goes my lazy butt, my constant coffee moments thinking what I should do with my life that's constantly being wasted by time and the idiots around me and most importantly, writer's block.**_ _**I've always foreseen the beginning of the story and the ending and along the way, I've weaved through the chapters in between and how I can connect the dots of the beginning and ending I've always known to come. There were changes along the way, additional things and smuts and ones that have been removed completely since they were of no true in depth relevance to the story.**_ _**I've always planned this to be a short fanfic and here we are today with chapter 68 and with only two last left and yes, an epilogue as I've already spoiled before.**_  
 _ **there's so much to be thankful for – my readers, my critiques, my friends and silent readers and everything else who check up on this or bump to see this from time to time. I know my language isn't perfect but you managed to stay and read through until here today when we are nearing the end.**_ _**I need to admit that I've began this and I was still back in my last 2 years of college – my ojt years, the 1 sem I stopped for the preparation for my graduation recital (as I've mentioned before I'm a piano major in one of the 2 big uni in my country) and at the sem and year where I've taken my piano recital. These were hella of the time of my life because I can only do lesson plans and coffee and write and then there came the recital season where coffee, music writing and constants cigs and wonder about life if I should continue or not.**_ _**I've written so many fanfics but there's only a handful that's ever seen daylight and this is one of the very few I've actually managed to reach an ending and fulfill.**_ _**It wasn't easy writing this especially last July when the turmoil drama of my life came about and I ran away from home (yes, I did) for about a month and I lived off in cafes and some friends and all I did was drank coffee, smoke and write my stories and edit and watch my downloaded movies in my laptop and sleepless nights thinking if my mom was even looking for me. I was a fresh graduate and a month later, big drama at home came and I just had to leave and keep myself away from all the toxicity I was accumulating at home. Needless to say, the experience made me stronger and more mature and now I'm back home after that month's worth of hiatus away from home, I'm building myself up in a lot of ways because I'm still as determined as ever to just leave this place where good is barely even a handful.**_  
 _ **I love this and will always do so. I can't promise I'm writing another sshg but perhaps but in another time and another kind of plot in a way or two. This was so heavy to write and if you would believe it, there were nights I'd be crying when I was writing the memories especially that of Harry's and Hermione's as if I was there to actually see them and feel what they were feeling. I guess I'm such an emotional idiot deep down.**_ ___**Right so I'm not sure if I've managed to answer all the previous queries but if I've missed any feel free to ask them all again and I will check them out asap.**_ _**As I've said, I'm never a fan of HEA type of fics, It's very rare I appreciate those. But I think that's what makes a good storyline or plot – the way you can weave through questions and endings that doesn't really end in the expected ways it should or in clichés. Don't get me wrong, everyone loves a happy ending.**_ _**If there are things you see and read through this, please bear in mind that you can always go back through the chapters and if you're too lazy you can ask me 'where in that chapter was that said, told, shown, etc etc' and I will gladly ask you because I have a bucks' worth of notebook where every detail of this fanfic has been written way ahead.**_ _**And just a head's up: Harry will be using three types of spells at a certain part of this chapter. Please know these spells aren't made up but could actually be found in the books and were used/mentioned in the earlier books and I just found very good use for them here.**_

 ** _Chapter Sixty Eight_**

 ** _Soul Bound_**

 _"You must make that promise." his voice sounded exhausted yet serious. "You must promise me that you will absolutely do whatever it takes."_

 _Snape didn't answer him._

 _His black eyes were at the hearth of the fireplace._

 _The old man had been asking him things more than one that were beginning to be a burden to his heart and conscience._

 _The other night, it was about the ring, the boy and his inevitable death that he was to have a part of._

 _Tonight, it was another kind of favor, promise – mission rather – that he must keep for the old man._

 _"Young Draco is desperate, Severus." Dumbledore said as he continued to stare at Snape's unmoving form. "He will do whatever it takes to complete this mission – regardless of the consequences. He is young and desperate and when you are just both, one cannot think very clearly."_

 _"Draco knows exactly what he has gotten himself into."_

 _"As I've said, he is desperate." Dumbledore calmly said but his eyes were evidently and strangely very serious as he stared at him._

 _Snape shook his head with a curl turning at the side of his lips._

 _"He thinks I'm the reason his family lost glory to the Dark Lord." Snape said with utmost mock in his tone._

 _"The Malfoy boy will blame anyone else but his father. He has been raised to think this way. You must know and understand this."_

 _Snape didn't say anything knowing that this argument wasn't going anywhere._

 _"Severus." Dumbledore quietly whispered at him. "I would not have asked if this isn't important."_

 _"But that's the thing, isn't it?" Snape suddenly said with coldness. "You always have to ask and you tell me it is relevant."_

 _"Because it is."_

 _"But I do not understand what Miss Granger has to do with all of these-"_

 _"She has everything to do with all of it." Dumbledore clearly and loudly said. "You know that she is the closest Muggle-Born to Harry Potter. And I'm sure that you know exactly what that means."_

 _"She doesn't need protection." Snape spat out._

 _But the headmaster wasn't to be dissuaded by anything._

 _"There will come a time as we know of it that she will be inevitably tangled into all of these. She will be the most useful pawn Voldemort can use against Harry. She's a Muggle-Born – a priority target of Voldemort and his followers."_

 _"Muggle Born or not we are all in danger and in priority list to be eliminated by the Dark Lord-"_

 _"But not everyone is Harry Potter's girlfriend." Dumbledore interrupted firmly. "Most dear, most precious and most loved."_

 _Snape shook his head and stared anywhere else but at the headmaster._

 _"Potter and the rest of them will protect her-"_

 _"It is different-"_

 _"Then you should have warned Potter not to have a girlfriend in the first place!" Snape angrily yelled at the headmaster as if this was some big issue he had been harboring for a long time._

 _The headmaster stared at him, silenced but not completely surprised._

 _"I apologize." Snape suddenly said breathing hard and walking away to face the bookshelf to calm himself down. "As I've said, this is no longer part of my job. He should have thought of the consequences of his actions. Miss Granger is absolutely not my problem."_

 _"Severus-"_

 _"You have Potter – you have Lupin – the Order, the Aurors – let's not forget that clan of the Weasleys-"_

 _"She would be in danger, Severus." Dumbledore went on as if he didn't say anything. "And it is up to you to save her if the time comes."_

 _"If the time comes?" Snape sarcastically said turning back to the headmaster. "Isn't it always sup to me? I have to carry all these – all of them – these burden that these fools have brought upon themselves-"_

 _"Miss Granger's linage isn't something she could have chosen-"_

 _"Everyone is just all the same-"_

 _"Am I a burden to you?" Dumbledore calmly asked him then with gentle eyes. "Am I?"_

 _Snape didn't say anything as if something had clogged his throat._

 _He looked away again and silence fell upon them._

 _"She will be a casualty if she is fated to be one." Snape simply explained. "It's a war, headmaster. It's not like we can save everyone from it. People die every day – it's not like you can fly out there and rescue each of those damned souls!"_

 _But the headmaster was patient with him as he merely stared quietly back at Snape._

 _It made him feel uncomfortable._

 _He moved away again, eyes staring at the books at the headmaster's large shelf with his fingers tracing the spine of those before him._

 _"Miss Granger trusts you." Dumbledore said after a while. "She will always do and if there comes a time that your loyalty would be questioned when I am long gone, I assure you that Miss Granger will vouch for you."_

 _"Vouch for me." Snape muttered back as he shook his head in mock. "I don't need pity and I certainly don't use people."_

 _"Yes, you don't." Dumbledore said. "You do not use people the way I do. You are not like me. No, you are far braver than myself. Not everyone can carry a burden that as yours and sacrifice as much."_

 _Another long silence and the headmaster knew that Snape no matter how defiant, cold and emotionless he was would always do the right at the end._

 _"Severus?"_

 _"I will save her if there comes a time that I have to – which is unlikely." Snape said as he turned back to the headmaster with defeat over his features. "She is protected by Potter, Lupin and the others. But you do have my word."_

 _"I have your word?"_

 _"You have my word, headmaster." Snape sighed heavily as he moved to the headmaster's desk and tossed over one of the D.A's coins that he has found in the library a few days back when Hermione and Harry had rushed out of the place. "I will protect her should the circumstance arise that her life depended on me."_

 _"Thank you, Severus."_

 _"It is because it is my duty and not because I need someone like her to vouch for who and what I am at the end of all these."_

 _The headmaster nodded at his most favored teacher._

 _"Remind me why we sort too soon?" the headmaster asked with a gentle smile._

 _But Snape didn't smile back at him._

 _"You ask for too much. But not every task should be repaid the way everyone wants to be repaid. I will protect her should the time and circumstance calls for it. Not because I need her to save my name and life in return."_

 _"But who would come to save you?"_

 _Snape stared but nothing came out from him._

 _He never thought of it._

 _He always thought that no matter who won at the end of the war, he was supposed and meant to die – either at the hands of the enemy or at the hands of the Dementors at Azkaban._

 _Either way, he never really cared how he ended._

 _There were too many losses in his life already for him to care if he loses his own life._

 _But he knew there was an answer to the headmaster's question for him and looking back at the headmaster, he seem to know the answer as well._

 _Someone out there would always sbe willing to save his life and protect him no matter the cost._

 _And to her, he had sworn his life and his loyalty._

 _"Will you be assured that Narcissa Black Malfoy will protect you?" the headmaster suddenly asked him as if he was able to read his thoughts. "Will she vouch for you?"_

 _Snape turned and stared back at him, slightly astonished._

 _He opened his mouth but the headmaster was giving him a peculiar look._

 _"Are you spying on me?" he asked incredulously._

 _"Are you assured that Narcissa will keep her words, her promises at the end of all these?"_

 _His eyes narrowed at the headmaster's words._

 _He didn't know Narcissa as much as he do so._

 _But he was also surprised that the headmaster knew the depth of their relationship._

 _"It's not exactly your problem, headmaster if I may say so." Snape said quietly not wanting to sound disrespectful. "I have a duty for the Order and that is well enough. I would like to keep my private life away from all these business."_

 _"And your duty as a godfather?" Dumbledore asked him. "Your duty as Narcissa Malfoy's favourite man? I hope you don't mind these questions if I may say so."_

 _Snape's black eyes glinted._

 _He would do everything and anything that the headmaster would ask of him, but he wouldn't let himself be treated this way._

 _No, his personal matters would remain his and at this point, whatever his relationship and affairs to Narcissa Malfoy was a personal matter that the headmaster shouldn't be bothered about._

 _Narcissa Malfoy was his dearest friend and he cares not what he has to do for the woman._

 _His loyalty would be to her as hers was to him._

 _They were bonded by years of friendship, of a relationship that of a brother and a sister._

 _He knew the duties he had to finish and fulfill and knew where his loyalty lies._

 _And at the end of the day, should desperate situation calls for desperate measures, he knew that Narcissa Malfoy was the safety net he could fall back into._

 _But the world doesn't need to know that._

 _"I can trust Narcissa Malfoy if that is your worry." Snape quietly said looking away from the headmaster. "If you are still worried, you must know that Narcissa only cares about Draco. She loves her son too much, too deeply that if the time comes she has to switch sides, I assure you that she will."_

 _The headmaster didn't say anything as he continued to stare at Snape's rigid form._

 _He sighed heavily and Snape could feel the drain of energy from the old man and how weary he was._

 _"I never question the power of a mother's love for a child." Dumbledore said. "We are both witness to one that proves this clearly.""_

 _Snape didn't say anything and the headmaster continued._

 _"But I am rather worried about you."_

 _"About me?" Snape asked sharply turning to him. "Worried?"_

 _He looked back at the headmaster as if he was mocking him._

 _Dumbledore calmly nodded at him._

 _"After all the mission and duties that you have done. I am worried about you."_

 _"Pray tell, going soft, headmaster?"_

 _He stared at him for a long moment, pondering before smiling and answering him._

 _"Should a father not be worried for a son as a mother to a son?"_

 _A glint passed his black eyes._

 _"You are not my father." Snape firmly said._

 _There was a clear hurt in the headmaster's eyes but it quickly vanished._

 _He smiled and nodded at Snape._

 _"I would not claim it that way." Dumbledore said. "I have asked you too much, demanded too many things and asked you for things that a father wouldn't ask for a son."_

 _Snape didn't say anything._

 _"Headmaster, time is of the essence. If there is nothing else-"_

 _"I need you to be careful of yourself, Severus." the headmaster said and he walked to him and firmly grasped his arm. "I need you to stay alive. Too many lives depend on you."_

 _He momentarily looked down over the arm that was grasping his and then back up at the headmaster._

 _Their eyes met for the last time._

 _"I will protect anyone I could." Snape promised him and he gently reached for the hand that Dumbledore was slowly losing over the curse. "And will keep it that way until the very end no matter the consequences"_

 _"Even if your life becomes its payment?"_

 _"I have long ago lost that."_

 _"Even if it means losing your soul?"_

 _"I have nothing to lose, headmaster." Snape clearly said with a gentle and small smile. "I would do everything in order to save anyone and everyone I could with everything I still have."_

 _The headmaster looked back at him and a twinkle in his eye passed._

 _He smiled back at the younger man and nodded._

 _"This is why I trust you above all others, Severus Snape."_

Whatever Harry had expected to find nor feel as he entered the cottage that housed Hermione for the past decade, was something he wasn't fully prepared for.

He might have been determined but it was a hasty and aggressive decision nevertheless.

But there was no going back.

He was there at that moment and he was going to do what he came for.

There was an eerily feeling creeping up inside him as he took a step forward and gently pushed the door with the tip of his wand.

The slowly creaked open and what lay ahead of him was nothing but darkness and the smell of an abandoned place.

"Lumos." Harry whispered as he took another step forward.

He stood in a tormenting silence at the entrance door of the cottage with nothing but his dimly lit wand and eyes he was forcibly restraining to shed a drop of tear.

Harry sighed as he moved forward with each step heavier than the last he has taken.

He inhaled sharply as he gripped his wand tighter, casually adjusting his glasses and telling himself that he was strong enough for this task – that he wasn't going to shed a tear as he walked himself through the place.

The eerie feeling didn't leave him as he sighed heavily for each step he took into the dingy and rotting cottage that has been eye and witness to Hermione's suffering for the past ten years.

Out of the blue, rain began to gently spatter outside the cottage and he had to stop walking as he listened to the gentle fall of rain.

He blinked and he stared at the horrible view that lay before him.

Harry thought that the heavy stench was nothing compared to the heaviness of the energy made out of despair in that bungalow.

He inhaled and convinced himself to move forward, to be brave enough to face and see through the past – the life Hermione had lived.

He had always been there at all the trials taken and he had been all ears and well-focused when Hermione or Snape took the stand and related their stories and experiences at the cottage.

But to be there, to be at the very place where it has all happened felt very real, very different, very heavy and dark in comparison to their words at the Wizengamot.

Harry paced slowly, nostrils inhaling the strong scent of old wood, cement and the smell of the grounds and sea around the cottage.

The feeling tugging heavy into his heart was absolutely far and nothing compared to the time they raided and rescued Hermione from the place a few months ago.

The cottage had been left completely untouched since the trial was ongoing and every bit and piece of disastrous and broken evidence still lay as they had been from the day they were left.

He had been here and yet walking back at the eve of his own wedding felt very different, very difficult.

Every step he made sent out a spin of emotions inside of him, stirring all the deeply embedded and deep-seated sorrow and anguish in him.

This was the place Hermione has been for the last ten years – this is where he had lost her forever.

He felt like it was taking all his energy just by being there as he moved forward, aiming to make way for no particular direction in the abandoned house.

Harry knew he was alone at this part of the island but he still felt different.

Something deeply ached in his heart as his eyes roamed the dark and dilapidated place.

It was like since the moment he entered, he could swear that he could hear Hermione's cries, her agonizing wails all those years at her desperate attempt to seek for help – a help that never came – a help that didn't arrive ten year later and ten years too late.

His green eyes began to itch with hot tears as they scanned the upturned, broken and dilapidated pieces of objects in the house that were destroyed when they attacked the place.

And as he scanned them, he could swear that he could see memories of what must have taken place there in the cottage on a daily basis as if he was there to witness all those years.

It was breaking his heart deeply.

He wasn't there and he wished he was there to heed to her cries, to run to her and protect her from Snape's acts of violence where he took everything that was her from him.

A few jet of sparks shot out from his wand as these bits of thoughts taunted his mind as he moved across the broken pieces of objects that he passed.

There was a slight creak.

Harry looked down as he had stepped on what looked like a small wedding souvenir that has been broken in half with what looked like a fallen and broken picture frame of Snape and Hermione.

It was a photograph of them at a café at what looked like a train station for a backround; judging by the way that Snape looked healthier and his hair slightly shorter, it must have been taken not so long ago but a mere few years back.

Bending over and with the light of the tip of his wand as guide, Harry picked it up and stared.

It looked like Hermione was the one who wanted the picture because despite that Snape was gently smiling in it, he looked almost reluctant while Hermione was wearing a big smile over her face.

A smile that Harry had not seen for a very long time – ten years in fact.

His hands were shaking as he held the frame in his hand – something inside him had broken again.

Harry screamed and with all his might, he threw the photo frame away where it shattered and clattered loudly onto the floor.

He breathed heavily, trying to focus his mind before he completely loses it.

There was no going back now – no need to go back to the past.

Hermione was his bride in the morning and will forever be his.

But why was he so angry?

 _So unhappy?_

Because justice has not yet been served.

And it would only do so once Snape lives through and endure the reality that Hermione will never be his.

Never.

He will suffer at Azkaban and die with the thought of it.

He moved and turned around and saw the dimly lit outside of the cottage through a broken window from the collapse with the view of waves crashing from the distant part and the rain pouring down against the glass.

He had taken his research and had read that it always rained at this side of the island.

How long did Hermione survive those many nights and days where the rain poured without an end, without a sun to be seen?

Hermione had not clearly seen sunlight for ten years.

There was nothing but stormy nights in this cottage that wrapped around it and engulfed every bit of warm life within.

Another echo in his ears and mind, another echo of Hermione's cries and suffering in what must have been those lonely nights.

He could swear that it wasn't just his mind nor his imagination – he could almost just hear and see every bit of reality that must have taken place in that cottage and how it destroyed Hermione's life in the everyday that she lived there.

He fell on his knees as hot tears poured from his eyes.

"STOP IT! STOP! GO AWAY!" Harry screamed in anguish as he pulled another all-out with his wand. "GO AWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!"

He fell back on the ground out of exhaustion and heard the shattering of objects.

Hot tears spilled form his eyes, he was still screaming very hard but he knew that nobody would hear him.

Just like Hermione where nobody has ever heard her cries and screams of desperate plea for rescue.

Harry's fist bled when he punched the floor once, twice.

The debris littered floor was also littered with the helpless life Hermione had lived without the rescue she must have desperately cried and prayed for endless of days.

How could he not hear her?

How could none of them ever feel the magical connection he was sure she attempted to use?

She had been abandoned for so long and fate had let it all happen.

Was he not a war hero?

Did he not give, sacrifice enough for many others for fate to take this much from him?

The walls were paneled with Hermione's agony and were all witness to the cries at the nights she must have pleaded against Snape to touch her, not to kiss her, not to take her anymore because she can no longer.

Another cry of agony and he punched once, twice.

He punched thrice and again until his knuckled began to bleed further.

Was he that weak that he didn't hear her cries all those years?

Did Snape weaken and suppress her powers so much that their magical connection had been lost and she can no longer reach him?

He wanted so bad to go back in time to save her but that would cause her to endure everything all over and he can no longer take that.

He knew she cried for him and he was miles and a lifetime away to hear her then.

Harry screamed in agony.

 _"Harry Potter.."_

Harry stopped moving.

He was silenced by that call of his name.

Something ghostly had passed him and he felt its presence very strongly.

No, it wasn't his imagination.

Something beyond the secluded walls had called his name for which he clearly heard over the growing spatter of rain from the outside.

He shook his head, tears running from his once warm eyes.

He was turning mad and he knew it.

He wouldn't deny it from himself any longer – he knew he was losing it or had lost it a long time ago. .

But he had gone this far to back out, he had gone this far to give up on Hermione.

All the bit of hatred in him was growing and consuming all the morsel of his body for the injustice that has been done to Hermione, to him.

Nobody batted an eye for it.

Not until he had been right that Hermione was indeed alive out there, survived the war like him and had been crying for help and rescue that which fate had selfishly deprived them of.

" _Harry_.."

He sharply turned his head, looking around him with high alert from all his senses.

But he knew he was very much alone in that place - only the magical scroll he had accumulated from Kingsley could come allow entrance to the perimeter of the cottage and no one else.

But he knew he was very much alone in the place.

There were wards all around him and the only reason he got through was because of the signed scroll he had accumulated from Kingsley.

He listened intently for the ghostly whisper to come back.

It wasn't Hermione's voice but it was a woman's and it was eerily familiar.

He knew and has heard of that voice some somewhere before.

And then he _felt_ it.

A strong surge of something like presence and power passed him.

He turned and whirled around, standing up in haste with his wand pointed around him.

"Who's there?!" he angrily screamed despite knowing he was alone in the abandoned bungalow. "Show yourself!"

Silence.

Nothing but the sound of the rain.

But he could feel it.

The years of training, he can now tell that something strong and something magical was still binding the cottage – from its depth – an unseen line of power that was consuming whoever was dwelling within the cottage.

Some form of magic was secretly formed around the perimeter of the cottage.

Something that was possibly hidden from plain sight but he could terribly feel its powerful surge from beneath him.

And right now at this very moment, he could feel its consuming strength knocking upon the weakened and barren walls of the cottage, awakening and waiting to be found.

Harry whirled around him, listening intently for something – anything – that would call upon him again.

He pointed his wand around, trying to seek for anything that it could pick up.

Harry's emerald eyes gleamed as his brows furrowed as he slowly realized something.

When they raided the cottage, wards were placed to keep any form of defensive magic to take place from the attack they made.

Whatever protection wards around the cottage at the time would be weak enough from their attack and he made sure of that.

It was slightly blurry in his head, but now that he came to think of it, there weren't much wards for them to take down at that time.

There was the wards of any location from being easily penetrated but nothing, no form of strong magic had been defensive enough to be taken down or to block them from their attack that's why from a four on four sides and five from the deck that the Aurors attacked in formation, they easily managed to get inside the cottage.

A sudden thought occurred to him.

 _Snape had taken down the strong wards protecting or shielding the cottage from exterior forces at the day of their wedding of all days._

But _why?_

Harry turned again, his footsteps echoing as he slowly walked around the place, feeling through his veins the traces of magic that were still scattered and littered all over the cottage and its grounds.

He was thinking, thinking hard.

Was his decision to marry her enough reason for him to trust fate, to trust the world again that he decided that from that day on, he could become assured that life was going to be better that there was no need to hide, no need to place all the wards and protective charms around the cottage?

Harry turned around him, looking for any trace of magic, any trace of evidence and support in the question forming in his head.

From the report that was handed to him, they were able to trace forms of magic and defensive spells that were used as wards around the cottage to understand why it had taken long for others to feel the magic emitting from the place or what made the whole place untraceable for all those years.

Snape was a strong and powerful wizard and he certainly left strong type of magic behind the moment they were able to take the whole place down and take claim over the power that was surrounding and protecting it.

And these traces that the Aurors have come to gather were type and sort of magic that had been there as it seems, since the day that he had taken her and kept her in the cottage.

However, if he would think clearly and in terms of analytical form, the type of magic and wards they've taken down on the day of the raid and rescue of Hermione, he was sure that the wards they've penetrated through and taken down weren't even half as powerful as what were the type of magical traces the reports' data had analyzed and taken.

Something was amiss.

Why were the wards and form of defensive or rather protection charms less on the very day that Snape should have secured everything at its highest form and extent?

 _"Harry Potter…"_

Harry sharply turned.

He had heard it again and this time, clearer and closer.

He had stopped and reached what looked like a part of the cottage that has been abandoned strategically when they sourced out for evidences.

There was a small staircase that lead downstairs.

 _A basement._

Wasn't Hermione found at the basement or so?

Didn't they rescue her from the basement, buried deep under spells of protection to keep her from being hit by the fallen walls from their strong attack of the place?

Harry lifted his wand to light the staircase that led down to the basement of the cottage.

Putting together the information in his head, if he was correct, this was the place where Snape had created his potions of sorts to be sold for a living for Hermione and for himself all those years.

This was also the place where he claimed to have healed her several times over when she accumulated injuries and when he first healed her from the ambush' injuries.

Thunder and lightning now consumed the skies and the rain threaded louder outside the cottage giving Harry an even more creepy feeling.

But there was absolutely nothing in this world that scared him anymore.

When you lose the most important thing for yourself, you lose all types of other emotion within your system and fear was no longer part of his body.

But there was something about that basement that seemed to house something far more haunting than he was expecting.

Harry closed his eyes and inhaled sharply the strong and pungent smell of old wood and debris that were accumulated from that very spot.

It felt and smelled like something had died in there.

He tried to block away all thoughts from his head – the horror and the agonizing struggle and suffering that Hermione must have had endured down below that basement was something he could barely endure as the thought crosses his mind's eyes.

The things Snape could have done to her down at the depths of it and miles and miles away from all of them, Hermione must have screamed nights after another and there was no one coming for her.

His fists clenched tightly at the thought and he tried to block out the hot tears forming in his eyes.

He loved her so much, so dearly and did everything he could to protect her and take care of her.

And Snape had taken all that she was just because he had a night, a moment of choice where he could steal her life away from all of them.

Hatred filled his veins as it seems it was the only feeling that was giving him courage these days and he gradually pointed his wand ahead and slowly took the dirty steps that led down the basement.

He could feel the musk, the dust and the smell of old wood together with the grassy mosses that lay up ahead at the grounds around the cottage.

He could even sharply smell the faint salty scent of the grassy field, the damp sands and the sea way ahead from the cottage.

How could he keep Hermione in this place for so long, for so much of those years with nothing but misery and an unknown life with only him as her company?

How could he keep her down there, miles away from the life and loved ones she knew so dearly and lived through every day with his conscience of what abuse he had done to her and does to her every day?

 _Tears leaked down Harry's face._

He knew the depths of her pain but at that very moment, walking through the very floor and walls from which she had lived through in all those years, far and away from all of them, he knew that the damage that had been done to her was irrevocable and that bringing her out of the state that Snape had been her hero that survived her through the war would take more than a lifetime to gain.

He had brainwashed her and seeing all these now, he knew that Snape had been embedded deeply into her soul – farther than he had ever been and possibly, farther than he would ever be able to go through.

Anger and hate flowed through his blood as he reached the last steps of the basement.

"Lumos Maxima." Harry was able to whisper with the little physical energy he has after all these tormenting scenes before him that was bringing more than anguish and exhaustion in him – emotionally and mentally.

The light from his magic lit the whole basement and from the little spot where he stood, he could see everything clearly.

The basement was linen with black and green carpet, a small old looking couch set lay at the corner, several bookshelves paneled the walls, a long table was at the side from where abandoned and left potion bottles, potions and ingredients lay next to several books.

Snape had been working up to the last minute before the wedding day.

It was almost as if he was waiting for something else to happen before the wedding that he was living the day before with such routine.

Harry walked towards the large working table and stared at the scattered objects.

He picked up some vials and read their labels and stared at the stacked parchments, several notebooks and books at a side.

Most of them were neatly piled up in a corner as if he had been working overnight and had decided to clean up only several hours before their supposedly wedding.

Vials lay in array at the side of the table and two empty ones had been turned over perhaps from the impact of the attack.

He looked around and saw the very spot where the ceiling had vaguely met the walls and the stone floor where the part of the cottage collapsed rapidly after the third attempt of attack from the outside and where Snape had attempted to push Hermione down to keep her away from the collapsing structure.

It was as if he had been there, he could purely imagine Hermione being laid down there on the floor or over the couch of the basement and Snape atop her, doing god-knows-what and taking everything that was her and Hermione screaming helplessly for no one.

He blinked and looked away from the spot.

He didn't need to be reminded of the day they found her, of the day he expected to see tears of joy in her eyes upon seeing him finally there to rescue her after all those years of abandonment and suffering.

 _"Harry…"_

It called him again and this time, it was loudest and most clear.

He lifted his wand trying to trace where the voice, the power was coming from and it was very near him, inches away from him.

His heart was racing, beating fast.

He was at the depths of the cottage that he could barely hear the uproar of the rain hammering outside and up above him.

He could hear nothing but his own heartbeat and feel nothing but the strong surge of power within this part of the cottage.

There was something else, some sort of magic that they were not able to trace on the first time they've been here.

But right now that he was there, alone and very much aware of all the kinds of magic he could possibly trace, he could feel it greatly.

There was another type of magic that has been housed and kept within the cottage and it was buried secretly at this part of the cottage.

He was an Auror and these were the type of charms, spells and magic he had been trained to recognize and once more, if he would be analytical about it, he could tell that the source of magic had always been there, untouched and laid buried beneath the layer of strong magic that Snape withheld around the cottage.

Snape never seemed to touch or understand or even know that another source of magic was within their premises and in full existence.

But of whom?

Hermione's magic had been dying all these years from lack of use and contact of a wand and Snape certainly made sure of suppressing her powers by means of emotional torture.

But he could feel it right at that very moment, it was so strong it was almost as powerful as –

 _"Dark Magic_." Harry whispered as he paced around the room, wand lifted as he tried to trace where it was coming from.

Years of training should not fail him into finding where it was or who had made it.

It was strong and was growing stronger by the moment he stayed there trying to find it.

It was like, it wanted to be found.

And if he could just settle his heart and mind and focus greatly, he could feel that it wasn't just made out of Dark Magic or possibly not of Dark Magic at all but what they called as Old Magic.

He knew all about the Dark Arts from the time he decided to be a full professional Auror.

He wasn't exactly at the top of Lupin's class nor did he graduate with flying colours at Defense Against the Dark Arts for nothing.

This was the type of magic that had been concealed through time and mastered only by a handful of witches or wizards.

Most importantly, only ever used by old ancient families of Purebloods, of the oldest of lineage.

Harry suddenly halted and stared.

His wand was pointed at an old, dusty and broken bookshelf before him where he could feel the strongest traces of it.

Harry's eyes narrowed at the location his wand was pointing over.

He sharply turned and something heavy in his pocket clanked.

 _The key_.

The key that he had picked up earlier and Draco Malfoy was most likely looking for at that very moment.

Without removing his wand from the place where it was pointed directly at the old and dusty bookshelf, he fidgeted in his pocket with his free hand to take the key from it.

He pulled and lifted it out from his pocket, taking it out and placing it up ahead of him where it could be hit by the shadowed light from his wand.

Something about the key and the light from his wand that was pointing at the bookshelf seemed to matter very greatly at that moment.

Could it be?

Something tells him, something was nagging him that it was what was supposed to happen and he was where he was supposed to be.

Harry stared at the intricate design of the key and then at his wand and back at the old bookshelf.

He had mostly always been right in following his instincts.

But it didn't make much sense and there was absolutely nothing in the bookshelf that could house a secret storage or drawer of any sort for him to use the key for.

He gently moved forward, two steps ahead to near the shelf and tapped his wand over it.

Nothing.

He moved his hands around the edges of the shelf hoping to reach for some sort of secret slot or secret drawer or for some miraculous movement from its broken pieces of wood.

Nothing.

He tapped again over the shelf hoping that some drawer would come out and reveal itself to him.

There was nothing.

He felt he was wasting his time away with it.

But something, some sort of instinct was telling him that he was where he was supposed to be and doing something that was closest to what he desired.

Harry had decided to be there tonight in order to look for something, anything – some sort of evidence – that would be placed against Snape in order for him to gain the highest form of penalty from the Azkaban which was to be Kissed by the Dementors.

No, he wasn't really planning to follow his promise to Hermione.

What he had planned was for them to get married and for the jury to give penalty that Snape would spend years at Azkaban and after the years served, would still be taken down to the halls of the Dementors for The Kiss.

That was his plan.

Snape was already dying as he was, weakened at his devastating state at Azkaban but he wanted to make sure that he won't be able to evade death even long after that he was married with Hermione.

And by the time that would happen, he would also be miles and miles away from London and years and lifetime away from there with her living the life she always deserved and the life he always wanted for them.

She would come and deem to think that marrying him, he would fulfill her his promise and they would live happily ever after.

And little would she know that years later, the Wizengamot could revoke its given penalty and due to the course of whatever evidence he may have procured for tonight, would come to conclude that Severus Prince Snape would still deserve the Dementor's Kiss.

All would come down to what he wanted to happen in the time that he wanted it all to happen.

What Hermione wouldn't know years later would certainly never harm her.

And by that time, she would be too happy living her life with him to even remember to care for what has taken place with Snape at Azkaban.

But right now, he couldn't find any evidence that would lead to that kind of happy ending in his plans he had in his mind.

But there was something in that very spot, hidden in plain sight, from which he knew he would find something relevant that would change everything.

His green eyes scanned the room, his ears all out for any other sound and all his other senses aware to every bit of movement and magic that was taking place around him.

He stared back against the dusty shelf, key in his other hand and wand pointed directly atop one of the shelves.

The answer was here, somewhere, _somehow._

And once he finds it, he could finally secure his life and future with Hermione.

"Finite Revelio.." Harry firstly whispered and a blue light emitted from his wand.

Nothing.

"Aparecium." Harry muttered recalling the spell from Hermione.

Another type of light appeared from his wand but only bounced back and around the shelf and then vanished.

Revealing Charms were no apparent use.

But perhaps he was using the wrong type of incantation.

His eyes darkened and he gripped his wand tighter.

He opened his mouth and hesitated.

He has never used this one spell before for he only saw Lockhart use it once in their second year and has been introduced further by Lupin in his third.

Although practiced over in his Auror training, he had never actually had the means to actually use it.

But if what he was looking for was an advance type of magic to be revealed, concealed by Dark Magic, then it was the right incantation he needed.

He took two steps back from the shelf and made the wand movement that was required for the spell.

Harry breathed deeply before casting the charm.

" _Verdimillious."_ Harry whispered softly with the gentle wand movement.

A light, and then green sparks like that of the Killing Curse emitted from the tip of his wand.

It was a stray light and then it slowly thickened and glowed brightly and grew bigger, consuming an expansion and part of the bookshelf.

He watched as the light moved in ways and zags as if following a pattern that wasn't easily seen by the naked eye.

The light moved as if scanning, searching for something it was certainly sensing.

But he could also feel it, it was the right spell and something was happening this time.

He backed away a few more steps with wand and key still gripped tightly in his hand.

The light appeared to be fighting something, some form of strong Dark Magic.

And then he saw it, a momentary appearance of black smoke from somewhere in the bookshelf before it vanished completely.

He took one step but the light from the incantation became strong for one split moment that it blinded him momentarily.

And as fast as it had come, the black smoke was gone and the glow of the Verdimillious Charm was slowly fading.

" _No_ …" Harry desperately whispered out of fear that his magic had been blocked by some stronger force, still trying to conceal whatever Dark Magic was hidden beneath that place.

Harry stared in silence, heart beating fast as the green and gold light slowly dispersed before him.

But before it completely vanished out of thin air leaving the small Lumos from his wand, something happened.

An ordinary looking book from the upper left part of the shelf where the black smoke had disappeared had suddenly moved and had fallen without warning over the carpeted floor as if some invisible hand had taken it out from it and had accidently dropped it.

Harry stared, heart skipping a beat at the ghostly way it had made its Dark Magic presence felt.

The green light vanished as did the black smoke.

The black looking book lay on the floor.

Harry stared, unsure if it was what he was looking for.

But his magic had worked.

With slightly unsteady hands and sharp breathing pattern, Harry slowly knelt down and bent forward to pick it up.

It was a small black book, a diary.

It was dusty as if it had not been taken out from its place from years and it looked old and intricately designed as if it had once belonged to some privileged owner.

Harry turned it over and found that it was locked.

But it didn't take long, it didn't take some brilliant mind for him to understand that it had all come down into this very moment after all these time.

He lowered his wand, lighting only very minimal part of the spot he was on the floor as he fidgeted with the key and quickly extracted the chains from his hand and charged for the small keyhole for which it was meant to be after all.

He found it.

Harry slotted the key inside it and it was the perfect fit.

But he didn't turn the key – no, not yet.

He was breathing hard, unknowing why he was suddenly feeling this way.

There was fear in him and fear had not visited him for a long time.

Something about turning the key, revealing the secret of whatever it was that he had found would surely change a lot of things by morning light.

He had Hermione in his hands and arm's length and Snape was at Azkaban helpless as he could possibly be waiting for a life at the call of his mercy.

He had everything he wanted, everything he had prayed for in years.

And he was there, at the cottage, wanting for more, garnering for something more and beyond that could place Snape at the brink of death only because he thought and felt that he hasn't gained the justice he was looking for Hermione.

Or was it for Hermione?

What more did he really want?

It was like light has been lit up in him and suddenly, some senses was coming into him after all the time that he was blinded by his anguish about everything.

Hot tears began to form his eyes again and his hands shook as he held the key and the diary in his hands.

Harry shook his head, trying to throw away all the conscience that was suddenly growing inside him of at that moment out of all the time it could possibly grow.

 _No._

His hands were shaking suddenly, somewhere at the depths of the goodness in him still lived inside of him and was wanting to be felt at that moment.

He had a goal and a purpose and nothing in this world would change it.

Not even anything that he may find the moment he turns the key and opens the diary.

Harry heavily breathed and recalled all the laws he had broken, the lives he had placed at his mercy just to get himself there at that place and to gain access into anything he would like to.

He had gone that far to close this book in his hand and forget everything and walk back to Hermione and wait for the hour of their wedding as if all of it didn't happen.

She was with him at that godforsaken place at that goddamn moment mulling things over and possibly with Draco Malfoy.

Did they think they could feign him into another sort of reality like the years Lupin and the rest of the Order had done to him?

No, he knew truth.

He wasn't gullible any longer and he wasn't by any means a coward not to face them for the truth each of them were.

He would goddamn kill for Hermione if he had to so they could obtain peace and justice both deprived from them.

There was truth in here and that would service justice for all of them.

Determined as he had always been in search of anything that could protect Hermione and give her the justice he always wanted for her and for them both, Harry turned the key at the slot it fitted in.

There was a click and something loosened within the ancient intricate design of lock and key.

And then the diary slowly turned heavy as the book turned itself up to open.

Harry threw it over the floor, feeling the magical source of Dark Magic growing from it and quickly going for his wand again.

He picked it up and aimed it directly over the diary that had completely opened up over the floor.

The pages moved after another, searching for a certain part of the book and then it stopped.

An echo passed his senses again and he could feel the Dark Magic unsealing itself from being kept for a long time.

All wards from the cottage had been taken down and Harry could feel the strong surge of magic from the diary.

He had been in this situation before, only then it was the Dark Lord's Horcrux.

But despite its comparable and uncanny situation, it still felt different.

It was Dark Magic but it was something else.

Suddenly, the turning of the pages halted and opened up at a certain part of the diary.

Harry slowly and uncertainly reached for it, wand still in his hand.

From the tip's light, he could tell that he was right into thinking that it was some old form of diary by the old and dingy looking parchments.

It had not been touched for years and if he would take a closer look, it looked so untouched like even Hermione nor Snape had known its presence in the house.

He flipped through the pages, reading through scrawls of elegant looking handwriting.

He could barely read the small letterings and the elegantly curved nature of each word in lines and curls.

The handwriting was unfamiliar but something was kept repeatedly at each page he turned and it was a name.

 _Draco._

 _It was a diary._

He shifted his spot on the floor and turned more pages, there were better writings at some days under certain dates and there were days when the pages seemed to be filled up with words by someone who had a hard time or who had been struggling as they wrote down the entry of the day.

Leafing through the pages, the diary dated back years ago with entries that told Harry it existed even before the night of ambush of the Death Eaters to the Order of the Phoenix.

He moved page after page, jumping and reading through entries that seemed to slowly make sense and yet at certain pages not at all.

And then it came to him that it must be owned by Narcissa Malfoy.

He flipped back a few pages searching for context clues that would proof his sudden theory and realization.

The handwriting seemed to be that of a woman but then again, so did he think was the Riddle's writing before and the Half-Blood Prince's writing.

Never again was he going to be consumed or faked and double crossed by mere handwriting.

He had to find enough evidence to ensure that this was owned by someone he did know; after all, the owner seemed to know Draco very well.

The way the handwriting was made seemed to have been done by a woman and if Draco's name kept coming up it could only mean what he was beginning to think of.

 _But what would Narcissa Malfoy's diary be doing in this cottage?_

She had died a few years back – he was there at the funeral and he saw how Draco Malfoy suffered that loss.

But evidences were laid out and out on a full that nobody knew of Snape and Hermione's existence in the cottage.

He was sure that Draco didn't know of their hiding place judging by the way he scavenged for evidences to prove Snape's innocence.

He knew nothing.

But his name was here in this diary.

And if this was Narcissa's… why?

What relevance would this diary be then?

And then a thought occurred to Harry.

The diary was older than the ambush but the entries, the last ones he had been leafing through were somewhere at the time where Hermione had been missing.

His heart skipped another beat again.

He moved pages after another until suddenly, a presumable entry with a date had stopped.

There was nothing in it.

A few more pages were left but there was no further entry.

It was dated a few months or almost a year right before her death.

The journal was never finished up to its last page it had halted at a page where the last entry was still about Draco and a short lettering.

The entry was short, unlike all the other previous pages where it would take a page or three for one date of entry.

And two names and several words were repeated at the short entry of the diary: Draco and Severus and the phrase forgive me.

Harry turned the diary back, turned the pages over and over to find anything that will give him proof that it was Narcissa Malfoy's.

But the name he needed to prove his theory wasn't there.

But something else was written.

Something embedded at the very last page of the diary with an entry.

It was embedded within the book.

His eyes narrowed as he read the word.

It was an incantation he has read before when he was finishing up a project that related to the Dark Arts in his training.

It was the Dark Magic that created what he deemed to remember as some sort of imagery, a form of copy of one self.

Not a resurrection, neither a Horcrux.

A form of magical bond that was meant and used in old ages when legal will and testaments weren't yet available for the society.

 _"Gemino.."_ Harry audibly whispered as he read the little handwriting at the end of the page.

Harry lit the wand over the last page of the entry and whispered the same spell he did a few minutes ago.

The green sparks flew out again and it pelted straight towards the last entry page.

There was a sudden black smoke from the diary and an echo that caused Harry to throw it back over the floor out of shock.

The green light vanished and what took place and was growing before his eyes was a black smoke.

It was growing larger, thicker by the moment and he had to back away from the floor out of shock at the silhouette and shadowy figure it was forming.

He tried to calm himself and his breathing down as he held his wand tightly in his hand, ready to attack or defend himself should something unlikely come out of the slowly clearing smoke and attack him.

Harry didn't want to blink and neither did he have any time to do so nor comprehend what came before him sooner than he think.

The green smoke had completely cleared and what was left was the thick smoke that soon had vanished and had formed into something else, someone else.

Harry's eyes widened and his mouth turned and opened as he gaped in silence out of the shock of what he was seeing.

There, standing tall and afloat a few inches from the book was a form he didn't expect to see or meet again after all these years.

She beamed down at him with firm and certainly in her eyes.

She wasn't smoke but neither was she a solid figure that could be touched.

But she was there and she was existing right before his eyes.

" _Narcissa M-Malfoy_ …" Harry managed to breathe out with utmost shock still screaming from all sides of him.

A fully formed figure of the woman stood before him, head bowed down in an angle with hands together resting gently over her abdomen.

She was dressed adequately and elegantly as he would presume she dressed herself when she was alive.

The pale face and blonde features slowly looked up at him with query and quiet eyes.

Her eyes were as sharp as he recalled.

No, this wasn't a Horcrux nor was this a ghost.

This was some sort of Dark Magic, some sort of apparition made for a purpose.

Her lips red and thinned as she turned to face him fully.

She was as young or as aged as he last recalled seeing her which was years and years back.

Her lips moved, as if contemplating the sight before her as well.

Her eyes roamed the room as if recalling the place and her hands were kept together gently over her front.

Narcissa's eyes grew back at Harry as if recalling all his facial features in good familiarity.

Harry opened his mouth but no words came out.

She stared back at him with cold eyes and an undaunted expression.

" _We are not at the Wizengamot_ …" her soft yet clear voice spoke as her eyes roamed the room and moved slowly back at Harry.

If there was disappointment in her tone, it had vanished as quickly as it had passed.

There was determination in her eyes as if her plans had shifted after realizing that she wasn't where she expected to be.

"No, we're not." Harry managed to croak out after a while. "What are you?"

Her eyes turned and focused at him with enough certainly and recall.

"Hello, Harry Potter…" she greeted with her usual cold and affirmative tone.

Harry's eyes darkened.

Everything about her was as he remembered her which only proved that this wasn't the woman she had been while she was alive.

"Why do you expect to be at the Wizengamot?" Harry asked her as he slowly grasped the scene before him. "You're a memory. How?"

Her eyes turned to small slits as if she had been insulted for a moment.

"I'm not a memory." Narcissa replied and now with the slightest hint of amusement passing her lip line as she stared back at Harry.

" _But you're not alive_." Harry said. "You're dead. I was at your burial."

Her eyes darkened again as if she was wondering why she was wasting time with a fool like him.

But nevertheless, she nodded at him in agreement.

"I am not a ghost." Narcissa quietly and patiently answered him. "I have _passed_ on."

"Passed on?" Harry repeated with a furrowed brow.

He was completely lost and Narcissa seemed to be completely reveling at the thought of it.

The woman had been long dead and yet here she was, mocking all the lesser mortals around her.

Narcissa smiled at him and he felt more insulted than ever.

"This is why I have certain hatred for your kind. You are impure and you are impotent of all the knowledge there should be known to our pure kind. You are unknowable of all the laws of nature of the worlds."

"But I know you're not a ghost." Harry pointed out at her. "Enough evidence to suffice my theory that you're Dark Magic."

"Dark Magic, Old Magic.. magic all the same. And yes, I am not a ghost." Narcissa sharply yet elegantly answered him. "As I've said, I have passed on."

Still, Harry stared at her unsure of her words.

She looked down at him with such patience of a mother to a son but with a gleam of stark cold demeanor.

"When you die, you face the veil.." she slowly spoke and a spark appeared in Harry's eyes in recall and realization. "There you are asked, you are given the choice… if you want to remain behind.. or you want to pass on."

" _Sirius chose to pass on the moment he faced the veil when your sister killed him."_ Harry said finally able to understand what they were talking about "I've never seen him as a ghost. But only as an apparition in dreams."

"Correct." Narcissa replied with a proud gleam in her eyes. "I, like him, had chosen the latter."

"Guess that money really couldn't buy everything, can it?" Harry said unable to stop himself. "Guess there wasn't much of a happy memory or a happy family to want to go back to or stay behind for?"

She didn't say anything and her features remained passive, unmoved as if she didn't understand what he had just told her.

"But… _what are you_?" Harry asked then unable to stop his curiosity.

Another gleam passed Narcissa's eyes.

"I am hardly a ghost.." Narcissa quietly explained to her. "Nor a memory."

"Neither are you a Horcrux." Harry interrupted her. "I would know if you are and I'm sure you aren't."

Narcissa quietly nodded at him.

 _"I am neither here nor there_." she quietly explained. "I am a mere fragment, created or rather recreated. But I am here for a purpose."

"A purpose?" Harry skeptically asked her. "A purpose would mean that you should be out there doing and dealing with it. You are here, kept hidden beneath these grounds, hidden and protected by Dark Magic that created you."

For the first time, there was fire in her eyes that Harry had not seen earlier.

It was like a window to Narcissa's soul and yet she wasn't there.

If any, her difference from a live being that he had noticed was the lack of pure and genuine emotions.

She moved and spoke like some doll on strings, being manipulated by some unknown source.

"A burden." Narcissa clarified. "That which will unload and remove all doubts and secrets from concealment."

A glint passed Harry's eyes and suddenly, he was aware of his surroundings that he had momentarily forgot upon seeing Narcissa in shock.

Something in her words reminded him of something.

But she was even more emotionless in comparison when she had been alive.

No, something magical, controlled in manner was restraining her emotions.

She was definitely not a life or had been a life.

She was nothing but formed magic.

"What do you want?" Harry demanded as he slowly straightened up, holding his wand up as if threatening her.

"But is it not you who wants something?" Narcissa asked him with another amused look over her pale face. "You have come here and unburied a secret, a magic that had been calling you."

"It was you." Harry said. "It was your voice I'd been hearing."

"It was the magic left littered in this place that has been calling you." Narcissa spoke softly. "You have awakened the magic that was slumbering, laid forgotten here in time. Waiting to be awakened."

"You were waiting for me to awaken you?" he asked.

She didn't answer.

If any, there was a sudden gleam of secrecy in her eyes.

"Or were you waiting for someone else?" Harry then asked her. "Draco Malfoy? Your son?"

She blinked for the first time.

A curl turned around Harry's lips.

"It's one of us meant to be here. One of us was meant to find you.. but you were expecting to be awakened in front of the Wizengamot. Why?"

She remained still, unmoving and her eyes strayed straight back at him as if her magic had stopped, as if she had completely stopped being controlled by the magic that created her.

Harry stared back at her, trying to accept and comprehend what he was really seeing there.

And then she slowly lifted her hand up to him, offering it as an invitation.

"I didn't awaken you." Harry said not taking her hand and staring back at her as if she was mad. "What do you want from me?"

The whole thing was mad and he wasn't even sure why he was talking to some dark form of Narcissa when he knew that it wasn't her anyway.

"I've been created to be woken by a boy who has a purpose in all these." Narcissa answered him with such affirmation in her tone that it was making Harry quick to believe her words.

"Created-"

"I've been made out of blood of the woman who created my form from hers. As I've said, I am neither here nor there. I have crossed the threshold of the veil and of this and the other world. I'm in existence out of magic and blood. I am but a fragment of what is and isn't life."

"Whose blood?"

Her eyes darkened.

"Yours." Narcissa answered him.

Harry shook his head.

"I've never met Narcissa Malfoy close enough to give her something that has to be taken something by force or willingly."

"But your blood runs deep into the magic that created me." Narcissa gestured to her forearm. "Severus Snape saved your life."

Something cold passed Harry's senses.

He wanted to turn deaf at the truth that suddenly rang in his ears.

"No." Harry simply defied the truth. "He has… Snape.."

"At the ambush, you couldn't be saved by just anything.. you couldn't be revived. Hermione Jean Granger begged for your life and in turn, Severus Snape sacrificed something that was irrevocable for him to ever gain back. In that moment, he was able to take a part of you with him. Your blood he has kept hidden for protection, I've taken.. or Narcissa has taken."

"Liar." Harry screamed at her pointing his wand threateningly back at her.

She smiled and kept her hand over to him.

Harry stared back at her with a shaking wand hand and eyes burning with tears.

No, this wasn't what he wanted and certainly not what he had expected.

Snape saved his life?

The man who had taken Hermione Jean Granger from him had saved his life?

No, that wasn't' the truth.

This wasn't the truth he was meant to find out.

Narcissa stared back at him with such determination in her face that he felt like he was staring at the real Narcissa Malfoy.

She nudged her hand gently towards his direction.

"Take my hand." Narcissa whispered softly to him. "Long has been your suffering _my_ boy. Let me end all of it."

"I am not yours!" Harry angrily screamed at him, fighting the emotions growing inside of him and urging feeling inside him that was growing, telling him to take her hand.

"I am truth." Narcissa whispered at him. "I am the truth you seek. I am the answer to all the suffering that has bounded you mortals into spite and hate and death."

Narcissa stared at him knowing that his emotions were taking a toll, knowing that he would take her hand.

Tears steamed Harry's eyes and the farther this took, the deeper his longing for the truth clung desperately into his heart.

"He took her from me." Harry cried at her. "He took everything from me."

"You came here for an answer." Narcissa said.

"I came here to find an evidence that will put him forever at the pits of hell."

"No." Narcissa interrupted. "Deep in your heart you came here looking for a different answer, for an answer your heart longs but couldn't admit to yourself because deep down, you know that there was a reason to all of it."

Harry shook his head, tears at the side of his face.

She softly opened her palm up at him like an invitation that of a mother to a son she knew he desperately craved for all his life.

His yes met hers, almost begging her to take away all the pain he was harboring inside of him that which was destroying him from within.

And she stared back at him not with the eyes of the elite Pureblood woman she was but that of a mother to a son.

A mother he had never known and a son for which who never looked at her that way.

Harry shook his head as tears fell from his eyes.

She gave him another reassuring glare.

"Take my hand Harry Potter to gain all the truth you've wanted to know all these years but you were selfishly deprived of. Let me unburden you from all of these."

 _NO CISSY!" screamed a horrified voice._

 _There was the audible and ear-splitting scream of Hermione and Narcissa's anguish._

 _Strong light spread out across the small space in the cottage that blinded the three of them._

 _Then there came the sound of thunderous spells being thrown out, lights ignited from strong spells and then the sound of two bodies colliding back over the grounds._

 _And then there was the sound of Hermione's body collapsing on the ground amidst the chaos._

 _Snape breathlessly fell back over the ground with his wand in his hand and his other arm outstretched protecting Hermione's unconscious body beneath him._

 _"Move aside." Narcissa's cold voice quietly commanded him. "Move the fuck aside."_

 _"Cissy…" Snape breathed out fearfully with his eyes darting back and forth to her face from the wand in her hand. "Please.. it doesn't have to be this way."_

 _"MOVE ASIDE YOU FILTHY LITTLE SCUM!" Narcissa angrily yelled at him as she stood over them both with her wand at the ready._

 _Her eyes moved from him to Hermione's unmoving body then back at him._

 _The disappointment was written all over her face._

 _"I beg you…" Snape cried at her. "Hermione… she doesn't.. she's endured more than enough. Please let this one go."_

 _"Get off her." Narcissa coldly commanded him, breathless from their little duel as she advanced and kicked him around his lower leg to move him with her sharply booted feet._

 _But Snape didn't move a muscle._

 _He stared up at her, determined with all the morsel of his body to protect Hermione whatever the cost may be._

 _Narcissa's eyes flashed at him in his pure defiance._

 _"I will not repeat myself, Severus." her thin lips muttered softly._

 _She spoke his name with such bitterness and spite; she was angry and Snape was very much aware of it._

 _"Enough!" Snape said with wiping the blood from his lower lip with the back of his hand from the attack he obtained from Narcissa's curse earlier. "You will not touch her!"_

 _"You will not tell me what to do." Narcissa coldly said as she kicked him around the ribs and raised her wand back up at him again. "Now move aside."_

 _"This isn't part of our bargain, Narcissa." Snape spat back at her and inhaling sharply, he carefully sat back up without taking his eyes nor his wand from her._

 _"And neither is this." Narcissa calmly answered him shaking her head and momentarily nodding her head towards Hermione's beaten form on the ground._

 _"You promised you will not harmher-" Snape croaked out at her with his eyes alert for any sudden, malicious and sneaky movement from the woman before him._

 _"And you fucking idiot promised me that she will stay put here!" Narcissa yelled back at him, eyes wide._

 _The veins from her neckline were becoming obvious with every bit of lashed out emotion from her._

 _She had been aging through the years with the lines on her face showing and the more than blonde hair showing around her beautiful tresses but she was as cold, as strong and as ready to kill as ever._

 _She might be getting old but her beating the wits out of Hermione a few moments ago only proved that she was still combat-ready as she had always been when the circumstance called for it._

 _"And what do you think is going on?" Snape angrily asked her trying to fully straighten himself up from the injury he had already procured from her._

 _"What do I think?" Narcissa mocked him back with impatience growing in her._

 _"What do you think is happening here?!" Snape spat at her. "What do you think I'm doing with her? Giving her money, letting her do what she wants, giving her chance to go shopping downtown for our meals? You are not thinking clear Narcissa-"_

 _Narcissa stared back at him, disbelief still etched across every inch of her face._

 _"You and your pointless-"_

 _"She's fucking rotting in this cottage for ages here with me!" Snape angrily screamed back, standing straight and pointing his wand directly over her chest. "What do you think I'm doing with her Narcissa?!"_

 _But Narcissa was still fast._

 _She waved her wand back up at him and protected herself with it._

 _"YOU ARE TRAINING HER!" Narcissa angrily screamed at him as she lashed her wand twice but Snape was able to deflect her attacks. "YOU ARE FUCKING HER AT NIGHT AND TRAINING HER BY MORNINGLIGHT! WHAT DO YOU THINK, SEVERUS? WHAT DO YOU THINK?!"_

 _Her voice echoed all over the quiet and still island._

 _There was nothing but the sound of her every bit of hatred bouncing off the walls of the cottage around them._

 _Narcissa's murderous glare moved from him then back at Hermione who was still unconscious on the ground before them._

 _She stared down at her, with mad eyes and heart beating fast from all the hate growing inside of her._

 _Hermione was flopped over the floor of the cottage, face down on her stomach and in full combat-training clothes she's caught them with._

 _God knows where Snape had taken it but from the looks of it, it was some form of old Auror training clothes he had somewhat managed to steal and made anew._

 _They had been training at the layered garden side of the cottage before she got there with her sudden visit only to find Snape teaching her how she can possibly defend herself should an attack happen, training her with skills that could save her life and defend herself without a wand._

 _Narcissa shook her head as she stared at the dirty boots, the tight pair of slender black pants Hermione was wearing as she lay on the ground without knowing what was happening around her._

 _Snape knew how powerful Narcissa was but at that moment, it only sank in him how murderous she could be if she wanted._

 _"Cissy.." Snape began his tone growing softer. "Please… consider what you are doing.. please…"_

 _"Did you consider what you were doing awhile ago?" Narcissa spat at him. "Did you consider what could happen if she escapes you because you're teaching her how to defend herself that she could possibly use against you? Did you goddamn consider things long before you've decided and began training her right behind my back?!"_

 _"Cissy…"_

 _"After all that I've given you.." Narcissa breathed out at him. "After all that I've given you, spoiled you with everything.. And you..your.. loyalty.. that was all that I have ever wanted from you, Severus.. and this.."_

 _"Cissy.. Cissy, please.."_

 _Narcissa looked back at him with more disappointment and hurt in her eyes than the anger that he had made her to feel._

 _They stared at one another with what seemed like an eternity with neither lowering a wand._

 _And then a smile began to spread across Narcissa's cold features._

 _She shook her head to keep the tears from leaking down her cheeks._

 _He stared at back at her with question in his eyes._

 _"When you're not angry, you call me Cissy… dear Cissy… my Cissy… darling Cissy…" her eyes and tone grew darker as she spoke the words. "Cissy here, Cissy that… exactly the way Bella calls me."_

 _He opened his mouth but she shook her head and pointed the wand at his face that silenced Snape and she continued on._

 _"And when you're angry.. when you don't get it your way, you call me Narcissa.. Narcissa… that N in my name… the touch of spite, of hate… exactly the way Lucius calls me, you know?"_

 _"Please."_

 _"Tell me again.. Remind me.." she heavily breathed out each word. "Remind me again why I haven't killed you all these years if you call me the very same way my lunatic for a sister and my idiotic husband calls me."_

 _He stared back at her, hate was there but pain created a larger hole in his heart at the way she compared him to the two people in the world for which they both hate more than the other._

 _"I have loved you.." Snape whispered at her with tears traversing at the side of his cheeks. "I have always loved you, gave you all the that I have.. all my loyalty, only to you."_

 _"No, you don't-"_

 _"I have laid my life for you and your ungrateful family. I have spent my entire life protecting you… protecting Draco. I am nothing but loyal to you-"_

 _"Loyal to me?" Narcissa repeated with obvious mock in her tone. "Loyal to me? I leave you for several months expecting you to be doing your duty – keeping her here, keeping her down and away from everyone – from Draco most of all – keeping her powers suppressed until it dies! I have given you a good, spoiled life here – I gave you everything you need and more than what you need in here to ensure that she will never find her way back to them! That she will never find her way back – that Draco will NEVER find her!"_

 _"Cissy-" Snape warningly said as Narcissa advanced once more, wand emitting jet of sparks._

 _"And then I'd walk in here expecting you to do your job and instead I find you here, find her here with you training till sunset – learning skills from you, learning how she can defend herself and most importantly, learning how she can defy you without a wand! WHERE IS LOYALTY FOR ME IN THERE?!"_

 _A curse jot out of her wand and cascaded at the side of Snape's face, creating a small line from the lash and blood quickly dripped from it._

 _He breathed deeply, he breathed hard but he remained where he was – keeping himself still and protectively in position before Hermione's unconscious form._

 _Narcissa could murder him right then and there but he wasn't going to move aside to watch her attack Hermione's defenseless form._

 _"I have always been loyal to you." Snape whispered. "I would not be here if I am not."_

 _Narcissa looked extremely angry but hurt at the same time._

 _Her eyes showed that she had never expected such disappointment from Snape_

 _No, her eyes showed him how deeply betrayed she felt at that very moment._

 _And he knew that he has never hurt her nor betrayed her this far._

 _No, he has never betrayed her._

 _Not until today._

 _"You liar." Narcissa hissed at him. "You scheming - you bastard… you used me.. you've used… how could you.. after everything I have given you-"_

 _"Narcissa-"_

 _"HOW COULD YOU DO THIS!" Narcissa openly cried at him. "WHY ARE YOU TEACHING HER HOW TO DEFEND HERSELF!"_

 _"Because I need to!" Snape yelled at her. "I need to – if things go wrong-I need to make sure she can protect herself -"_

 _"Things will go horribly wrong if you ever – how could you – you – I've trusted you – you had one job – ONE JOB and you-"_

 _"AND I HAVE GIVEN YOU EVERYTHING!" Snape screamed back at her._

 _He finally lost it and he went full back on his feet and advanced towards her._

 _He lashed his wand once, twice and Narcissa wasn't able to defend herself._

 _She was thrown backward and was thrown back against the wall where Snape held her back strongly and painfully._

 _He had had enough of it all._

 _Snape's black eyes glinted, dark as his disposition and feelings were at the moment._

 _He grabbed her by the arms, pinning her hard against the wall as she struggled with all her might against him._

 _"I've protect you, protected Draco." Snape spitefully began as he held his wand tighter for each word he said. "I've kept her wand and am keeping her powers down, suppressing it until it dies.. I am teaching her skills so should the time come that she needs to defend herself against enemies-"_

 _"Against me-"_

 _"Not against you-"_

 _"DO NOT LIE TO ME!" Narcissa angrily screamed at his face as she struggled against his arms that was pinning her over her chest to keep her from moving away from the wall._

 _"I am not your enemy-"_

 _"THE DARK LORD HAS LONG BEEN GONE!" Narcissa yelled in anger and pain as he strongly pinned her back and hitting her back twice against the wall to weaken her. "LONG GONE - TO WHOM DO YOU NEED HER TO DEFEND HERSELF FROM! YOU BASTARD – YOU LIAAAAAAR!"_

 _"I need to teach her to defend herself!" Snape angrily yelled back at her. "I need to teach her how she can protect herself, defend herself – should the time come she leaves this place-"_

 _"SHE IS NEVER LEAVING THIS PLACE!" Narcissa vented out on him eyes very wide at him turning her to look mad. "YOU HEAR ME?! SHE IS NEVER LEAVING THIS PLACE – NEVER – SHE WILL ROT IN HERE, SHE WILL DIE IN HERE AND I DON'T GIVE A DAMN – SHE WILL NEVER SEE DAYLIGHT EVER AGAIN-"_

 _"Cissy-"_

 _"That is your one job! Your one job Severus – to ensure she never goes back, she never finds her way back – she never goes back any of them – so Draco may come into terms, may come into peace in his life that she doesn't belong to him – she is never going back and Draco is never going to see her again-"_

 _"Your son –"_

 _"My son is desperate!" she cried at him. "He is still looking for her, searching for her, searching the lands and the skies if he must to find her and your job is to ensure that he never does-"_

 _"You told me to keep her away because the curse that your sister embedded in her will kill not only herself but the rest of them- "_

 _"I have not lied about that-" Narcissa said her fingers gripping Snape hard around the arms as she knew her wand was no use as of the moment._

 _Snape held her back with the back of her arms, keeping her still but the woman was struggling hard enough against him._

 _"You told me to keep her here – to keep her while that curse is in her blood – you told me – you asked me to fuck her so I can kill the curse, so I can bring her back-"_

 _"But did you not enjoy taking her?" Narcissa suddenly asked him as her struggle lessened the moment she knew that she's caught his emotional attention._

 _His black eyes gleamed as his grip on her slackened a little._

 _A cold and dangerous smile appeared over Narcissa's face._

 _"But did you not enjoy every bit of moment that you were inside of her, those nights you took her under your command? Did you not enjoy making her scream your name or better yet, did you not enjoy yourself as you screamed when she-"_

 _"ENOUGH!" Snape said and he moved his hand over her neck and had begun choking her._

 _But death wasn't enough to scare Narcissa Black Malfoy._

 _She stared up at him with determined eyes and Snape knew that there was no point to it._

 _He screamed in anguish and his grip around her neck slackened._

 _A sudden red light appeared from between them and Narcissa managed to push him away from her with the wand in her hand._

 _Snape was thrown backward but he was fast on his feet as he threw another curse at her that she deflected with such ease._

 _She swayed but her eyes remained on Snape with every bit of hatred growing in her features._

 _"You told me – " Snape furiously began unable to comprehend all of it at that moment. "You told me – "_

 _"I would have told you anything if it meant protecting Draco, my dear boy – my only son – out of harm's way." Narcissa whispered back at him with gleam of anguish and trickery in her eyes. "I would have told you or anyone anything in order to gain advantage for my only son, Severus."_

 _Enlightenment passed Snape's features as he watched Narcissa slowly regain her strength, straightening her robes and the sleeves of her traveling cloak._

 _She breathed heavily, calming herself down as she did so this gesture._

 _His black eyes stared back at her in awe as she began to calm herself down by focusing on arranging her clothing – her habit, the way she had always been when emotions took higher place in her head and heart._

 _"You lied to me.." he whispered softly as he began to lower his wand. "You lied to me.."_

 _"I didn't lie to you." Narcissa spoke back gently closing the buttons around her wrist that loosened up from Snape's grip. "I just couldn't tell you all of the truth."_

 _"But the curse-"_

 _"Is in her blood." Narcissa said eyeing him back. "And you've done a great job into killing it every single time that you take her."_

 _"Then what else?" Snape asked her fear scorching him, eating him up. "What else, Cissy?"_

 _There was such command in his tone that Narcissa thought of Draco and his same hatred for her._

 _He stared at her, waiting with a horrified look over his face at this realization._

 _Panic was evidently rising across his face at her betrayal, at the possibilities of the lies she's weaved through to use him, at the things he might have committed because he thought he was doing the right thing._

 _The woman she loved and trusted above all was here, telling him that she had been keeping secrets from him._

 _He had trusted her more than anyone else that he could ever remember._

 _Snape made a sudden move forward to grab her painfully around the arms again that Narcissa was too shock to defend herself._

 _"Tell me!" he yelled at her face, black eyes wide and face filled with fear and hatred. "What did you do Narcissa?! What did you do?!"_

 _Narcissa stared back at him with doubt, with hatred, with anger – not for him – but for the woman that had been the reason for all of these._

 _"I love you more than I've loved any other man perhaps.." Narcissa whispered at him as her eyes softened, vanishing all emotions and feelings of hate as he spoke about him. "You are my dearest, my closest and only ally.. I would do anything to protect you-"_

 _"You've used me-"_

 _"I have. I always would if I have to for Draco. But I will always love you as well." Narcissa said. "And if I've used you to protect him, then I certainly would use anyone, any opportunity I could to ensure that when I am long gone in this world, you are also protected just like my Draco.."_

 _Snape stared back at her with anger and questions in his mind at what she could mean by all of it._

 _"Long gone?" Snape whispered gripping her tighter. "Cissy.."_

 _"When I am gone, time will come that you would leave this cottage as I would expect." Narcissa said with her eyes momentarily straying at Hermione. "And I know that despite all that I've told you, you will bring her back. You will give her back to them – this is enough proof of that."_

 _Shame passed Snape's eyes but he didn't anything as he listened to her._

 _Tears were threatening to come down her face again._

 _"I have always known you, Severus. And when love overcomes your heart, you will forget your duty for me, your promise-"_

 _"I wouldn't-"_

 _"And when the time comes, it will become your demise. You see Severus, love becomes the death of duty." Narcissa whispered with no utter of regret in her features._

 _"But you-"_

 _"I am, not like you, I'm afraid." Narcissa said. "Unlike Draco. Unlike Evans." she whispered each name with such cold emotion. "I love but I remain, detached, logical. And that makes me think before love becomes my demise."_

 _"What did you do." Snape seriously asked her now with evident hurt in him._

 _"I had to make sure you live through all these, protected and unharmed even when I am gone."_

 _"What did you do."_

 _"I did what any woman who loves would do for a favourite ally, for a most favoured brother, for a well-loved man.."_

 _"What did you do!" he finally screamed this time._

 _Gleam of victory passed Narcissa's eyes._

 _"If you die.." Narcissa whispered as tears surprisingly fell over her smiling eyes. "She dies."_

 _He stared at her, comprehending what she was trying to tell him._

 _They stared at one another long enough for Snape to slightly understand what she could have meant._

 _"But you.. you don't have.."_

 _"Blood is a form of magic. But old magic didn't really need the use of that, did it?" Narcissa asked him as she tried to keep her tears from flowing but they didn't._

 _Fear consumed Snape's face_

 _"I saw the opportunity to be taken when you had to rescue the boy's life at the hospital. I convinced you strongly that it was the right thing to do and you, ridden with guilt and love for her – followed what I asked you to."_

 _"But – no – it was-"_

 _"No, Severus. You gave Potter what was essential and you've used all the magical bond there can be used. Hermione's love for him convinced you as your love for her convinced you to do what you doubt would work but it did. In saving Potter's life that day at the hospital you thought you were doing something for her and for Evans, for the better of all – but unknowingly, you were bounding yourself to an old kind of magic. You were blinded by your love for the last woman you've loved and the woman you've come to love – enough reason to save a boy they both sacrificed their lives for. And in doing so, Severus.. you've unknowingly but magically secured the plan I have for you."_

 _Realization dawned into Snape's face and his grip slackened upon her where he had been close to choking her to death again._

 _He pushed himself away from her, something heavy consuming his chest and his mind hurting, swirling with all the pain at the information handed to him._

 _"Soul Bound." Snape muttered fearfully, his black eyes focused upon her tearful ones. "You have.. but.. no, you cannot.. you need..there are magical essentials..."_

 _"Like blood?" Narcissa had asked him with a victorious smile. "Did you not have her first drawn blood?"_

 _Something flickered in Snape's eyes._

 _He shook his head, his breathing caught in his throat and his head spinning with fear._

 _"As I've told you, love becomes the death of duty." Narcissa whispered and she made a movement with her hand to him as if to console him but he moved away from her._

 _"You… you have…"_

 _"Love becomes the demise of all beings." Narcissa said. "But it was the exact ingredient I desperately needed to ensure that all my plans would work and come to life even if I am gone."_

 _His black eyes moved from her as he stepped back and he stared down at Hermione's form on the floor._

 _"So she won't die and won't harm them because you're here protecting her, killing the curse inside of her." Narcissa slowly said with victory in her head. "At the same time, she is far, very far from Draco.. and in doing so, you protect Draco as well and you keep her from him and in that way, my son will also be safe from all these delusional feelings he has for her."_

 _Snape felt that it was harder and harder to breath by the moment as she revealed it all to him._

 _"And you." Narcissa's eyes flashed at him where the black ones met her gaze. "You were the right pawn at the right time and at the right moment. And still, you will be protected by the spell that binds you to her at the time you saved Potter's life in order for him to come back and defeat the Dark Lord."_

 _Something clogged in his throat as everything came to him._

 _He was too occupied with guilt and pain about his situation with Hermione that he obviously missed all these, all her plotting and scheming for the bigger picture._

 _"And long after I am gone, you will remain unharmed even if they find you, even if they get to you.. they cannot harm you. I wouldn't let any of them harm you – the Order, the Aurors – not even the justice by the Wizengamot that I am very much sure will be used against you – no, not you. You will get out of this mess unscathed. You deserve a good life and you will have that at the very end." Narcissa whispered as tears fell at the sides of her face while victory accumulated in the rest of her features._

 _"What have you done.."_

 _"You see, Severus.. I made sure that you will live through this war with my beloved son. For if they choose to harm you in any way - your death will become the death of Harry Potter's most beloved Mudblood…"_

 _His heart endured what he thought would be like to feel heart attack._

 _Something heavy and painful was growing inside of him._

 _His soul was bound to Hermione and any harm done to him by the other side will reflect and mark Hermione's death._

 _His black eyes were heavy with tears, guilt, pain, anguish and every other emotion there was to feel about the revelation of what Narcissa has done._

 _Years of keeping Hermione, he thought he was doing the right thing by killing the curse and keeping her off and away from everyone._

 _Years of keeping her he thought he was doing the right thing until the time comes where she can go back to them._

 _All of it had always been because he loved her and he thought that she can be the beacon of light, of all the remorse he had in him that someday when he brings her back to them, he could accept his fate at Azkaban and die there peacefully knowing despite it all, he had done the right thing._

 _And now all that was gone at the truth that what Narcissa had done all along._

 _Narcissa Malfoy was a master of the games._

 _They stood apart over Hermione's still form on the floor with wands still out and emotions raw with both faces tear-streaked._

 _He felt he was losing his energy, his will and everything else he still had._

 _"Don't look so betrayed or used, Sev. You did have good days with her and there will be more to come. You see, we all win at the very end, Severus." Narcissa told him as she lowered her wand completely and offered her hand towards him. "For love is indeed the most powerful thing in this world and now you see the wonders it can do."_

 _He stared back at her crying in silence, unmoving and still in shock as his black eyes stared at the hand she was offering him as a sign that she will always love him despite and in spite of it all._

 _It took Snape a while to recover from all of it and when he did, he had recovered well enough to have a clear mind and a brave heart._

 _"But you know Cissy, I still care about her." Snape whispered knowing this was the truth in his heart. "I will always love her and no matter what you do, I will bring her back. I will find a way to break the Soul Bound you've created."_

 _"Would you?" she asked him._

 _"I would." Snape answered her. "I would, Cissy. I will find a way and there is nothing in the world that you can do about it."_

 _"Nothing?" Narcissa whispered and his fingers closed in discreetly around her wand again. "I will always have a way. I always can find a way."_

 _Snape stared back at her._

 _A split moment of thought and decision._

 _And before Snape could do anything, Narcissa's quick sniveling maneuver had outdone him for the last time._

 _A familiar flash of light crossed the air and Snape fell back with his eyes closing in while the power of Narcissa's magic slowly but evidently work its way towards him._

There was a cry of agony, of shock and fear that he didn't recognize was his own voice.

There was a powerful surge, a feeling of being forcibly pulled away as if he had been taken out of the Pensieve in the old days.

Harry Potter was thrown backward on the floor as the ghostly apparition of a Narcissa Malfoy threw him away from her after as she took her hands away from either side of his temple after showing him years' worth of memories of Snape, of Hermione and Narcissa back in the cottage for the past ten years.

Harry's face was filled with tears, eyes wide in shock, his heart beating very fast at the revelation he had come to receive.

Images, voices and conversations, truths and memories after another flashed before his mind's eyes as he revisited the past he had longed to be present in.

He was choking in his own breath, in his own tears as he lay back on the ground weakened from what he had come to see, at the revelation of everything.

Harry's heart raced and drummed with pain as his tearful green eyes stared up at the vanishing apparition of Narcissa Malfoy leaving him behind.

Leaving him deserted at the cottage once more and with nothing else but the scorching truth that they had all been deprived of all these years.


	69. Chapter 69

_**Author's Notes:**_

 _ **This is possibly my longest chapter ever.**_

 _ **I have been sitting my arse in this 24hours café for about three hours, finalizing things for this chapter that I have been trying to write and complete for the past weeks or maybe months.  
I apologize for the LONG hiatus for this story – I'm sure you know and see that I'm alive and keep on posting on my other stories, updating their chapters or just chatting up everyone on the inbox and all that but not posting a chapter for this story.  
Why?  
Because I feel burdened and emotional as we near the lasts of this story.  
I've been writing this for more than a year, close to my last months and years at the conservatory and it's actually going to be a year now on June since graduation day.  
I feel so attached with this story and very emotional into writing each chapter.  
But there is a burden, a heavy and emotional turmoil upon writing this one which I'm sure, as a reader, you would come to understand later once you read it.  
I have read each and every bit of review from all the sites I've posted this ( , a03, ) and I am more than grateful to the reception, the reviews, the love and messages from all of you.  
As of the moment, things at home are still going downhill, but I believe I am way more mature into handling things and controlling myself out of every bit of turmoil at home and focusing only what is good for my soul.  
Writing and music have always been my outlets but there is always something in writing that will always be closer to my heart in a way or two.  
I wouldn't take long on this message as I want you guys to feast your eyes on the chapter that will bring us one step closer to the end.  
Again, I have read all your reviews and notes and messages and am always grateful for all the love you've given. I will always look forward for more.  
Once I click upload chapter, I know that this chapter – I have had a hard time writing in tears and at the ungodly hours for days, nights, weeks and months – will be shared out there into the world and may make you feel heavily burdened the way it made me feel when I wrote it all down.  
I am still in tears.  
I hope you find it in your heart to embrace all that is good and bad with the last few chapters of my story.  
I will be waiting for all the words, comments, love and queries about it and try to answer all of them as much as I could.  
For now, I'm just happy that it's finally my birthmonth and birthday in a few days!**_

 _ **Lots of love  
xx**_

 _ **PS  
"Hiraeth" is included into the list of 'beautiful and rare' words I've always kept a lit on from books and online thins.  
I will not be explaining its definition as I want you to feel first what it means before coming across it. =)**_

 _ **I felt like writing this and clicking upload would be like making you feel the same burden that the characters, that I felt upon writing it.  
xx**_

 ** _Chapter Sixty Nine_**

 ** _Hiraeth_**

His tears cascaded heavily down his pale and bony cheeks.

Age has caught up with him as well as all the truth that was painfully engraving in his chest.

He stared back at her with eyes filled with regret and sorrow and with no visible sign that he recognized her.

"I am here, I am here.." Hermione whispered back as her hands moved at either side of his cheeks in her attempt to wipe his tears away. "Severus.. I am here."

She held him close with both hands gently placed at either side of his bony and pale cheeks.

He held no recognition of her.

 _Had they come too late?_

"Draco-" Hermione called out again in a restrained whisper in her fear of them being heard and caught. "Draco, what's wrong with him?"

Hermione stared back at Snape but he did not even seem to understand that there were other people in the cell with him.

He stared back at her with such madness in his eyes that gave proof to Hermione that he had indeed been long enough at Azkaban, holding up his feelings and his mind until the last day of the trial.

But he didn't quite make it anymore.

Severus Snape was a trained, capable and strong wizard.

It would take time to break him in or get through his mind.

And unfortunately for him, all of it had come crashing to him in one big blow at the night hours before his penalty.

But it was still obviously at the eve of Hermione's wedding and his knowledge of it that became his downfall.

He had loved her so much, he had loved her truly despite it all.

Snape knew he couldn't give her the life she deserved and it consumed him deep inside, creating a hollow place for the darkness and madness of Azkaban to finally tear him apart as these thoughts got through the strong barriers of his mind and soul.

Tears began to spill from Hermione eyes but she tried to be strong – she couldn't give up now, not tonight when she wanted to talk to him for the last time, when she wanted to give him her last goodbye.

"Severus.. please.. _please_.. Can you not hear me?" Hermione whispered as she gasped in between her tears and held the man who held her after all this time.

His black eyes moved from her then at the surroundings as he continued to whim per in fear, agony and regret while whispering all his regrets.

He was muttering nonstop, whispering her name and begging for forgiveness.

"Draco.." Hermione cried out now uncaring if her voice echoed along the cell. "Draco.. what's going on.. why couldn't he.. please.."

Draco returned to the room with his wand in his hand and stared from her then at Snape.

He moved closer and slowly knelt down next to Hermione to take a closer look at Snape.

It doesn't take a genius for an ex-Death Eater like himself and one trained by a father and a mad aunt for him to understand what was going on.

His eyes stared at Snape then at Hermione who was staring desperately and hopefully back up at him as if he could do something about the situation.

Draco stared at his godfather's almost empty black eyes – he had never seen him that weak nor defeated.

"It's consuming him." Draco whispered as he lifted a hand across his cheek and temple to trace the veins and bloodline. "The truth has dawned upon him.. it has weakened him immensely. He's given up and the magic and energy of this place has sensed that and now it's taking him."

"Taken him?" Hermione asked stricken at the thought. "What do you mean – but he hasn't been Kissed – the Dementors they're not even – What do you mean he's given up?" Hermione repeated pushing Draco away from Snape and resuming her close proximity before Snape.

Draco stared down at her not knowing what to do as he had never seen her this desperate or afraid before.

"He has accepted his fate here." Draco whispered staring back at Snape's anguished form. "And by doing so, he has lowered all his defenses – weakening his mind and thus weakening his body-"

"He can't give up on me!" Hermione angrily screamed slapping Snape's face gently as if it would wake him out of the state. "He made a promise – he promised me – we would – Draco, please.. do something.. _anything!"_

But Draco was unsure if he could still be revived out of that state.

Most wizards were defeated by the consuming madness that littered the grounds of Azkaban.

And if Snape had been holding himself against it for so long, a sudden hole in his raw emotions would immensely damage him in one heavy blow.

Draco shook his head, trying not to shed the tears forming in his eyes to not scare Hermione further.

But he didn't know what to do anymore.

He didn't expect that he could save him but he expected that he could give atleast a closeure for him and Hermione before morning dawned upon all of them.

"Draco!" Hermione called at him turning back to Snape. "Severus… please _.. Come back_ , come back to me.. I am here. I am here.."

But Snape's features didn't change.

He remained impassive with no useful sense in him anymore.

His eyes moved around the room, tears flowing down his cheeks and stopping and then back again as he recalls every now and then all the memories.

His fingers were gripping her hands back but without any purposed motor movement.

He held her simply because Hermione's hands held him back when she didn't touch his face.

Her voice echoed all across the empty and dark room.

Draco didn't know what to do - he couldn't save him and now neither could he save her from this misery.

"Please.. Severus.." Hermione cried now at over his lap. "Wake up.. please.. Do you not love me.. do you not remember.. "

Draco clenched his fists as his heart ached at the sight of them both but more of the sight of Hermione in her desperate form on the ground.

He couldn't look at her knowing he had failed her as they had come too late.

"Hermione-"

"Help him!" Hermione cried turning to him, "Do something please – please!"

But there was nothing else to be done there.

Draco heavily sighed, clearing the tears off his eyes with the back of his sleeves as he slowly and unsurely went down on his knees to take a closer look at Snape.

Black eyes met his and he could clearly see the life dying out of it and he wasn't sure that it was ever coming back.

The knowledge of Hermione's marriage to Harry had taken a great toll at the night before he was also sure that he would be taken hours later to be taken and be given his fate by the Wizengamot.

It were all too much for him that he had finally given up and succumb to the madness he had been battling for months now, now that he was sure that Hermione would be in a better place.

He had prepared and was prepared to end up in Azkaban.

But despite acceptance, he wasn't prepared for a life without Hermione and Harry made sure that he dies and rots in Azkaban with the knowledge of it.

Draco stared at the man he had always looked up to growing up.

He had been more of a father than Lucius ever was to him – more caring, more lenient and most importantly even if he wasn't loving he never laid a hand on Narcissa.

And if any, he always gave to the whims of the woman and Draco knew how persuasive Narcissa could be if she wanted to.

He was his godfather and despite of all their misgivings, he took care of Narcissa and for that, Draco would always be grateful enough to forgive him.

He was his favourite person in the entire world and there was nothing he wouldn't due in the name of truth to save his life.

But tonight, no amount of galleons he has or truth they know of could possibly save Snape from this fate.

He had let go of everything in the knowledge that in hours, he would also lose all of it.

"Let me." Draco whispered as he gently pushed Hermione away from him and pulled Snape's arms to face him.

There was still life in there, somewhere and somehow but he wasn't sure how to wake it or call it back.

"What's going on?" Hermione croaked out even if she already knew herself what was going on.

She was in denial and having depended on Draco these past weeks, she was hoping he had an answer to it.

"Draco… please…"

"We have to get him out of here and _fast_." Draco firmly said staring away from Snape and back at Hermione. "It's this place. It's consuming whatever little is left of him. He's given up Hermione… he's accepted his fate here and we could hardly fight that. We can try, but I can't promise anything. He has made his choice."

There was determination in his tone and by the looks in his eyes, Hermione knew that Draco would be willing to do just about anything at that moment to save Snape's life.

Even if that meant they would have to break all the laws to break him out of Azkaban.

 _"_ _But if the time comes…" her voice trailed from his side and into his senses. "..like the circumstance calls for it, you would do the right thing, yes?"_

 _"_ _Ofcourse I'd do the right thing." Snape answered her for the nth time. "What kind of question is that?"_

 _He closed the book he was reading and rolled over his stomach over the grassy rounds near the lake._

 _He looked up at her questioning green eyes and stared at the flare of her red hair._

 _"_ _Don't you trust me?" Snape asked Lily._

 _"_ _I do." Lily answered. "I'm only-"_

 _"_ _Making sure?" Snape interrupted her with a smile as he shook his head and turned his attention back over his book._

 _Lily kept staring at her, watching him read the Advance Making Potions Fifth Edition._

 _They had been studying very hard the past weeks for the upcoming O.W.L.s exam in two weeks and had been studying in between classes and every chance they both get even though they both know they'd pass it without difficulty anyway._

 _They were both very smart, both very useful for their respective houses and would both definitely have a good career in the future should fate be kind to both of them._

 _"_ _I'll always do the right thing, Lily." Snape said closing the book this time and rolling his gaze back at her._

 _Black eyes met the green ones and Lily knew that he was tired of her talking to him about this kind of subject._

 _He was going to be a very intelligent man and he was a good man._

 _Only if she could ensure that people around him wont' flock him and influence him out of that path._

 _"_ _Are we going to practice the Charms list we have later?" she slowly asked him knowing that Lucius and his friends had asked him to meet after dinner._

 _"_ _Yes." Snape answered with a stark look over his eyes. "I already promised you that we'd do that."_

 _"_ _So after dinner we would do it?"_

 _"_ _Yes."_

 _"_ _Like right after dinner?" Lily asked him peering closely._

 _Snape looked up at her and it didn't take his quick mind reading skills to know that she knew that Lucius had asked him to meet._

 _"_ _Yes, Lily." Snape quietly answered her sitting back and moving closer her._

 _He gently reached out for her hand and stared at her._

 _Lily stared back the worry fading from her eyes._

 _"_ _I told Lucius and his friends that the exams are upcoming and I can't miss a study session." Snape told her with certain promise in his tone. "I told him that if he really wants me as a friend he'd understand that school comes first – above, before and beyond anything else."_

 _Lily's eyes slowly relaxed and she returned the hand gesture of holding his hand into hers._

 _"_ _You will always tell me the truth, right?" Lily asked him with a look of fear and hope in her eyes._

 _Snape nodded without a second thought._

 _"_ _Always, Lily." Snape answered with a small smile at her as he held her hand closer into his. "For as long as I can do what is right – I will always do it."_

 _"_ _Always, Severus?" Lily asked her placing her hand across his cheek and gently keeping it there._

 _"_ _Always." Snape softly answered as he moved his lips into the palm of her hand and kissed it gently as he closed his eyes, wanting nothing but to freeze that moment in time and willing to do all his promises for and to her for the rest of his life._

 _Summer 1997_

 _"_ _Are you really adamant enough to defy me?" Snape angrily asked Draco as the boy fell back over the green and black carpeted floor of the manor._

 _"_ _I'm just tired." Draco reasoned out as he got back on his knees holding his wand tightly in his hand._

 _"_ _Tired?" Snape repeated with glinting eyes as he looked down at the boy and grabbed him by the collar of his clothes and pulled him straight up. "Potter and the rest of them aren't resting, Draco."_

 _"_ _I'm quite sure that's what they're also telling Potter." Draco muttered under his breath. "I'm tired. I haven't slept in days. I don't know why I have to do this."_

 _"_ _You will do this because your mother and I think that you need to learn to close your mind from things, from people that may attack you."_

 _"_ _You're not teaching me how!"_

 _"_ _Because you're supposed to know how!" Snape angrily yelled back at him. "You're a Slytherin. You should learn to control your emotions and all I see are memories and glimpses of things that you aren't even supposed to be thinking of!"_

 _Draco stared up at his godfather with all hatred running through his veins._

 _It was the summer after the rise of the Dark Lord and he had been spending the past three weeks gaining private lessons from his godfather about defending himself using both arts of magic and learning how to control his mind._

 _The Dark Lord has risen and things at home had drastically changed and Narcissa had taken matter into her own hands on what to do with Draco's fate._

 _"_ _I'm not thinking of anything-"_

 _"_ _Do not lie to me." Snape spat at him. "I could see what you're thinking, the things you dream of-"_

 _"_ _You can hardly control dreams. Can you?" Draco spat back at him. "If you'd allow me a Dreamless Potion-"_

 _"_ _That's not a solution. The solution is controlling your mind. And bloody hell controlling yourself from thinking about that girl."_

 _Draco's eyes shot back up at him._

 _Did he see that memory?_

 _That thought?_

 _Did he see her thinking and staring at her at the Yule Ball that had passed months ago?_

 _"_ _Were you tinkering in my head?" Draco asked him. "I'm going to tell father and mother – you're only supposed to teach me, not do anything-"_

 _"_ _I'm not tinkering inside that head of yours." Snape muttered holding his wand back at the ready. "There's nothing relevant to see. Now, if you would just focus instead of sashaying into dreaming of that-"_

 _"_ _Fuck off! I'm not doing anything!" Draco angrily spat back holding his wand out. "And my head is private and every thought-"_

 _"_ _Then learn to defend it-" Snape yelled at him wand at the ready. "Focus. Close your mind against anything that will try to get through it. Close it, Draco! Focus. Ready. LEGILIMENS!"_

 _And before Draco could even comprehend it, a light shot out from Snape's wand and hit him squarely and all thoughts in his head were penetrated by his godfather defenselessly and helplessly._

 _Draco screamed as memories, thoughts and flashes of things, of a girl he didn't want Snape to see came across his mind._

 _He fought and fought hard to close his mind and ensure that if he couldn't secure his thoughts against Snape, atleast he could secure his thoughts of her and memories of her inside his head before his godfather and mother figures out that he is slowly and hopelessly falling in love with Hermione Jean Granger._

Hermione had her mouth covered with her hand as Draco heaved Snape at the corner of the room while thinking of how the hell they were going to get Snape out of there.

The dark energy of the place was consuming his mind that was already at par as a decaying soul despite that he hasn't been kissed – not if they could help it.

"Draco.. please help.." Hermione helplessly cried at the corner watching Draco sit him against the floor and by the wall while he took his wand out, pointing it over several parts and points of his body.

"His not responding to my magic." Draco whispered with sweat trickling at the side of his face. "He should be responding to my magic-"

"But he's alive?"

"He's still in there." Draco whispered with a dark look over his eyes. "He's in there but I don't know – I don't understand-"

He laid Snape against the wall, straightening his legs and relaxing his arms on the side.

There was a blank look over his face and his eyes were staring out of nowhere and his thin lips seemed to be muttering something.

"What's he saying?" Hermione asked kneeling next to them over the floor now Draco's settled him.

"Gibberish, maybe." Draco answered his wand pointing over his arms and emitting soft glowing lights. "I could feel the energy in this place – we should make this quick."

"What do we do?" Hermione asked as she helped him settle against the corner of the cell.

"Mother taught me this spell." Draco said. "Almost like Dark Magic.. it's supposed to awaken him out of this-"

"But this is Azkaban – maybe this isn't working here-"

"It's got to work here." Draco answered her determinedly. "This should really work."

But there was no response from him and Hermione was getting impatient and worried by the moment.

"We don't have enough time, Draco." Hermione whispered staring deep into Snape's eyes. "Let me try."

Draco stared at her, reluctant to give his wand to Hermione.

Despite that he knew she was more than skilled, Snape was in a very delicate condition at the moment and Hermione's magic and skills had obviously lost practice and may have waned a little – they don't have the luxury for her to make a mistake.

"Draco, _please_." Hermione whispered moving her eyes than at the boy and looking at him with certain seriousness in them.

"Hermione, you can't make a mistake." Draco warned her slowly handing her his wand. "We're dealing with a type of magic here that can't be easily reversed – and Severus is barely hanging in there."

"I know." Hermione said. "I wouldn't do this if I had any other way. But I've got to try. Please trust me."

"I trust you." Draco clearly said handing her the wand fully. "Do as you have to. Let me guard by the door."

Hermione stared at him but nodded nevertheless and halfway into standing up, Hermione suddenly grabbed Draco's arm.

There was the sound of a clinking bottle in his pocket as he swayed from Hermione's pull.

"What's that?" Hermione asked, eyes narrowed over the inside pocket of his cloak.

"For drastic measures." Draco simply replied as he straightened up and held her hand gently.

She looked up at him with narrowed brows.

For drastic measures?

Was he going to try and throw an explosive potion at the place should they have the need to run for their lives?

"Draco – are you going to-"

"Make this quick, Hermione. We shouldn't stay longer than we should or else even our magic will decay down here."

"Yes, right. I'm sorry." Hermione muttered, nodding and wiping away her tears away and nodding as Draco moved away from her.

Hermione nodded at him and watched as he straightened himself up and walked to the door knowing he had nothing but bare arms to arm them and defend them should something happen.

Hermione sighed heavily, turning to Snape who was left with her at the corner of his own darkened cell.

She stared at his black eyes that were unrecognizable in its usual coldness – no, even the cold wasn't there anymore.

It was close to being completely blank.

He had no recollection of anything and his mind was completely dysfunctional at that very moment.

She moved closer to this man she had been with for so long – the many years he held her down, kept her and imprisoned her even in her own denial – was now nothing more than a body with a soul that was almost non-existent anymore.

Her lips parted moving but she couldn't find the right words to say; she couldn't put enough thoughts together to be made into words.

"S-Severus?" her lips muttered in barely a whisper as she placed a shaking hand at the left side of his bony cheek. "Severus?"

Her eyes warmed with tears.

He had taken her life away and terribly wronged not only her but Harry as well – he had destroyed a lot more than they could think of.

But here, sitting across him at that very moment made a very heavy tug inside her chest – he was so alone in this dark place, almost beyond repair in his despair and dying state.

He had always been a strong man and could definitely save his own life and defend others whether by intellectual or physical means.

He was always able to do something about anything in order to keep things the way they should be.

And yet at that very moment, Severus Snape had never looked ever so helpless in his life.

"Severus?" Hermione clearly called out this time, touching either side of his cheeks with her hand.

There was no response.

His eyes remained unfocused from her and blank of any emotion.

She moved closer, filling in the gap between the two of them.

"I'm going to help you." Hermione said knowing he wouldn't hear nor understand anyway. "Severus, I'm still here."

Hermione tried to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall down and she bent a little to pick up the wand from the floor to try and make a magic she has read herself from his library before.

She had never used it, but maybe, there was little of her strong magic before that was left in there.

But just as she was about to recall the wand movement of the spell and cast slowly to him, she felt Snape shift in his position.

Her eyes quickly moved to him and before she knew it, she was staring back into his black eyes.

Her mouth parted in surprise.

He was staring back at her – with all the life, the cold and the soul back in them.

Her hands shook as she felt his long and dry fingers trail and held both her wrists with a very weak hold.

The very moment their eyes met, she knew he was there – his soul was there and he _absolutely_ recognized her still.

"Seve-"

 _"_ _Go."_ Snape's husky, deep and broken voice croaked out heavily without breaking their eye-contact telling Hermione that he understood what was going on at that very moment. "Go, Hermione. You shouldn't be here…I didn't.. I didn't save you…your life for nothing. L-Leave… _Leave, me_.. I beg you, leave me. I have nothing to give you..p-please….leave me be."

 _"_ _No." Snape spat at him. "Absolutely not. I will not allow this, Draco."_

 _"_ _Allow it?" Draco said in a quiet voice but a tone that told Snape his godson's impatience was present._

 _"_ _You heard me. I wouldn't allow this nonsense." Snape angrily said turning away._

 _"_ _Do you not understand?" Draco asked him in almost a mocking tone. "I'm not giving you any choice. We don't have any choice. This is the only thing I can think of and this will work, I tell you. You don't have a choice."_

 _A stark, a glint of a mixture of what looked like hatred and malice passed Snape's eyes._

 _An utmost smile appeared at the side of his lips._

 _"_ _What?" Draco asked, unamused._

 _"_ _So very much… like your mother." Snape whispered silkily and for a moment the old, tormenting and cold demeanor of his that tormented many students at Hogwarts returned. "Silly, demanding.. making me – no, forcing me – to do things. I have never seen such strong proof of Narcissa's dark attributes in you. Who would have thought they were there after all."_

 _Draco didn't say anything._

 _But his lips were pursing and his eyes were unblinking as if his cold glare will be able to cover up what he was really feeling at that very moment._

 _"_ _Don't deny it, Draco." Snape told him. "I cannot believe the drastic changes in you. You are very much like Cissy, after all."_

 _"_ _Yes." Draco spat coldly as he moved closer him. "Some things change for the better. Now, hand it over because it will take some time to make it."_

 _Snape then returned to his passive state._

 _He shook his head and the glow of defeat began in his eyes that made Draco feel worse by the moment._

 _Snape stared back at him with a very slightly raised brow telling his godson that despite their circumstance, he still had the last say on the matter._

 _"_ _You are foolish." Snape muttered. "Very much like your mother – demanding for the impossible."_

 _"_ _I'm thinking outside of the box. It' not like what I ask of you is impossible-"_

 _"_ _You are thinking outside of reason!" Snape suddenly spat at him, face going red in anger and fingers tightly clenched at his sides._

 _They stared hard at one another – either refusing to give up their stand._

 _And then Draco's eyes slowly softened._

 _"_ _Please." Draco begged him without any hint of tremor of anger now. "Let me save your life."_

 _The Potions Master stared at him and then a small and slow smile appeared across his heavily-burdened features._

 _He closed his eyes and heavily sighed at Draco as if he was going to try to explain another lecture to Draco but as slow as he could possibly be for the boy before him to understand._

 _"_ _I'm sorry, Draco." Snape whispered to him with determination in his eyes. "I'm not going to do this. I refuse to be in any aid of Narcissa's doing. Enough is already enough."_

 _"_ _This is not my mother's doing!" Draco exclaimed with desperation in his tone."This is me – trying to save your life!"_

 _"_ _You can't make me, Draco-"_

 _"_ _Don't make me – " Draco said in a restrained voice that told Snape he seemed to be at the verge of crying. "Don't - don't make me force it out of you – you're going to get hurt, I tell you-"_

 _"_ _I'm sorry, Draco." Snape calmly said his black eyes returning to meet Draco's. "You can't make me do this. I won't do this."_

 _Draco made a step forward, fists also tight at his sides as he fought not to strangle his godfather._

 _"_ _You don't have a choice!" Draco angrily yelled at him as he crossed to the other side of the table and grabbed Snape forcibly by the collar of his dangly and tattered Azkaban clothes._

 _"_ _Look at me!" Draco angrily yelled at him. "I'm not giving you a goddamn choice! You are going to do this – whether you like it or not! You will goddamn give me what I want from you!"_

 _Snape's black and weary eyes moved to Draco's features and Draco looked back with something that looked like a desperate plea._

 _"_ _Please…" Draco begged him tears at the sides of his eyes. "Please let me save you."_

 _Snape gave him a nod and what was an unmistakable smile appeared at the side of his lips._

 _"_ _I have allowed you and your mother with so many whims, requests, favors – but this isn't something I will tolerate further, Draco. You came here to be denied this very request. I'm sorry. Not this one, Draco. I would rather die."_

 _Something seems to break inside Draco and he looked back at his godfather as if accepting that he had nothing else and he could do nothing else but to go for a last resort._

 _Something dark and almost demented passed Draco's eyes as all glow of warmth and humane vanished in them._

 _He gave his godfather a tight nod of his head._

 _"_ _As I've said, my mind has been made up." Draco said standing up and straightening his suit. "Nobody needs to know. I will save your life – whether you like it or not."_

 _Snape looked up at his godson and the way his elegant fingers moved around to close the buttons of his cloak._

 _"_ _Draco, this is not something you can get out of." Snape whispered at him gently touching Draco's hands around his neck. "The cost of this is irreversible."_

 _"_ _You think I don't know?" Draco asked him with a devilish look in his eyes. "You think I don't understand? You underestimate me. I am not a child."_

 _"_ _You are not a child." Snape interrupted him. "And that is exactly what Narcissa had feared all these years – that one day you would grow up – because that will make you act and think for yourself – have ideals that are far from what she or your father have got for you-"_

 _"_ _For me?" Draco interrupted in a mocking tone. "Or for them? Look at you – look where your loyalty for my mother has brought you to."_

 _Snape looked away and Draco knew that those words had hit him quite hard._

 _"_ _Narcissa has always been my friend." Snape simply told him. "I would do anything for her."_

 _"_ _And did any of it do you any good?" Draco smirked at him. "We both know that nothing they ever decide upon or want is ever for others – it is always for themselves."_

 _Snape didn't say anything and the defeat that passed his eyes told Draco that he had hit bullseye with that._

 _"_ _I'm sorry." Draco said as his grip around Snape slackened. "But I think it is time you hear it."_

 _He looked conflicted about everything and he wasn't going down without a fight._

 _He wasn't going to just abandon his godfather to this godforsaken fate for which his mother bestowed upon him out of her so-called love for a son._

 _"_ _Do you think I'll allow all this bullshit to happen?" Draco asked him in a mocking and cold tone. "Do you think I would stand down and give up a fight? No, thanks. I'm a Malfoy but I am a Black. I think you are forgetting that."_

 _"_ _Your mother will not want this."_

 _"_ _My mother is not around to agree or disagree with this." Draco told him with the same glint in his eyes. "And if she was here, I don't think she'd allow this to happen at all."_

 _"_ _She knew this was a possibility." Snape pointed out at him, finding a way out of what Draco wanted to happen._

 _"_ _No." Draco said. "I don't think she ever thought that you would ever be found – therefore, the possibility you're saying isn't something she accounted for. She bagged that you will be away, gone for so long – gone forever."_

 _Snape didn't say anything and Draco shook his head as words, thoughts and ideas were becoming one large piece inside his brilliant mind._

 _"_ _She bagged that you would be away – that you would be taken in forever by your desire and personal dreams in life that you would never ever return. And one little mistake she didn't account for made all these happen – isn't that right?"_

 _Snape remained quiet and not meeting his gaze._

 _Draco smirked at him and nodded._

 _"_ _She didn't account for it that's why we are all here. Something has changed, isn't that right, godfather?"_

 _"_ _Stop it-"_

 _"_ _My mother forgot that you're not my father nor are you like the others – easily corrupted, easily lulled into selfish and personal desires as payment for an ill-fate of life – no, I think my mother miscalculated that part of her plans."_

 _"_ _BE QUIET-"_

 _"_ _No, let me correct that." Draco said as his tone grew louder, more confident. "Nothing has changed. From the beginning, it was what you wanted to happen – perhaps a delay was served undesirably, but it had always been there – nothing has changed. You always knew what was right and always knew that you'd do it at the very end-"_

 _"_ _STOP IT! STOP IT!" Snape angrily yelled at him. "YOU DON'T KNOW – YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND-"_

 _Draco let him go with a satisfied look over his face._

 _"_ _You always had a plan and thought my mother could make it all a little easier. Had you known that things would go down the train, I'm sure you would never have agreed in the first place-"_

 _"_ _What's done is done." Snape interrupted him. "And Hermione's life was the priority at the time."_

 _"_ _I will never know how or why you really did it but you did it. That's why we are all here." Draco softly muttered at him. "After all these years, after everything that has taken place – you are still you and you let that character in you grow and come out at the time you thought you should make that make or break decision."_

 _Snape pushed himself away from his godson, turning as far from him and avoiding his gaze but Draco was insistent and stubborn._

 _He followed him, eyes consumed with his desire to get what he wanted from the man._

 _"_ _It took me a while.. Bloody hell, as humiliating as this may sound, I couldn't believe that I didn't see it in the first place."_

 _"_ _Stop it, Draco-"_

 _"_ _No, you have to hear what it is that we both know already. It had always been there in front of everybody, isn't that right?."_

 _"_ _Stop it, Draco!"_

 _"_ _Foolish government, stupid Aurors – and they call themselves the Order – are you seriously kidding me? It was there all along but their pride and their jumping into conclusion made them blind – how could they miss it? Well, I had to be honest it took me a while to immediately see it but it had always been there- "_

 _"_ _Quite as observant as ever."_

 _"_ _I always observed." Draco told him truthfully. "I've always been quiet but I am always just observing. I'm not like Hermione – raising her hand, asking things nor like Potter asking around – no, I was always the quiet one behind. I didn't want the world to know what's in my head and it helps me to think faster, to understand better."_

 _Snape didn't say anything._

 _These were precisely Draco's attributes at most of his classes._

 _He wouldn't usually ask or ask for help; he'd do things quietly and in his way._

 _"_ _It was there from day one." Draco quietly said. "The very moment that Hermione was rescued, all the evidences had been there."_

 _"_ _This has nowhere to go, Draco."_

 _"_ _No, I'm telling the goddamn truth." Draco spat back at him. "It had always been there, right from the beginning – but the world would always want some drama, jumping into conclusions, romanticizing things, joining bandwagons after another – and because of it, they all forgot to think, they all forgot to observe. I've almost fallen victim to all of it as well."_

 _"_ _It's too late, Draco. I will be sentenced soon and it will be better for all of us if you accept it."_

 _"_ _I won't." Draco said. "Not until I can do something about it."_

 _"_ _What do you want me to do?" Snape angrily yelled at him, eyes wide. "What do you want me to do, Draco?! What more of me do you want – I have given you, your mother the life you needed if not wanted – I've saved Hermione and I saved Potter's life – what more do you want from me!"_

 _Draco stared at his godfather that has finally lost it._

 _But he wasn't going to stand down, back down or stand back at the truth he had figured out._

 _"_ _You had a plan from the beginning." Draco slowly said. "It was delayed because.. things happened that you didn't account for – the curse of aunt Bella, the possibilities of it, the Death Eaters looking for her, mother's whims and requests and ofcourse, let's not forget about your feelings-"_

 _"_ _SILENCE, DRACO!" Snape yelled at him but instead of anger, there was remorse and fear in his eyes._

 _He had never looked so defeated, so regretful_

 _He had done nothing but good in order to save Hermione's life and thing still didn't turn out the way it did._

 _"_ _All those years, you've been battling, battling hard – what to do, how to bring her back, who to ask for help – no, don't you dare deny all the good that had always been there in you. I know you and from the beginning you meant to bring her back. You've tried everything but failed because of the curse and of my mother who threatened you out of guilt for things – my mother threatened you should you decide to betray her and tell the others. How could I have not seen that-"_

 _"_ _Your mother is a woman of her word and honor." Snape reasoned. "No matter what you say, she is your mother and Narcissa had been nothing but good-"_

 _"_ _How could you take her side after all of it?" Draco quietly asked him. "HOW?"_

 _Snape didn't answer._

 _He looked away from him, avoiding his gaze._

 _"_ _I owe your mother my life." Snape quietly replied. "And she is my friend. I would have died for her. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be here arguing with you about it."_

 _"_ _Oh, right that's right. She saved your life – what was that? She supplied you a little camping house, supplies to last for weeks, months, years?"_

 _Snape didn't say anything._

 _His black eyes however told Draco that he was beyond surprised at all the knowledge that Draco now knew._

 _"_ _Don't look so surprised. You know I'm right." Draco said shaking his head. "Would she die for you?" he asked in return._

 _Another silence fell._

 _"_ _Oh wait, she did die. But not for you."_

 _"_ _You don't understand-" Snape struggled as Draco moved himself away from his godfather to take a better look at him as he struggled, as he cried right then and there. "It wasn't easy – I had – you don't understand it-"_

 _All emotions of coldness or holding back were gone from his face._

 _He completely looked like a blank canvass in his very raw and vulnerable state._

 _"_ _But the thing is, I do." Draco said as he let him go and stared back at the guilt growing in his godfather's eyes as tears came down from them. "I understand everything - very clearly even without words or truths laid before me. Took me a while to understand, to see everything, to put things together – but I'm not stupid and I can put the pieces back together."_

 _Snape didn't say anything._

 _He looked away._

 _"_ _That's the small part of this whole grand scheme you still refuse to tell me." Draco said and Snape not meeting his gaze told him that he was right. "I will not dwell on that part because that seems very irrelevant on how I will get you out. The important part is I will get you out of here."_

 _He looked back at Draco and at how much he has grown up and matured from the spoiled little brat he visited every Christmas vacation when he was not yet his student._

 _By the end of it, Draco stood before his godfather who sat before him over the table, fists clenched at either side of the long table and head down out of shame, guilt and the tears he was trying not to show Draco._

 _"_ _I am offering you genuine help." Draco whispered as his composure returned after a while. "There is no price to pay for this time, Severus. I offer you a kind of help that which differs from what my mother has offered you."_

 _"_ _How you've grown up through these years, Draco." Snape said and there was a light of something like proudness in his eyes. "How time flies.."_

 _"_ _Exactly." Draco said interrupting his dreamy like state. "That's why we need to hurry. So please.. just hand it over."_

 _He patiently waited as he watched his godfather comprehend things and battle the possibilities inside his head._

 _After a while, Snape then nodded at him._

 _Draco almost relaxed as Snape looked up at his godson._

 _And then the look of defeat grew in his eyes._

 _"_ _I will not forget your offer, Draco." Snape whispered back at him with a grateful smile. "But if you are determined to save my life, I will allow you only if there was another way. I am your godfather, Draco."_

 _"_ _No, wait -" Draco said and the fear grew back in his eyes again. "No, we – I will – Please.."_

 _Snape gave him a very small encouraging smile._

 _"_ _I'm sorry, Draco. I cannot do this." Snape whispered. "Your safety and your life is my topmost priority before anything else – even before my life. My decision is final, Draco. I will not allow this."_

 _Draco was silent._

 _And then a sound of great frustration came out from Draco and he pushed Snape back over his chair and buried his face in his hands, tugging along the fine strands of his hair as he moved away from Snape to avoid himself from striking at his own godfather._

 _"_ _We are losing time!" Draco angrily yelled at him. "Please – just fucking hand it over to me!"_

 _Snape only stared – at the frustration and desperation of his godson to save his life._

 _But it was too late and there was no other way._

 _And the way that Draco proposes wasn't something he would agree upon – no matter what it had cost him, no matter if his life depended on it._

 _His life was long gone even before the ambush that night where he had taken Hermione._

 _His life had long been destroyed, decayed and gone to eternal turmoil – therefore, he had nothing to feel bad or sorry about._

 _He had always wanted to go and both Lily and Hermione had been lights of hope in the suffering in his life that prolonged a life he had long ago wanted to leave._

 _"_ _Please don't force me to use this on you to get what I need." Draco's whisper interrupted his thoughts._

 _Snape looked back and stared as Draco slowly took out his wand from the inside of his traveling cloak._

 _He only stared back at Draco as if daring him to use it against him._

 _"_ _It's not what you would or would not allow." Draco said and it was evident in his tone that Snape's permission to allow him to do what he needed was no longer relevant. "Just give me what I need and I will work out on everything. Don't you trust me?"_

 _"_ _Exactly my point." Snape said as his tone told Draco that he still refused to give him what he wanted. "I trust you and I know that you can do this. And that's what scares me."_

 _"_ _But we would only do this should there be no other way." Draco reasoned with him with a smile. "Only if we have to face drastic measures."_

 _His black eyes moved to him._

 _How much of Narcissa Black he could see in his own godson._

 _Lucius was intelligent and elegant but Narcissa was feisty, cunning and scheming – determined to kill if she had to._

 _And Draco was a breed of the both of their best attributes._

 _"_ _Narcissa won't be proud of you." Snape told Draco. "She did everything to save your life."_

 _"_ _She'll be proud." Draco assured him as he walked closer his godfather and opened his palm up to him. "If there was anything she didn't want me to be was to be like my father – a coward."_

 _Snape stared at him and the open palm before him._

 _"_ _Draco-"_

 _"_ _We both know you can't die." Draco said. "I'm here to make sure of that. Now trust me when I tell you that this will work."_

 _"_ _Narcissa wouldn't want this." Snape said recoiling from Draco's advances. "She fought very hard to keep you alive-"_

 _"_ _It is my life. I would do with it as I please."_

 _"_ _Don't let your mother's death be of vain."_

 _"_ _It wouldn't be." Draco said taking each turn of their conversation with a step forward from him and a backward from Snape. "She raised a good son as you called me."_

 _"_ _Draco… Ten years of it.. Hermione and I paid for all of it.. please don't let this happen."_

 _"_ _I am letting this happen so I can repay the ten years you've lost… she's lost." Draco said and a tear fell in his determined and cold eyes for the first time. "Let me give you back what my mother has stolen from the both of you."_

 _"_ _I don't deserve this." Snape said. "I don't deserve a life."_

 _"_ _Then it is as much as saying that I also very much do not deserve this life."_

 _Silence took place between them._

 _"_ _As I've said, my mother isn't here to burden either of us." Draco whispered with a dark look over his eyes. "Please. Don't make me beg further."_

 _"_ _Draco."_

 _"_ _Let me repay the life she has taken from you." Draco whispered edging his hand closer to him. "Let me repay the life she's stolen from Hermione because of her wrong beliefs in preserving life."_

 _"_ _Everything had always been for you, Draco – to save your life. Don't hate your mother by doing this. She's done what any other mother would do for a son."_

 _"_ _What any desperate mother would do for a son." Draco corrected him. "I don't hate my mother. I don't. If any, I forgive her for everything. But my conscience cannot carry on with all these knowledge – I cannot live on carrying this inside my already heavy heart. Please let me help you so I can unburden myself from what she's done. You help me, by letting me help you."_

 _Snape stared at him and suddenly as if some light came to him, he understood._

 _Draco wasn't just doing this for him nor for Hermione._

 _Nor was he doing this to give revenge to his dead mother._

 _No, he was also doing this for himself._

 _The reality that has dawned upon his godson was eating him slowly and surely in the inside._

 _Snape turned to him and before he knew it, Draco had gotten down on his knees and stared up at him eyes gleaming with tears._

 _"_ _Please, godfather." Draco begged him clinging at the dirty ends of his Azkaban prisoner clothes. "Please let me right every wrong that has been done. The Malfoys had too much to ask from you and that has cost you.. your life."_

 _"_ _Draco – don't –" Snape warned him trying to get his hands away from his by grabbing both his wrists tightly and staring down at him with such hatred in his eyes._

 _But Draco wasn't to be intimidated any longer._

 _His eyes showed that he wanted this more than anything else in the world._

 _And if there was any, that was scared Snape deeply – not the idea that Draco wasn't scared of him anymore – but the idea that he knew that Draco had already made his decisions and had made up his mind determinedly enough that he wasn't going to leave that godforsaken cell until he gets what he wanted from his godfather._

 _Draco's begging voice came again as his fingers tightened around the hems of his clothes._

 _All that was formal or mature and composed about Draco had vanished in a flash of that moment._

 _He was down on his knees, begging him of something with all his emotions raw and out onto the world – vulnerable and honest enough for his godfather to see beyond the façade he had been forcing himself into in order to protect and be the stronghold for Hermione._

 _"_ _Let me do this, please." Draco desperately cried, his voice echoing all throughout the darkened cell. "Please…This time, a Malfoy.. a Black asks of you again.. but at the cost of something else.." Draco looked up at him, his fingers tight at the end of his clothes as his knees painfully scratched against the stone floor of the cell. "Please.. please let me ask a favor in return that I repay everything that has been_

 _"_ _She was your mother. It was her duty to protect you no matter the cost, no matter who it costs her at the process of it-"_

 _"_ _I cannot deal with it-"_

 _"_ _Learn to deal with it. You don't know what she's also been through – you don't know what she's done to save your life-"_

 _"_ _I don't want to know." Draco cried at him. "I don't know if I can ever have enough courage to know everything but I know enough to tell what she has done will never be an excuse to gamble and steal a life of another-"_

 _"_ _Your mother just did what any mother would-"_

 _"_ _Please stop making excuses for her – she's gone, she's not here anymore – you are free – I can free you."_

 _"_ _Draco –" Snape whispered, black eyes meeting Draco's tearful ones._

 _"_ _I can no longer sleep – " he desperately cried as fear grew in his eyes. "-the nightmares, the constant voices – I can hear everything in my head, I could almost see it all – please.."_

 _Draco then fell back on the floor right at the end of his feet._

 _He watched with sorrow and burden as Draco cried in frustration, calling his name and begging him like he has never seen in his entire life._

 _"_ _Please…" Draco desperately cried his voice echoing all over the cell. "..my conscience cannot carry on.. please unburden me of its pain. Please allow me to do this… please give me what I need so I can unburden all of us with what my mother has done."_

There was a loud sound that echoed around the darkened cell and Snape fell back onto the floor with Hermione standing over him, arms outstretched.

The red at the side of his face marked her very hand and she stood over him with a shaking stance.

"L-Leave you?" Hermione repeated in a shaking tone just like her body. " _Leave you?"_

Snape's weak and slow figure looked up at her and her eyes were burning with both fear and anger in them.

Her hand was still outstretched out towards him out of her shocked state at her own doing.

He looked away with heavy shame in his eyes.

Guilt quickly passed Hermione's eyes.

"I'm sorry. I didn't.." Hermione whispered quickly getting closer back at him and trying to heave him out of the corner of the cell. "Come on now. I'll help you.. Draco and I will- come now, Severus – we need to get you out of here-"

But Snape stopped her.

With the little strength he had, he gripped her by the wrist with his other hand and stopped her from forcing him out of the corner by the wall.

She looked back at him with panic-stricken tearful eyes.

"Come on." Hermione said tugging at his hand. "Let me get you off the floor – there's – we need to be quick, Draco and I barely have time – I'm getting you out of here-"

"No." Snape's deep and low tone said gaining Hermione's full attention again.

He looked at her with question and defeat in his eyes but her determination was unwavering.

"We need to go." Hermione said in a clear tone and loud tone.

"We both know that's not what Draco and you agreed upon." Snape clearly told her with a hint of fact in his tone.

She looked back at him with wonder in her eyes.

He was right because taking him out of the cell wasn't really or exactly what she and Draco agreed upon. However, she thought that if she could get him out of there, Draco would certainly have no choice and would just agree in helping her get him out of Azkaban.

"Please." Hermione begged him. "We need to – I need to get you out – if you will just cooperate and hurry-"

 _"_ _Leave me, Hermione_." Snape whispered facing away from her and determined to receive her hateful stance.

"You are talking nonsense!" Hermione cried at him as her impatience grew because she knew that their time were running out. "Come on now – bloody hell, Sev! You're wasting time – come get up on your feet! Get up from the floor – we need to go- I need to get you out of here-"

"I said, leave me be. There is nothing here we both can do." Snape said and this seemed to gain Hermione's attention. "We don't belong to one another-"

"We can talk about that later." Hermione angrily said perfectly annoyed now because the time was being wasted and they may be caught any moment.

"You don't understand it, do you?" Snape quietly asked her. "As usual, you are going to do what you want based on facts that are only believed by you – you don't understand- this will won't work, a life with you will never work-"

"Why the bloody fuck are you fighting this?!" Hermione suddenly yelled letting him go and staring as she stood over him with her sweat and impatience worn clearly in her features.

"Why are you fighting this?!" Hermione demanded again as she moved forward again to grab him by the wrist. "You're not helping – so just stay quiet and let me do everything just get up from the fucking floor-"

"I'm not fighting anything." Snape said. "You are fighting for nothing."

A gleam of pain and surprised passed her eyes

"What?" she asked him. "What did you say-"

Snape stared up at her as if contemplating if he should say what he wanted to say next.

"Go." Snape clearly said meeting her eyes. "Leave me alone. _There is no life for us."_

Hermione stopped tugging as she stared at his hopeless form.

Her fingers slowly slipped away from him.

She let him go.

Silence.

And then after a moment, it was broken by Hermione's heavy cry of frustration.

And then Snape felt her angry arms grab him from the corner, taking him by the collar of his clothes and then she hit him again.

Another slap in the face.

"Leave you?!" Hermione cried at him, wand still shaking in her hand. "Leave – just leave you – after it all, _after everything_ – but I – I thought it was us – I thought – you said we'd always have one another- I don't – I don't understand-"

"You are intelligent." Snape pointed out ignoring Hermione's growing panic and fear at his denial and refusal to be rescued. "You understand this well enough. I have no life to offer you. Leave me, Hermione."

"What?" Hermione asked him in heavy breathing as she struggled to cry. "What did you – how could you say that-"

"What I said was clear, Hermione. You have no place here. We have no place in this world. Leave me. There is nothing for us –"

And then another strike.

And another.

Snape didn't move to protect himself nor did he make any gesture to shield himself from her attacks.

Snape let Hermione hit him with as much and as hard as her fists could lash out at him. .

 _"_ _How could you say that_?" Hermione asked him as her breathing became more labored and her eyes began to be heavy with tears. "How can you – I can't – I won't just abandon you here, I won't let you die – I won't let this-"

"You will leave me." Snape whispered clearly without meeting her gaze. "You will leave me because I do not welcome your presence here. I don't need you. I don't.. _I don't want you."_

It felt like Hermione's whole being just froze at those words as if ice-cold bucket was splashed over her head.

Her brains seemed to have jammed and she refuse to comprehend what she had just heard.

She felt like something heavy had been hit squarely over her chest and nothing was making sense in her head.

"What?" she asked with an utmost and constrained laugh shaking her head. "What did you – Sev, I'll heal you – this place is doing things to you brain." Hermione said as tears leaked at the side of her eyes at his words.

 _"_ _I don't want you."_ Snape clearly repeated with an unblinking gaze.

"You're talking nonsense!" Hermione angrily screamed at him. "This is – this _place_ , it's damaging your brain – you're not thinking – you're not – that's why we need to get you out – please, I'll help you recover out of this place – let me help you out of here- "

"I have a strong mind, Hermione." Snape whispered back at her making sure their eye-contact doesn't break. "We both know they can't just break me in here. You know I'm telling the truth. I don't want-"

 _"_ _LIAR!"_ Hermione angrily said hitting him again. "That's a lie – that's not true – why would you say that – why would you – you've kept me alive, you've taken care of me – you took me in-"

"That does not matter any longer. That is of the past."

"You're talking nonsense- you never abandoned me, you took care of me – you've kept me-"

"I kept you and you know the reasons why. I have no hold on the same reasons any longer, therefore, you no longer matter to me-"

Another slap.

"Take that back." Hermione wailed at him shaking her head. "You're not thinking-"

"You have no place here and certainly no place with me."

Hermione looked like her life was being burned right in front of her.

"We can talk about this later –" Hermione said forcing her tears back. "Just come with me now-"

"You heard me." Snape answered her in a dark tone. "I have nothing to offer you and you certainly don't have anything to give me. There is no life for us. Abandon me, _Miss Granger-"_

Hermione blinked.

She took a step backward and stared down at him.

 _"_ Miss Granger?" Hermione repeated with clear irritation, anger and insult in her tone. "What did you just-"

"I don't need you." Snape clearly said. " _I don't want you."_

Hermione shook her head in denial.

"No, you're not – you're not thinking clearly. Stop this, stop it...This is the influence of Azakaban.. of those – those Dementors - Severus.. please stop this. We need to get you out. Let Draco and I help-"

"I don't want your help." Snape slowly said looking up at her. "I've got enough blood over my fate. And you've done enough damage to _my_ life."

The next words got stuck in Hermione's throat that it took her a while to recover into speaking again.

"Damage?" Hermione repeated in a shaky voice. "Damage to _your_ life?"

Snape broke their eye-contact – he looked away from her.

"What did you just say?" Hermione asked him. "I damaged your life?!"

"You were nothing but a burden." Snape said with no sound of remorse in his tone. "I want to forget all of it as you should."

"You want me to just – f-forget _everything?!"_ she repeated with her hands at her sides ready to strike again.

Snape looked away from her, completely sitting still at the corner.

"Take that back!" Hermione angrily yelled at him. " _Take that back!"_

Snape remained quiet and still.

Hermione suddenly fell back over her knees and began hitting him with both her bare hands, completely abandoning her wand over the floor.

"Take that back!" Hermione spat at him as she struggled to hit every part of him she could reach. "Take that back! Take that back you filthy – you scheming – I have given you – I've given you everything _! EVERYTHING!"_

But Snape remained quite passive and very still.

He let her hurt him in all the possible ways she could harm him at that moment without moving a single muscle to defend himself.

There was a loud sound and heavy footsteps.

Draco returned to the room looking at them both with wide eyes at the scene that was taking place.

" _What the hell is going on here?!"_ Draco's alarmed voice came as he ran back into the cell and abandoned his post near the gateway of the cell.

His eyes widened upon seeing a seemingly helpless Snape against the corner while Hermione continued on attacking him at the point of killing his godfather.

"Hermione – _Hermione_ , what the bloody hell are you doing?!" Draco shouted at her, quickly diving into the scene and grabbing her by the back of her arms.

But she struggled and she was damn strong as her anger was vent out right then and there.

"LET GO OF ME – LET GO OF ME YOU _– LET GO OF ME MALFOY!"_ Hermione angrily yelled and this time, she was now kicking herself free from Draco's grasp.

For a split moment, their eyes met and it was as if she didn't recognize him.

Draco's heart pounded as he stared at her struggling form, her angry yells and at Snape who did absolutely nothing to defend himself.

"Hermione calm down – please - they're going to hear us – what the hell is going on-"

He was absolutely confused because he knew that Hermione had been desperate into seeing Snape, into talking to him up this close.

He had seen her struggle and knew that she genuinely wanted to see him and she cared for him.

They agreed that tonight was something like a closure was to take place – not some murder.

He couldn't understand what changed.

"Take that back!" Hermione continuously yelled as she clawed her way to him trying to grasp and hit any part she could reach. "How could you – how could you say that – after it all, after all those years – after everything – after all you've asked me - you've asked me to do, after everything you've made me do – after all of it- I cannot leave you here to die!"

"You can and you will." Snape simply muttered over her deafening yells at her. "Detach yourself from me."

Instead of calming her, it only seemed to trigger more anger in Hermione.

She pulled him to him so she could reach and hit him closer.

Her fingers strangled to hit him hard over his chest, his arms but he didn't give a single fight against it all.

"Detach myself?" Hermione repeated trying to clear her eyes from tears to see him clearly. "Detach – detach myself from you? What – what did you think – all of it was a game? What do – what do you think, this is some sort of class where we detach parts from one another? Where we detach – detach things we no longer need?"

He didn't say anything, he only edged his face away from her and it looked nothing more like a passive agreement of her statement to him.

Hermione cried out again as she struggled to hit him one more time with her bare hands.

"Did you not…" Hermione quietly breathed out. "Did you not… _love me?"_

There was a shift in his breathing and his movement.

He looked away from her, refusing to answer.

It angered Hermione further.

"Did you not love me?" she asked in a clearer and louder tone. "Answer me!"

Her cries grew louder, more desperate while Snape remained silent.

"You told me.. you _promised.."_ Hermione whispered struggling against Draco's grip.

Snape only looked away, seemingly far out from all of it.

 _"_ _DID YOU NOT LOVE ME!"_ she loudly wailed the words so loud that even Draco could feel the pain in her heart at that moment.

And yet, there came no response from Snape.

Hermione was losing her patience as much as she was losing it all.

"ANSWER ME!" Hermione demanded angrily, fists shaking at her sides. " _ANSWER ME!"_

Her cries of anger and desperation did nothing to make Snape respond.

He completely ignored her.

 _"_ _LOOK AT ME YOU BLOODY COWARD_!" Hermione yelled at his face as all anger, all frustration, desperation and every bit of memory and burden began coming back to her and heaving a heavy tug inside her chest.

Snape ignored her.

"LOOK AT ME – ANSWER ME YOU BLOODY FUCKING COWARD! NOW YOU WILL LEAVE ME?! NOW YOU WILL LEAVE ME – AFTER IT ALL – _AFTER IT ALL_ \- HOW COULD YOU _-"_

"Hermione, calm yourself down-" Draco dived for them as Hermione was already murdering him with blows after another with her closed fists.

"No, you let me at him – let me-"

"What did you tell her?" Draco suddenly turned to his godfather but he refused to answer him.

 _"_ _He told me to leave him_!" Hermione angrily yelled kicking Snape this time as far as she could reach because Draco held her arms tightly behind her. "He told me that he is going to – he wants me to abandon him – Draco, he feels nothing – _he feels nothing!"_

Draco stared from her and at his godfather who was silent and unmoving again.

"There is not a life for the two of us." Snape quietly said his head down to avoid meeting Draco's questioning glare. "There is not a life for the two of us and she wouldn't accept it. Miss Granger seems to be in a delusional state that she couldn't accept reality."

Hermione looked back at Draco with nothing but a pitiful glance as if she was begging him to rescue them both out of this, as if Draco could change Snape's mind.

"After all of it, ten years.. I don't understand… I gave you my life.. I gave you-"

"You should not have attached yourself to me." Snape simply said with no trace of emotion at all. "You should leave now. There is nothing for you here. I feel nothing for you."

"NO!" Hermione angrily yelled, viciously kicking herself free from Draco. "You will – ten years of my life, you've taken and now you will tell me – _you will tell me you feel nothing for me?!"_

 _"_ You should learn to accept things, Miss Granger. _Life is not a fairytale."_

"Accept it?!" Hermione angrily yelled back. "Accept my bloody arse for it – AFTER EVERYTHING LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME, YOU FUCKING COWARD! _I GAVE YOU EVERYTHING!"_

She whirled around, turning to Draco again who looked as confused as she was.

"I GAVE HIM EVERYTHING THAT HE WANTED! I GAVE HIM EVERYTHING! DRACO, _EVERYTHING_!"

Her voice quivered, pain and tears all over her features as she clung to Draco for dear life.

It was like she was a child again, telling Draco about someone who bullied her, who wronged her, who hurt her.

"Take her, Draco." Snape quiet voice came. "She doesn't belong here. She doesn't belong with me. She doesn't understand."

"I don't understand?!" Hermione screamed back at him as she kicked her way again forcing Draco to take a few steps back, dragging her with him away from Snape by the waist. "I don't understand?! I did my understanding – TEN FUCKING YEARS OF IT! I let you – _I allowed you_ – I let you take it all from me, I allowed you to take and take from me!"

"That's why you need to leave me. I don't want anything from you anymore. There is no future for the two of us."

"You don't want me?!" Hermione cried at him, the pain in her eyes evident as the pain in her voice. "Now you don't want me – because you don't feel like _fucking me_ anymore?"

Silence came as those words echoed around the three of them in the darkened cell.

Even Draco was speechless at Hermione's words.

She struggled against him, eyes bloodshot from tears and focused towards Snape who now refused to meet her gaze back.

"Answer me!" Hermione's howling cries revealed all the years of pain consumed and locked up inside of her. "I have every bit of right to know why!"

But Snape refused to answer, turning completely deaf ears at Hermione's cries and wails.

"I have every right to know!" Hermione wailed angrily. "You can't just throw me away – you can't just make me - It's my life you took – _my life_ with Harry you've stolen! I want to know – I demand to know-"

"Hermione." Draco whispered in tears holding her. "We need to go-"

"You took my life! You took my life away from me! You stole me from all of them – _you stole my life_ – you stole me from Harry! Do you know what you did to Harry?! Do you know – " Hermione cried out in desperation, anger and ten years of hurt coming out at that very moment as she kicked and tried to reach for Snape to strangle him.

"You play victim now – you let me be away – you took me from them, you kept me, you fucked me every single goddamn day telling me – telling me if was for _me_ , for Harry – you took me from all of them! You took my life! You selfish – you bastard – you raped me… _you raped me_.. you mercilessly take and take.. every day.. you just… I gave you everything.. _everything.."_

Her desperate cries drew a heavy burden from Draco and even as he tried to keep her still, he could no longer stop the tears from his eyes as if he was there at each and every day and night that his godfather took her and her life away.

"You wasted..you wasted my lifenow you will tell me you don't love me? Answer me – you fucking coward – ANSWER MEEEEEEE!"

"Hermione, stop this. This isn't helping any of us." Draco said warningly as he closed his eyes for a moment seeing how desperate and drastic things could get in an instant.

Almost a dozen Wizegamot trials and since the day that he came back to her life – he has never seen any kind or any trace of anger in Hermione towards Snape. And eventually seeing her out right now ready to murder his godfather, hearing all the years of her suffering from her very mouth made him feel a burden like nothing he had never felt before.

"Let go of me, Draco – " Hermione commanded in a dark voice as she forced herself to stop crying – "Just let me at him – I need answers, he can't refuse me answers, I demand answers from the life he took from me –"

"No, this is enough." Draco sternly said taking a harder grip around her waist. "You need to get out of here. This place is affecting you-"

"I'm not affected!" Hermione growled turning at him this time around. "Didn't you hear what he said?!"

Her bloodshot eyes met Draco's gentle and understanding once.

But she showed no sign of backing down.

"I heard what he said." Draco calmly said trying to reach for her arm gently. "Now, come with –"

"NO!" Hermione angrily said pushing herself away from him and for a moment, Draco had let her slip from his grasp. "Ten years, Draco! A decade is what he took from us!"

Her eyes met Draco and at that very moment, he knew that she'd lost it as well.

Hermione fought against him and she fell forward and managed to quickly crawl a little nearer Snape.

Draco fell back on his knees to reach to her and was just in time to grab her by the legs as her outstretched arms attempted to get to Snape, clawing monstrously towards the man.

"Look at me you coward! You dare – you dare not move – you're not helpless! _You're not helpless!"_

But Snape remained as he was, still and unmoving and refusing to stare back at her.

"Take her away, Draco." Snape quietly commanded. "This place isn't doing her any good. You need to get her out. Take her-"

"You have no right to command him!" Hermione shrieked at him. "You have no right to command him – or anyone of us in here – you can't do to them what you did to _me!"_

Her words were bearing truth and burden inside of him because this wasn't just fate or Snape's doing – it was his mother's own doing.

This, before him, was the result of a decade's worth of suffering and greed.

And the guilt inside of him was growing more, growing stronger by each of Hermione's cries.

Her eyes were red, filled with anger that had been locked up inside her heart for ten years.

Draco could only stare and listen as she let it all out while he held her back down to keep her from murdering Snape.

"You have no right to tell anyone – to command anyone things the way you made me do things!" Hermione angrily wailed. "You get up there and answer me – don't act – you're not helpless – you have no idea what helpless really feels like!"

"Hermione, please calm down. We need to go." Draco said taking a firm grip around her but she wasn't going down without a fight.

"YOU WANT ME TO LEAVE YOU?!" Hermione angrily screamed at him as she struggled to move as close as she could despite Draco's hold of her. "HOW COULD YOU – HOW COULD YOU SAY THA T- AFTER IT ALL, AFTER EVERYTHING! LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME YOU FUCKING COWARD!"

But Snape refused to look at her.

 _"_ _Hermione, stop it!"_ Draco warned as she made another high kick that made her traveling boots graze the side of Snape's face and have they been a bit closer, would definitely have badly hurt Snape's jawline.

"Take her away, Draco." Snape simply and clearly said. "Take her out of this place."

"NO!" Hermione screamed her argument. "No, not until I get my answer from you – not until-"

"Come on, Hermione-"

"I SAID NO!" Hermione growled back at Draco, eyes wide before turning her gaze back at Snape, pointing angrily at him. "LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME-"

"Hermione-"

"AFTER IT ALL, AFTER EVERYTHING – YOU WILL THROW ME AWAY – YOU WILL JUST ABANDON ME AFTER ALL THOSE YEARS – TEN YEARS! TEN YEARS DRACO – HE TOOK TEN YEARS FROM ME!"

"Draco, take her-"

"YOU LOOK AT ME! YOU ARE _NOT_ THE VICTIM – DON'T ACT LIKE – YOU TOOK MY LIFE AWAY FROM ME! YOU TOOK ME FROM HARRY! YOU DESTROYED MY LIFE, MY LIFE WITH HARRY!"

Draco stared back at his godfather with the same angry and tearful eyes.

Despite his cold façade, he could tell that he was heavily ridden with guilt at that very moment that's why he's asking Hermione to be taken away.

"Please, 'Mione – we need to go-"

 _"_ _YOU DON'T JUST ABDUCT PEOPLE!"_ Hermione screamed kicking herself and strangling herself free from Draco who was losing his grip on her again. "YOU DON'T ABDUCT PEOPLE NO MATTER THE REASON– YOU FUCKING BASTARD – YOU DON'T ABDUCT THEM AND FUCK THEM! YOU CAN'T EVEN STAND UP TO YOUR PROMISES!"

"Leave me alone, Miss Granger." Snape quietly whispered, turning deaf ears to all her anger and cries.

"Did you hear him?!" Hermione angrily yelled and he suddenly turned to meet Draco's eyes. "Did you hear – he wants me to leave – he wants – Draco, he promised me – _he promised a life with me!"_

And at that very moment that Draco stared into her desperate and murderous eyes, he understood.

Hermione must have heard something or Snape must have said something that triggered all the anger inside of her that have been bottled up through all the years.

And now, they were coming out of her at the wrong ends and at the wrong time, confusing her completely and making all her emotions crash down

"Hermione, please." Draco whispered tightening his grip around her wrists behind her to ensure that she doesn't get her hands anywhere near Snape. "Please."

"Let me go!" Hermione viciously yelled at him, her eyes murderous as Draco had never seen them.

"Hermione-"

"Let me go or I swear I'm fucking going to hurt you too!" she screamed at him.

Her eyes wandered then around the ground.

"Where's the wand – " she wildly cried around. "Let me – let me at him – let me at him-"

"Hermione, please." Draco said almost yelling at her.

Draco tugged harder and with a heavy heave, he forcibly carried her away from Snape and pushed her at the opposite side of the room.

"STOP IT!" Draco warned her, eyes wide. "Hermione, get a grip-"

"No, you let me at him!" Hermione yelled and she advanced again but Draco held her tightly this time around the waist blocking her from reaching Snape.

"No, I can't-"

"I thought you're with me!" Hermione angrily lashed at him but her eyes were at Snape. "Let me just let me- you said you're with me-"

 _"_ _I am with you_." Draco clearly said. "Hermione, let's talk this over-"

"Talk this over?!" Hermione angrily repeated. "Did you not hear him! DID YOU NOT HEAR HIM!"

She then began crying, a conflicted turmoil and display of raw emotions before Draco was something he wasn't prepared for.

"Hermione-"

"He wants to leave – he wants me to leave him – he promised _– he promised a life with me_ and – he's going to abandon me! He wants to die – he's going to abandon me – the way Harry abandoned me!"

Silence fell.

Even Snape seemed to have sensed the indifference in her tone.

Draco then stared at her, the look in her eyes was something he's never seen and it scared him for her.

Hermione then sounded and looked as scared and helpless as pitiful – the imagery he had been having that must have been her state back in the cottage for all those years.

"Mione-"

"Harry abandoned me – Professor Lupin – " Hermione started to desperately cry then as she still struggled against his grip with her eyes on Snape – "Ginny – the Order – they – _they_ just abandoned me- they just forgot about me – they forgot about me, Draco…"

Draco's eyes burned in tears and he held her tighter to his chest.

"Hermione, Potter never abandoned you – he spent his entire life fighting to look for you – there wasn't a single day that Potter abandoned you nor the thought of finding you again-"

"He let me – he let me be taken by this – _by this monster!"_ Hermione angrily yelled this time, her whole body shaking in anger again at the thought of Snape, her eyes vicious as they turned back at Snape. "And he was there and _he knew_ they were looking for me – he knew and now – he wants to abandon me now because there's nothing – nothing more he can take!"

Draco stared at her and at Snape who was wordless but was listening.

"Hermione, be reasonable – come, you're not thinking-"

"LET ME AT HIM!" she yelled again as if the little silence made her regain a bit more strength. "ANSWER ME! YOU COWARD! YOU FUCKING BASTARD! Why are you doing this to me?! Why me – why did you do this to Harry – why the two of us, what have I ever done to you - WHY?!"

"I saved your life. I saved Potter's life." Snape softly whispered as Draco stared at him, shaking his head and making him stop to avoid Hermione from reacting further.

"You took my life away from Harry! You took our future away!" Hermione screamed at him and this time, the anger seemed to slowly ebb away and was being consumed by nothing but regret and pain.

"I had to do what I had to do." Snape simply said with a very unemotional tone. "I had to save the lives of the ones I can. I could save yours so I saved it. There's absolutely _nothing_ more to it. You have no life with me and there is certainly no home for you with me."

"No.. I don't.. no home.." Hermione whispered, at loss for words as the burden grew inside of her.

"You have no life with me; no home with me that you can go back to." Snape quietly said as if he was just explaining something like an irrelevant subject.

A different kind of glint passed Hermione's eyes.

Even Draco could feel what she was feeling upon hearing Snape's words

– so precise, so cold, without any hint of emotion and sounded a lot like he was just giving some usual Potions' class lecture.

She swallowed hard and recovered from her tears and she went back for him but Draco was behind her, holding both her arms tightly to stop her from getting to Snape.

"Save my life?" she repeated quietly, her voice slightly shaking. " _S-save my life?!"_

"I saved your life." Snape clearly answered her. "You should be _grateful_ I saved Potter's."

"HOW DARE YOU SAY - YOU SAVED MY LIFE!" Hermione now screamed louder and angrier than ever with her eyes very red and wide like they were going to get out of their places. "I PAID FOR IT! I PAID FOR THE BOTH OF IT AND MORE! I PAID FOR EVERYTHING - WITH _EVERY_ BIT OF MORSEL OF MY BODY FOR THE EVERYDAY THAT LIVED WITH YOU AT THAT ROTTEN COTTAGE!"

This time, her words seemed to finally make an effect on Snape.

He looked up at her, eyes sharp as her words obviously hit home base. Snape sharply looked back at her as she obviously hit home-base.

Something like hurt passed Snape's eyes.

Despite that it was there, it had quickly vanished when he stared right back at her.

"I PAID FOR EVERY MINUTE, EVERY MOMENT OF THAT!" Hermione cried at him. "The things you asked me to do – _the things you made me do_ \- Don't tell me it were all for nothing, don't tell me I owe you anything - I UNWILLINGLY GODDAMN PAID FOR EVERY DROP OF POTION THAT SAVED MINE AND HARRY'S LIFE!"

Draco was at loss for words as everything Hermione had been struggling with inside of her came out of her mouth, crashing everything else in the way.

And there was nothing – not even him – could do about it all.

"YOU WOULD JUST TAKE AND TAKE!" Hermione wailed at him pointing angrily. "YOU TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME – THE LIFE HARRY AND I COULD EVER HAD – YOU JUST TOOK IT ALL AWAY OUR FUTURE, MY FUTURE – MY LIFE _!"_

Hot-white tears accumulated at the sides of Draco's face as he stared at Hermione's pitiful state.

It was like everything that she couldn't say or refused to say in front of the Wizengamot or of the Order just came out of her right now when it became too much – when it was Snape telling her now to stop fighting fate.

Her red eyes stared back at Snape, her shaking hand pointed at the man.

"DAY AND NIGHT – YOU HAD ME, YOU HAD ME ANY WAY YOU WANTED – EVEN IF I BEGGED YOU, EVEN IF I COULDN'T – BUT I LET YOU, I LET YOU BECAUSE YOU SAID YOU LOVE ME – YOU SAID IT'S FOR HARRY, FOR THE ORDER – YOU TOLD ME YOU LOVE ME – AND NOW WHEN I HAVE NOTHING TO GIVE – YOU WILL – _HOW COULD YOU-"_

Draco held her tight, but he could no longer hold back his tears as he held her while listening to her desperate cries at the ten years that she had been made victim.

She slowly stopped struggling against Draco and had also stopped trying to reach for Snape.

Her body seemed to have gotten tired from all the kicking and screaming but her words were going out there, coming out of her after a decade of being kept down deep inside of her.

"WE TRUSTED YOU.. " her soft cries continued. "The headmaster… Harry… the Order.. I TRUSTED YOU.. YOU SAID.. I BELIEVED IN EVERYTHING YOU SAID.. BUT YOU STILL TOOK IT ALL.. YOU WOULD ALWAYS TAKE AND TAKE..AND TAKE AND TAKE, EVEN IF I BEG YOU, YOU ALWAYS JUST TAKE… "

Draco closed his eyes, his heart being burdened as well.

He didn't want to hear any of it anymore but he knew that Hermione had to let this out and this was the time.

He knew of the things that happened in the cottage based on the stories and accounts Hermione had given.

But to hear them all over again in a more burdensome and emotional statement made it all sound and feel worse than he had first encountered the stories.

His eyes passed Snape and despite his rigid like form, he could tell that he was silently crying behind the dark and long locks of hair keeping his face clear from sight.

"You took my life – you took my life… you stole my life… you took me from Harry.. what did he.. what did we ever do to you.. ten years, Severus.. I endured ten years… because you gave hope.. you told me.. you told me you love me.. and _I believed that."_

Snape's heart was clogged with guilt and pain.

He couldn't stare at her with all the shame and guilt in his being.

He let her hurt him because he knew he deserved that and more.

He listened to her cries, to her frustration, to her pain that she's bottled up for ten years.

He knew this was coming; he was just unsure when but he knew that she had to let this one out.

Draco stared at Snape and despite that his godfather's face was hiding beneath his lanky and messy long hair, he knew that tears were consuming inside his eyes as he listened to his labored breathing.

It took a bit more of time and the only sounds that may be heard was Hermione's howls and cries in the darkened cell.

Neither of the men spoke as they stared and listened to Hermione's cries letting it all out, letting the truth inside her and her feelings that have been bottled up for years to come out of her, sinking deeply at the two men that involved to her suffering for a decade.

After a while, Draco seemed to also recover as he blinked away the tears from his eyes.

"Hermione, this isn't. Come with me, this place is affecting you – I need to get you out-"

"NO!" Hermione angrily kicked him and Draco, taken back slackened his grip around her.

Hermione fell back on the floor as Draco did but then she immediately regained herself and crawled her way back towards Snape.

"YOU CAN'T JUST LET ME LEAVE YOU – HOW CAN YOU SAY – DID YOU NOT LOVE ME?! DID YOU NOT SAY – DID YOU NOT PROMISE-"

And before her gnawing fingers could reach Snape, Draco had reached her just in time with a second to spare and managed to wrap his arms around her waist again to stop her from attacking Snape.

Hermione kicked and yelled again.

He remained still, his face was already red from her attacks and his tattered clothes had been slightly pulled at the edges because of Hermione's angry advances.

"LOOK AT ME! SAY SOMETHING! SAY SOMETHING!" Hermione howled at him with a monstrous flare all over her face. "SAY SOMETHING YOU FUCKING COWARD! _SAY SOMETHING!"_

And after all of it, Snape seemed to have come into conclusion as he edged and moved forward Hermione despite Draco's warnings of him to come closer.

Snape's thin and dry lips moved, he approached Hermione and opened his mouth.

They all stayed frozen at the spot eyes wide and ears listening closely for what came next.

However, before he could even open his mouth, they all heard it – the sounds of footsteps and seemingly hushed voices coming down at Snape's Azkaban cell.


	70. Chapter 70

**_Author's Notes:_**

 ** _NOW ABOUT THE STORY AND THE CHAPTER.  
I have come to realize that it's very foolish of me that chapter 70 and epilogue will be enough for this.  
NO, ABSOLUTELY NOT.  
I have come to see through my writing and editing (even way weeks before but I didn't really follow my goddamn instincts) that this was going to work this way.  
So now, I am separating the chapters.  
Chapter 70 which should have been the final chapter before the epilogue, would adamantly be sliced into part/s while we would all end in an epilogue.  
I'm not trying to prolong it all, but according to my edits I'm about almost page 30 and I haven't even gotten to the highlight of the ending.  
So I must be a terrible writer that way =(_**

 _ **I am thus, going to slice up this chapter before we get to the finale and epilogue.  
I hope you understand.**_

 _ **I don't want to vastly just end it for the sake of ending it.  
As a writer, I believe that each story should end the way it should, given the time it should really have.  
Okay. Enough of the drama.**_

 _ **Here's the part one of the finale chapter and hope you like it.**_

 _ **Again, thank you for all the love and patience for this story. I love you guys from the moon and back infinity times.  
Please, please do tell me how each of you are doing and comment anything anytime on my story.  
I love hearing from you all at your end of the world.**_

 _ **With lots of love,  
Xx**_

 _ **PS  
Posting this at eastern time 746pm of April 12th, 2018**_

 _ **Have a good weekend everyone!**_

 **Chapter 70**

 **The Revelation**

 **Part I**

 _The clock chimed twelve midnight._

 _He looked up from his long work table and stared at the old and almost broken grandfather's clock in his workroom at the basement._

 _He sighed and rubbed his eyes as he lowered the two bottles in his hands._

 _He finished just in time._

 _His black eyes roamed the table as vials after another and parchments after another lay scattered all over the table._

 _Almost nineteen hours of working and brewing on the potion after weeks, months and years of trying to research and fully develop it._

 _Finally, he was done._

 _It was close to impossible but he did it, he made it – he had accomplished it as no other Potions Master or maybe wizard could have done so._

 _It could have taken longer and it was a blessing that Hermione had been very busy, very much caught up in arranging everything for their so-called wedding that he was able to be left alone in the basement to finish everything without her constant visits to bother him and ask him what he was doing._

 _"_ _It's for a client." he would always answer whenever she would decide to see him or knock at the top of the basement's staircase._

 _She had grown tired through time and learned to stop asking questions._

 _And tonight, he was able to accomplish what no other wizard could do so in just a very small span of time or rather, what no other wizard could do so in any other given time and circumstance._

 _He found a way to break the ancient and powerful magic of a Soul Bound._

 _Finally, Hermione was going to get her freedom back._

 _It may break her heart, the process he had to go through but he could finally bring her back her freedom that he had promised so long ago._

 _He could finally bring her back to Harry Potter and be where she truly belonged after all these years._

 _Snape closed his eyes, rubbing his temples with his thin and tired fingers._

 _Hot tears were threatening to fall back from his eyes._

 _He stared back at the pair of long vial and magically secured vial before him._

 _She wasn't hers to begin with._

 _It was the thought that pushed him, that made to him move forward with this task that reminded him to do what little good was left of him._

 _He was going to bring her back._

 _He placed and secured it inside a tall black box and kept it in place for which it would be taken and used for its right and only purpose._

 _He had taken his fill of the potion ensuring that the Soul Bond breaks the moment it touched his lips whereas Hermione would have to take hers in the morning before the wedding takes place._

 _And while Hermione hasn't taken her part of the potion, the breaking of the spell would yet to be complete however, Snape's accumulation of his part of the potion would ensure that his magic is now disengaged from the bond that should anything happen to him, it would leave Hermione alive and unharmed but still protected by the bond until she's taken it, whereas he would no longer be._

 _Should anything happen to him, Hermione's life would no longer be connected to his so she would remain alive and yet still be protected by the enchantment and magic of the bond._

 _The glimmering magenta liquid from the pair of vials moved as he touched the black box as he closed and secured them into place._

 _One was full to its brim and the other contains only half of it._

 _He never thought he'd ever actually finish and accomplish it._

 _Two out of three of the things he had to do – the letter to Lupin, the potion to secure Hermione's life by breaking the bond and tomorrow morning and the wedding that will secure her a will and testament that he would be leaving behind with all he had made and left for by Narcissa Malfoy once he surrenders himself at Azkaban right after the wedding._

 _Everything was smoothly planned._

 _He failed in a lot of things through the years, but not this time around._

 _No, not this time._

 _He could finally bring her back to them without the fear of the Soul Bound harming her should anything happen to him when the Auror arrives to take her back and bring him to Azkaban where he belongs all these years._

 _It was indeed a long ten years but tonight, at the eve of their wedding, he managed to secure and bring forth everything into their rightful places and ready to be executed for Hermione's sake once the sun rises._

 _Finally, after ten years, Hermione could go back where she truly belongs with everything and more that she would need._

 _"_ _No, Harry!"_

 _There was a loud and insistent tapping over his window that woke him up with the echoes and sounds of his own voice screaming._

 _Lupin woke up in cold dreaded sweat all over his half-naked body from the dream he had been having._

 _It was about Harry._

 _He was about to jump off the Astronomy Tower and the moment that he was about to, some gigantic black raven came to catch him but it had quickly dispersed and was replaced by a smoke in form of a doe._

 _Lupin woke with a painful start and heavy breathing._

 _He stared up and around the darkly lit room of his small apartment._

 _The fire in the hearth was dying and the tapping over his window was still there._

 _Quick and agile, he grabbed his wand from under his pillow and jumped out of bed and stared over his window._

 _A large, black raven was flying outside._

 _A raven?_

 _"_ _Alohamora." Lupin whispered and his window opened up and let the black raven in._

 _There was a letter bound to the bird._

 _That was peculiar._

 _Owls were usually the ones that delivered letters._

 _He moved closer his bed where the exhausted and thirsty looking bird landed weakly._

 _He waved his wand and a small bowl with cold water appeared over his bed and he moved the raven towards it so it could drink while he struggled slightly to disentangle the note from the raven._

 _The parchment was slightly damp telling him that the bird might have come from somewhere far with a hint of a place with water._

 _He took the parchment and his eyes moved closer the bird – watching it closely, observing it._

 _"_ _Where did you come from?" he muttered as he reluctantly unfolded the parchment it was bearing._

 _The handwriting was very much familiar._

 _He was just about to fully open it and read its contents when he heard something else._

 _A blinding light suddenly came right up at the old and fireplace._

 _The fire had been completely extinguished and the power and light of the stag shaped Patronus came out of the hearth._

 _"_ _What-" Lupin muttered and before he could come close to retrieve the message, a few other lights came from his window and by his doorway._

 _Patronus more than one at the same time would only mean one thing – an emergency call of some sort from the Ministry of Magic._

 _Lupin folded the parchment away as he moved closer to the Patronus from the fireplace that immediately told him that it was Harry's._

 _The message was loud and clear as the stag in its full glory and form lit before him – Harry was in great need of him at that exact moment and would only one very clear message with the Patronus:_

 _"_ _I have finally found them"_

 _It doesn't have to take a genius to understand what Harry meant or who he has found._

 _It was loud and clear._

 _It could have mean only one thing._

 _Panic and fear rose in Lupin's being._

 _Harry could be in danger should he decide to go alone to an unknown place, an unknown abode, a place that time might have forgotten to rescue a beloved he was sure that could possibly no longer knew him._

 _He suddenly realized the possible meaning of his dream that woke him out of a terrible state._

 _Lupin's heart raced faster at the realization._

 _"_ _No." Lupin whispered in cold sweat. "You will get yourself in danger.."_

 _His mind raced at the possibilities of what Harry's drastic plans could lead them to._

 _He was about to get into an unknown place for the belief that he had finally and possibly found Hermione after ten years._

 _"_ _You can't go alone.." Lupin breathed suddenly grabbing the nearest pair of clothing he could get his hands on. "You can't go.. not alone. I'm coming, Harry."_

 _His mind and heart racing, Lupin grabbed whatever he could to change himself into as he looked around again for his wand with nothing else but worry in his mind for Harry._

 _It was only Harry in his mind and his urgency to send him a Patronus meant that he was about to do something with negligence out of his belief that he will find Hermione._

 _Lupin changed as fast as he could and left the dimly lit apartment as fast as he could to get himself to Harry's immediate aid._

 _The father that he was, he had no one else but Harry Potter in his mind; forgetting everything behind including the letter that was magically brought in by a raven who travelled miles and miles from an isolated island in Beltane that bear a letter that would have changed different fates at the coming sunrise._

 _There were continued sounds of explosions, of loud and heavy sounds of running, the screaming voices with certain power and command and the lights from varied wands and the smoke that were left behind by the debris that were left by the crashing structure of the cottage._

 _It had been a few hours since Lupin arrived at the Ministry of Magic only to find Harry fully dressed and armed and ready to attack an isolated island with the rest of his team of Aurors._

 _He tried to stop him, to let him think and plan carefully before ambushing the place but he was relentless and reckless._

 _He had a great hunch that he would finally find Hermione, that this time the place they've traced magic was absolute and clear._

 _He emphasized to his father figure how strong the magic was that had been traced back there and how there were barely any wards at the island._

 _Lupin kept himself at a close distance to Harry – not just to lose sight of the boy but to ensure that whatever may take cover from their attack wouldn't stand a chance to just kill the boy he had dedicated his life in protecting for the bestfriend who loved him like a brother._

 _There were screams and yells and there wasn't much to see but the lights and smoke from the debris that had fallen and Lupin had no choice but to follow in suit of the spells that Aurors were attacking the place with._

 _Snape grabbed hold of Hermione, pushing her as farther as possible from the fallen debris and ensuring he protect her from all the spells and fallen parts of the cottage._

 _As he was slumped back down on the ground, face first he could hear the Aurors from all direction opening doors after another, scavenging the places for evidences of sorts, removing all the wards his placed all over the place, hurrying themselves to Hermione's physical need and aid after she's fallen across him from the crashed floor room and all other sorts and sounds of voices._

 _But above all of it, all he could hear then was that voice above him as magical ropes began binding his hands behind him, a wand painfully directed at the nape of his neck pushing his face painfully over the dust filled basement floor he was slumped and forced into._

 _He heard it and felt it in his ears but he couldn't comprehend them._

 _He didn't understand it – he was sure that his letter was very much clear._

 _He gave Lupin all the instructions and information he needed but requested one thing in return – to take her as gently as possible._

 _Lupin wasn't daft and despite all their past and how horrible he must have been for the man through the years, he knew that Lupin was above a lot of things and he would clearly and definitely understand that request he had made of him._

 _He made sure that he understood the consequences of the possible action that they may do._

 _But what was going on?_

 _He could only think of one answer:_

 _Lupin never got his letter._

 _But how did the Aurors find them exactly?_

 _There was obviously nothing ever so gentle about being attacked, ambushed and bound to the ground painfully while the Aurors attacked and disassembled the whole place._

 _All the years of investments he had at the place he had also learned to love with his life – the only place that ever held all the good memories he could have had in his coming time at Azkaban._

 _Snape could only close his eyes as he felt himself being pushed back down over the ground and being tied behind his back by magical bonds._

 _Something had gone wrong but then again, there was nothing right to begin with it the past ten years._

 _This was it, this was really it._

 _This was the end of it all._

 _All the good memories he had with Hermione at the cottage were now falling apart literally into smithereens as he heard the place being collapsed by spells from the attack._

 _It took a moment for the spells and smoke from the debris to clear and once it was, he could see silhouettes of about a dozen Aurors around them._

 _He could hear Hermione's screams somewhere at the back of him as he was forced back over his feet and was being painfully tied and dragged on like some vicious and wild animal that could be set free._

 _He felt pairs of arms after another, searching for his wand around his body and when found it was quickly taken away from him and he heard the spell that sealed it or disentangles its magical power, property and bond to its owner._

 _And then that voice came to him, loud and clear._

 _"_ _I, Harry James Potter-" the voice sounded heavy, tight and almost dark in a way, "-By the power bestowed upon me by the Ministry of Magic – you, Severus Prince Snape – is hereby being arrested for the crimes committed as a Death Eater – " Harry's voice was breathless and filled with every bit of hatred running through his veins as he read out loud Snape's crimes and rights, "for the deceit and treachery to the Order of the Phoenix, treachery and unlawful acts from the Ministry of Magic London and the Wizarding World Community and for the –" he paused, as his fingers tightened around Snape's shoulders as he stared down at him being dragged and tied around- "-for the –" Harry could barely breath as his voice was caught in his throat by his throat and hatred for the man before him, "-for the abduction of Hermione Jean Granger for t-ten years – you, Mr. Severus Prince Snape, will henceforth at this very moment be stripped of your rights to use your wand. A Defense Council shall be granted and requested for you at the Ministry of Magic and by the Wizengamot – but until then, you have the mere right to remain silent until you are taken to Azkaban with further orders from the high court of the Wizengamot."_

 _Snape closed his eyes as he was silenced by Harry's words and in a sudden understanding._

 _Harry might have intercepted the letter or the letter never really reached Lupin's hands._

 _It was very clear – Lupin never got his message._

 _The wand he directed over his neck was then removed and when he looked up and stared up he saw that Lupin was holding Harry's wand hand directed at him._

 _He caught Lupin's eyes and the way the old Marauder stared back at him told him that he was as shock as he was with what was taking place._

 _"_ _Let go, Harry." Lupin's quiet voice whispered as his eyes cornered Snape's weakened form. "Let them deal with him."_

 _They could all still hear some of the Aurors moving around but above these, they could hear Hermione's screaming voice somewhere in the cottage._

 _But Harry looked like he was more than ready to use all the Unforgivable Curses on the man before him._

 _"_ _Harry." Lupin's voice called out again as he turned to the boy whose face was so red in anger and fists clenched at his sides. "Go to Hermione."_

 _But Harry refused to move._

 _He was staring at Snape with all the hatred he had bottled up in him through all the years._

 _He couldn't believe his eyes._

 _After ten years – here was the Potions Master believed to be dead or lost in the war._

 _He had been right all these years – he was alive and he was the one who had taken Hermione._

 _"_ _Harry-" Lupin warned loudly as Harry took a step and had already launched his left free hand forward in an attempt of punching Snape._

 _"_ _Let me go." Harry muttered not leaving Snape's unblinking gaze. "Just let me – let me at him-"_

 _"_ _Harry, please-"_

 _"_ _Let me at him!" Harry suddenly screamed, his eyes scary and different. "He took Hermione, you hear me?"_

 _Lupin stared back at the boy he had known for so long._

 _But he looked different – he looked cold, murderous, evil._

 _"_ _No." Lupin said. "You're not putting justice into your hands-"_

 _"_ _DO YOU NOT SEE? I TOLD YOU – I TOLD YOU! I TOLD EVERYONE – HE CANNOT BE TRUSTED!"_

 _He pointed back at Snape with a shaking hand ready to punch him._

 _Lupin nodded at one of the Aurors to pull Snape away from them as he held Snape by the arms from the back._

 _"_ _Not today, Harry." Lupin gently said seeing Harry's growing hatred and murderous glare. "Not today-"_

 _"_ _HE STOLE HER FROM ME!" Harry screamed back at him as he struggled to free himself to get to Snape. "He did – he took her from me – I will kill him! I will kill him! You will pay! You hear me – I will murder you- You will pay!"_

 _"_ _No." Lupin whispered holding him back tightly. "Not today, Harry. Hermione needs you more."_

 _And these words seemed to have a big effect on the boy when he heard Hermione's name._

 _His eyes softened as if he had suddenly remembered something very important._

 _Instantly, he broke his gaze from Snape and quickly left Lupin and ran towards the direction where two female Aurors were handling Hermione._

 _Lupin and Snape were left alone in the corner of the basement where other Aurors held him down with wands and the magical ropes._

 _Snape's black eyes were still unblinking, cold and hard as he stared back at Remus Lupin._

 _There were too much question in the other's eyes that was mixed with nothing but hatred in them._

 _But Snape's black eyes remained undaunted, passive and cold – no sign of remorse as if he had been expecting this, as if he had hoped for this to happen._

 _A smile appeared then at his lips._

 _Perhaps, just two out of three of his plans._

 _Anger rose in Lupin's expression._

 _Years of question, anger, hatred were etched at every line of Lupin's aging face._

 _"_ _Why?" he asked him in a restrained tone as he tried to gather courage and voice to speak to this man he had not seen for about a decade._

 _His fists clenched at his sides and he took two strides forward stopping only when he remembered that he couldn't attack Snape because he had to be the good that Harry looks up to._

 _"_ _Why?" Lupin's clearer and louder voice asked him as he grabbed him hard and painfully held them by the collar of his wedding robes._

 _It was the only word that came out of him, the only one that seemed to match all the questions running in all of their heads._

 _Lupin was both angry and vulnerable at that very moment whereas Snape was just slightly confused yet calm inside him._

 _One look to Lupin's eyes and he saw everything that he wanted to see._

 _He was angry, afraid and his recent memories told him that he had failed to embrace the meaning of the message he had sent because he had been distracted by Harry's Patronus._

 _It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter now._

 _He had done his end of the deal and if this was his fate, then so be it._

 _He closed his eyes and nodded to himself – an agreement of eternal promise to what has been and what would never be._

 _"_ _WHY?!" came Lupin's angered voice again. "WHY SEVERUS?!"_

 _It toned up nothing but anger out of betrayal._

 _But Snape remained quiet, silenced as if determined to keep all the ten years as they were – secret, never known to any other being._

 _"_ _Wii you not speak! Will you not say anything about what you have done?!" Lupin repeated, his whole body shaking as he tried his best to control himself from hitting the man before him._

 _He showed no sign of remorse at all._

 _Snape slowly looked back up at him, eyes meeting the other pair._

 _Lupin stared hard back at him and he could swear he saw something like a mixture of despair and relief in his face._

 _Something like a feeling of giving up passed his face._

 _But it had vanished as quickly as it had come._

 _A sneer, a flicker of the cold glint that was usual of his expressions reappeared in his face as he shook his head and gave him an insulting smile._

 _"_ _What took you so long?" Snape's quiet and hoarse voice asked him with a glimmer in his black eyes._

 _There was something that was an unmistakable smile at the sides of his lips as if he was mocking Lupin for being steps behind him again._

 _Lupin opened his mouth for a retort until he realized what Snape had said._

 _His expression changed._

 _He tried to comprehend it._

 _"_ _What did you- what do you mean - "_

 _"_ _Ten steps ahead, ten steps behind, Moony." Snape's soft voice mocked him entirely. "Always the first in class, always the last one to know everything."_

 _Lupin remained staring at him, recalling this form of mockery from their childhood but he didn't understand it._

 _"_ _What did you say?" he asked him breathing hard and grabbing him closer and scaring him with a raised arm as if to punch him._

 _But Snape wasn't scared; there was nothing to be afraid of and nothing to lose anymore._

 _Snape meant to say something but what was it exactly?_

 _What was it that he was missing?_

 _Snape only smiled at him._

 _"_ _What did you say?" Lupin aggressively asked this time and as he reached the man, Kingsley immediately stopped him. "What did you say – you bloody filth-"_

 _"_ _Remus, we need to go." Kingsley's voice came and he nodded at the Aurors holding Snape down. "Remus Lupin, we need to go now."_

 _Lupin turned to the Minister himself who came down with them to this rescue mission._

 _In a blink, Snape had been secured magically in bonds and was being taken by the Ministry of Magic Aurors._

 _"_ _Harry needs you." Kingsley gestured as Harry was now hunched in a corner with a Hermione who was now unconscious after all the stress of the situation. "Harry needs a father right now."_

 _It took Lupin a while to swallow all that was happening before him and he slowly backed away from Snape without breaking their gazes._

 _There was so much question in him but Snape had gathered himself together and was able to block him out of his thoughts._

 _"_ _I will deal with you." Lupin quietly said and he turned to go back to Harry's aid to help bring Hermione back out of the cottage and back into their world after ten years of isolation and abduction._

"You must go." Draco whispered to Hermione who was still staring at Snape. "Hermione, you must go."

His voice was suddenly filled with fear and urgency.

His eyes caught Snape's and his godfather stared back at him with an understanding that Hermione easily missed out on.

Hermione shook her head and refused to move a muscle.

She was breathing heavily and her eyes bore nothing but hatred for Snape's defiance to answer her or even pay the slightest attention to her as if he never knew her.

"Let go of me, Draco." Hermione angrily spat but Draco only tightened his arms around her. "Don't do this to me – I want answers – I want my life – _I want justice_ – Draco, I want-"

"And I will give it to you." Draco hoarsely answered her. "Please, but you must go now."

If she wasn't paying attention earlier on, Draco's sudden change of tone finally caught her attention.

Her eyes moved back to him and she stared at the boy who held her protectively.

"I will give it to you. You don't deserve the life you've lived this past years. Let me correct all that is wrong." Draco whispered in a seriously tone.

Hermione stared back but no words came out of her mouth as she tried to focus her attention to him.

"What do you-" Hermione croaked out at him. "What are you-"

"Take her, Draco." Snape's quiet voice came from the corner. "If you're going to do this, do it now and do it fast."

Hermione's eyes sharply turned back at him but Draco grabbed her to face him once more.

He held her tightly to ensure she doesn't attack Snape as they heard the ascending footsteps.

Draco's grip on her tightened and when she stared at his eyes, there was a revulsion of what looked like a decisive decision in his eyes.

"You must go." Draco repeated a little louder and more serious this time as he removed his arms around her and made her face him.

There was shock and confusion at Hermione's face as if she had been shaken out of anger or stupor for Snape.

"What?" Hermione breathed out holding on his arms for support. "What? No, I – I can't – I won't-"

"They're coming." Draco said. "The Aurors will come soon."

"No, I'm not going to leave you here." Hermione said, eyes wide in panic as realization dawned upon her.

"No, no, I'll deal with this." Draco promised her although his mouth spoke the words, his eyes didn't convince Hermione.

"You're mad." Hermione said. "I'm not going to – we're going-"

"No, I'll deal with this. You go. You must get out of Azkaban." Draco said as he fidgeted back in his pocket for his wand in his attempt to think of a quick solution to get her out without the guards or Aurors seeing her.

Hermione stared at Draco's contemplating face then back at Snape who looked quiet at a corner, at loss for words and thoughts.

He looked nothing like anything useful rather.

She turned back to Draco.

"You've got to go." Draco whispered and the longer the time passed, the more that panic could be heard in his tone. "You've got to let me deal with this. I'll see you - at your wedding-"

"At my wedding?" Hermione repeated incredulously. "Wait – we're in this together, I'm not leaving without you-"

"You're leaving now-"

" _Not without you!"_ Hermione suddenly cried at him grabbing his hand painfully with her clawing fingers. "Not without you, Draco!"

Draco stopped and stared at her with wide eyes.

He had never heard her in desperate need of him.

He took a gentle hold of her but Hermione's expression changed into hard defiance and she painfully shoved his hand away from her.

His eyes darkened at her unwillingness to follow him for her own good.

He grabbed her painfully then.

"You're leaving and you're leaving now." Draco said grabbing her wrist painfully. "I can't save you both if we're all inside Azkaban and not outside."

Hermione stared back at him in complete defiance.

"I'm not leaving." she angrily spat at him. "I'm not going anywhere without you."

"This isn't an argument." Draco sternly said. "You're going out of this place. Now. Please."

There was urgency in his voice as if he'd already made up his mind that he was staying there to clear up whatever they have done there and to ensure that if they get caught, he has a reason to be there as Snape's Defense Council despite of the 24hours rule that no visitors are allowed 24hours to trial's distribution of the case's jurisdiction and decision.

"NO!" Hermione began to be hysterical. "NO, Draco – I can't – "

"You can and you will." Draco cut her short as he began dragging her back to the gates and was quickly pondering what kind of protection spell he'd have to cast on her to ensure her safety out of Azkaban.

Hermione grabbed his arm back and stopped him from waving his wand.

"I won't leave you here." Hermione determinedly said. "I won't. You can't make me."

"You're going to make damage more than it is already." Draco said. "You've got to go-"

"I won't let you do this alone-"

"No, not tonight. Tonight, you will listen to me. And when I tell you that you'll go for all our sake's, you're going to go."

And then there it was, a trigger word.

He would tell her what she was to do.

He was not asking, he was demanding her to do something that he was forcing upon her.

 _Force._

Hermione's brows knotted as if she recalled something from the past.

Her breathing heavy and her chest suddenly painful.

A gut-wrenching of feeling helpless and angry at the same time came upon her.

Her eyes began to soften with tears and the hatred for Snape slowly dispersed as if he wasn't even in the room with them.

She looked back at him, confused as ever.

 _"_ _He raped me_ …" Hermione said suddenly turning to Draco with her face nothing but misery and helplessness, "he raped me.. he raped me.. he took.. he took everything.. everything..And I couldn't even hate him for all of it.. for all of it.. for my life, for Harry's life.."

Draco was frozen on the spot.

He looked down upon her, shaking himself at the reality that was dawning on Hermione and the possible feeling she was having right at that very moment.

He looked up and met Snape's eyes.

He knew what he had said and knew how it would affect Hermione.

Snape quietly nodded at Draco.

His godson looked away from him and sighed heavily before reaching back at Hermione.

"Please.." he softly whispered. "I need to get you out of this place. If they see you, if they ever-"

"Please don't leave me." Hermione's small voice said and she reached for him, clinging for dear life.

"Hermione- "

"Please…. _Save us_." Hermione cried at him, clinging tightly around him as if her life depended on him.

And Draco knew it did.

He looked back down at her and back at Snape and back again.

"I will deal with this. I understand what you feel.. what he did.." he tried to avoid Snape's eyes as he mentioned and motioned to him. "But right now, the only important thing is to get you out of here.. Please, Hermione.. please…"

"Help me.." Hermione whispered at him. " _Help me, Draco…"_

Something pierced in his chest.

It was like her old self, the Hermione that was abducted and kept helplessly for ten years – here she was, crying, begging and asking for help where someone could actually hear her – only a decade too late later.

She looked back at him, not ready to understand and accept things but was ready to give herself to what he wanted of her.

There was something in her tone, her words that Draco knew meant something else.

"I need to get you out. If they see you if they ever-"

"But what do we do?" she asked him fearfully. "Draco, I can't- "

"'You must go. I will deal with us." Draco whispered back at her kissing her forehead. "I will deal with this. Don't you trust me?"

He asked her with a smile over his face

And out of nowhere, Hermione realized then how beautiful Draco was.

She clung back into him, arms tight around his neck as if it was the first time she's seen him in a very long time.

How he had made her life worth something in the last few weeks – how he had been more than a Defense Council, more than a schoolmate, more than someone willing to help her and Snape out of their predicament.

She had found something special in Draco Malfoy out of the lives he had been trying to save for the past few weeks.

"Draco.." her voice was now softer, tearful.

Draco suddenly grabbed her closer and placed both his hands on either side of her cheeks making sure her gaze never left his.

"When have I ever let you down?" he asked her slowly with the same smile and glimmer in his eyes.

Hermione stared back at him, her heart thumping as fast as his and even if he was smiling back at her, even if she knew deep down inside of her that he has never failed her or let her down, something foreboding was about to happen.

It was beyond his smile, beyond the glimmer in his eyes that told her that something foreboding was about to happen.

He wasn't telling the truth about something.

She pushed herself away from him, her eyes looking straight at him, searching for something.

"What are you going to do?" she asked knowing the look behind his eyes. "What are you planning?"

Her tone was accusatory but Draco's face remained as it was.

He didn't answer her but he only gave her an assuring smile as he reached for her but Hermione swayed his hand away from her.

"I asked you." Hermione said clearing her face off tears. "You're planning something – what is it?"

Something like fear momentarily passed his eyes but it quickly disappeared when he shook her slightly.

"No, no, don't fear anything." Draco whispered assured her with a smile. "I've got it all covered – Hermione, just trust me – just do as I say –"

"I can't – you – you need to tell me " Hermione heavily breathed at him. "You need to tell me – you told me I don't just – I shouldn't just accept things as I'm told and now, now I need to know-"

"I'll deal with this." Draco explained calmly to her gently touching her face. "I promise you, everything will be okay. But right now, 'Mione, you have got to go. Please. We're running out of time. They can't see you here. I've got this, trust Hermione looked back at him and she couldn't shake off the feeling that something was going to happen right after she leaves that room.

But he was right.

The longer she was there, the more she was endangering whatever plans he's got that could actually save Snape's life.

If she remains there, she could complicate things further and everything would have been for nothing.

 _But what of Draco?_

He held her tight and close with a serious expression and determination in his eyes.

He was ready to do absolutely anything at that moment to be the man he always hoped to be and always loved her for but was never able to do so.

" _I've got you."_ Draco assured her. "I've got you, Hermione Granger."

 _"_ _Is this everything?" he asked with a lace of poison in his tone._

 _"_ _Yes, professor." Hermione quietly answered as she stared at the stack of books she delivered at the Potion Master's office._

 _Technically, she wasn't failing Potions or Defense Against the Dark Arts._

 _But technically as well, Harry had been advanced in his Potions and grades all throughout the year since professor Slughorn started teaching everyone._

 _Snape didn't want to attend to Miss Granger's request of helping her to gain some extra credit for a project from professor Slughorn but she had been an annoying twat who didn't leave the outside of his classroom alone or left him alone in corridors waiting for him to finish a class or before he started a class._

 _He asked her then to bring the books that were required for the project that she needed for Slughorn._

 _"_ _Not a word to anyone I've been helping you spoiled little chit." Snape softly said as he opened up the list of books to make sure she got everything from the library._

 _"_ _Yes, ofcourse not, professor." Hermione said. "It's our little secret."_

 _Something like a glint passed Snape's eyes but he didn't say anything._

 _Hermione quietly watched as his black eyes moved left and right as he read the parchment in his hand and rechecked the books with his fingers tracing the fine lines and spines of the books over his desk._

 _"_ _Garnering your speed in reading you can finish half of this in three days. But since it's nearly the weekend, you can finish these ones in no time."_

 _He took note on the three thick books at the bottom part of the stack._

 _Hermione nodded coherently mentally taking note of which ones to read first._

 _"_ _Weasley has Quidditch Practice?" he asked her._

 _"_ _Yes, professor." Hermione quietly answered knowing Ron's schedule._

 _"_ _And Potter?" he slowly asked her as he opened one of the books in search of a page._

 _Hermione bit her bottom lip._

 _His eyes remained focused on the book but he could feel the suddenly tension in her breathing and the way her fingers shifted from beside herself to over her uniform._

 _She was fidgeting about something._

 _Hermione didn't want to lie to the Potions Master knowing his capability to know truths, but she also couldn't divulge that any day now, Harry was going out for something with or for the headmaster._

 _It was meant to be a secret that he promised to share only to the two of them for which the headmaster knew about._

 _"_ _Library." Hermione said unable to think faster than her mouth._

 _"_ _Library?" he asked her slowly closing the book in his hand and opening another._

 _"_ _The last place I saw him, professor." Hermione quickly saved biting her lower lip again and avoiding to meet his eyes when he looked up at her._

 _He closed the next book and gently pushed the stack forward her and sat back over the large armchair behind his desk._

 _He looked at his hands then slowly up at Hermione._

 _"_ _I'm offering you my time Miss Granger for something that I'm not even supposed to help you with." Snape slowly told her making sure her eyes met his. "All I would be repaid with are your deceitful words?"_

 _"_ _I'm sorry?" Hermione innocently asked him blinking and making step forward the desk but Snape stopped her with a hand._

 _"_ _Professor, I –"_

 _"_ _Do not lie to me." Snape said. "If there is something you know, I really don't give a damn. But do not give me lies. Half-truths are lies. Truths are truths. And lies are lies. Do you understand?"_

 _He looked up at her with sudden hatred in his eyes that she didn't understand._

 _"_ _Y-yes." Hermione nodded. "Yes, professor. I understand."_

 _Well she didn't know where they were going – Harry doesn't even know where they were going._

 _But she was sworn loyalty to Harry and to whatever the headmaster wanted because it would be for the defeat of the Dark Lord._

 _There was silence between them for a while and despite that Hermione kept her eyes over the books, she knew that Snape was watching her closely._

 _"_ _I am well aware that Potter has a.. special project with the headmaster." Snape slowly said in a very quiet tone that Hermione could almost not understand his words. "I do not know the details and I also do not wish to know. But you must relay to your bestfriend that this is a job that is not to be taken lightly."_

 _Hermione didn't speak as Snape obviously provoked her for what she knew._

 _But she was loyal to the headmaster and loyal to Harry above all._

 _"_ _Tell Potter that if he is determined to do this from now, he must be determined to do it until the end."_

 _"_ _He is determined to do whatever he has to do." Hermione said unable to stop herself from his grilling._

 _"_ _At all costs?" Snape spat back at her, his eyes glinting. "Is he prepared to do it at all costs? Because this is what this job requires – to do what must be done until the very end at all costs – no matter what, no matter what it takes, no matter what he has to give, no matter the stakes, Miss Granger."_

 _His voice was filled with spite, with angst and with everything that Hermione never really understood of him._

 _"_ _Is he?" Snape's voice rang back at her. "Is he prepared to this at until the very end and at all costs?"_

 _She blinked._

 _She couldn't answer._

 _Harry knew what he had to do but he, like the rest of them, really didn't know if they were all ready to do it at all costs._

 _"_ _I'm loyal to the headmaster, professor." Hermione said emphasizing the title. "We all are."_

 _A glint passed his eyes and he almost smiled at her lash at him._

 _"_ _Loyalty is a valued trait, Miss Granger." Snape whispered at her as he sat back again, fingers tangled against one another. "But to give oneself as a sacrifice is a priceless one. Now I ask you, are you all willing to do this until the very end and at all costs?"_

 _There was challenge in his gaze and tone._

 _Hermione knew she doesn't have to answer that because she knew the truth in her and that Snape was only mocking her._

 _He may be part of the Order but these were the times that she knew that Sirius and the others were right – he was still a Slytherin and a bastard in his own right._

 _"_ _Aren't we all?" Hermione asked him back unable to stop herself for feeling slightly angered by Snape's provocation._

 _He raised an eyebrow at her._

 _"_ _Aren't we all loyal to the headmaster willing to do this until the end that would cost us everything?"_

 _He didn't answer._

 _He stared back at her with pure scathing._

 _Hermione almost smiled in satisfaction._

 _"_ _Are we not all loyal to the headmaster, professor?" she quietly asked him. "Are you not loyal?"_

 _He was silenced._

 _His black eyes glinted at her direction._

 _"_ _I don't think you would be back here after all those years just to teach spoiled dunderheads as you call us?" Hermione bravely spoke as if she was a match for him. "I don't think you returned to serve Hogwarts. It's very clear you're here for the headmaster and have been loyal ever since. Isn't that right, professor?"_

 _His eyes turned into slits as his fingers slowly turned into a fistful curl._

 _"_ _Get out." Snape whispered at her. "Get out of my sight and bring all your books with you. Now."_

 _Hermione opened her mouth to say something but the door suddenly opened without Snape lifting his wand to it._

 _"_ _GET OUT OF HERE!" he angrily yelled at her and she nodded quietly as she reached forward the table to get all the books she needed as fast as she could._

 _But before she could scoop them all back, Snape suddenly reached out and grabbed her wrist painfully._

 _Her hands opened and the books fell out of her hands and thudded loudly back at the table._

 _She gasped and stared back at him with fear in her eyes._

 _"_ _Professor Snape-" she stuttered in fear realizing what she had done to him. "I'm sorry – I didn't – please let go of me-"_

 _"_ _If you must know, you little twat," Snape whispered with danger in his tone. "I have ever been loyal to the headmaster and would do whatever he asks of me and whatever the price must be."_

 _They breathed hard against one another and up that close proximity Hermione could clearly see not anger but sadness behind the black eyes that were staring down at her in a very dangerous way._

 _"_ _You and Potter have no idea what loyalty and sacrifices mean so do not speak to me wearing it proud and clear over your Gryffindor head." Snape whispered his fingers digging harder around her arm. "I am with the headmaster until the very end of all of these if that will calm your nosy head out of my way. I am about willing to do and sacrifice whatever I have to for the people I am loyal to. Are you ever, ever loyal enough to do it yourself?"_

 _There was challenge in his gaze and Hermione couldn't say anything with the heaviness of his words._

 _Snape shook his head and let her go._

 _"_ _Do not talk to me about loyalty and sacrifices because you have yet to know and understand the real meaning of these words. You have yet to see the world as it really is, Miss Granger." Snape spat at her as he straightened up and moved himself away from her. "Get out of my sight."_

 _And with that, Hermione found herself in tears as she gathered the fallen books and went as fast as she could out of the room._

There were clear sounds of wards going down and evident footsteps of about half a dozen of Aurors down Snape's cell and corridor.

Snape was unmoving as he heard his cell doors being opened up and footsteps engaging inside his high security prison cell.

His black eyes moved up and saw a group of Aurors with wands at the ready standing before him.

He knew them – they were Potter's closest team members.

And he also knew that they were there not for the Ministry's orders but because of Potter's.

He could almost know and understand what was going to happen right in a few hours' time.

"Severus Snape." said a tall Auror with dark hazel hair as he nodded to the others to take him from the floor. "WE are bringing you in another cell to await tomorrow's decision for your case. In a few hours' time, we believe you shall be executed as your punishment."

Snape remained quiet, letting them drag him from the floor.

His black eyes kept staring on the floor, his mind barely there at the execution he was about to face.

There was nothing he could do, nothing Draco could do.

The Wizengamot wasn't going to be fair – Harry Potter had each of the 12 council's neck within his grasp.

And there was no point for trial in the first place – he was going to be executed whether there was or wasn't a trial.

It was all for the show.

It was a mere display of power for Harry Potter.

He was never meant to get out of Azkaban and escape his fate, let alone be given mercy.

There was never a chance for him to escape the Dementor's Kiss because Harry Potter made sure that he had justice in his hands.

Ten years.

Long ten years and the years he made the boy suffer.

 _How pathetic_.

But the important thing was that Hermione would live a better life – it would be hard for her to move on, but atleast she would be in a better place.

And not with Potter – but with Draco.

He made Draco promise him that he would take good care of her no matter what, no matter the consequences of the trial.

Hermione no longer needed the will he left her behind – Draco could take very good care of her and there wasn't nothing they'd ever need or she would ever need.

He could die peacefully at the thought of that.

It may take her a while to find her happy ending, but she would be happy and he knew of it.

Snape closed his eyes as he felt the Aurors dragging him painfully out of the cell and into the bowels and depths of Azkaban prison at the waiting room for the prisoners who were to be executed.

There were sounds of footsteps and then he heard another larger cell gate being opened.

He was roughly pushed inside and he fell face first down on the rotting floor of the cell.

It smelled and looked like it had not been occupied for a very long time.

"Ten years." said one of the Aurors who was locking the gates with wards. "Severus Snape, Potions Masters of Hogwarts. You won't remember me but you've taught me."

Snape ignored him as he bantered on his name and that he was a Ravenclaw and he suffered under his teaching methods as well.

And then he commented how from his position at Hogwarts, he became the most wanted in the past decade and with a case so intriguing that it spread a wave of hatred at the wizarding community.

"I'm a man myself now and I am infatuated and am feeling very…sensual with girls." the Auror commented. "But to have her, to take your previous student? To take her every night, every single day?"

Snape could feel hatred stirring inside of him at his description of the crime he knew he committed anyway.

"You've taken her at every night?" the Auror continued. "I've read the articles and news reports at our department.. How could you do that to your former student? You're lucky they're not extracting your manhood from you. I used to be inspired by you despite of the way you favored the Slytherins above all others.."

Snape remained silent, passive.

"But all of these?" his voice was as dark as astonished. "How could you take Miss Granger? She was your student. Did you never have a conscience? Did you never have anything in you? How could you turn into a monster, _professor?"_

Snape continued to ignore him.

He was being judged by this Auror like the rest of the world.

They didn't know what happened in those long ten years – the things he had given up, the things he had sacrificed, the things he had to swallow and do in the name of saving Hermione and their holier than thou hero's life.

They knew nothing of the ten years.

No matter how long the trial had been, no matter of the reports, the evidences and every piece of article that was written in form of papers and reports – none of the world knew of what the one decade had really been for them, for him.

Hermione didn't even know half of it.

And he was going to bring these truths with him to the grave.

Just as Narcissa had said, he would eventually die and just as he told her, he would die and die alone.

But she wasn't right at her thought that he was going to die at the precise time and at the way he would.

He loved her as a friend but he would defy her wishes to ensure that wrong is right at the end of it all no matter what it might have caused each and every of them.

Hot tears claimed his eyes as he was walked down the stench filled corridors of Azkaban as he was being led down to the justice hall where he would await his final fate.

He could hear the magical bonds and chains dragging across the floor, the coldness and eerie and haunting feeling of this godforsaken place all over him.

This was the end of him and there was nobody to be with him at his final moments.

To die was a tragic story, but to die alone and unloved by the world was a different one.

And the woman who had caused all these had been gone a very long time ago.

She claimed to have loved him but she loved no one but Draco and herself.

 _No, she had loved herself more._

Her twisted belief that she loved Draco more than anyone or anything else wasn't true.

Snape's chest heaved heavily at the truth dawning on him after all this time.

Everything he had done had been for nothing and something.

Everything that he was would forever be erased by time and he would be forgotten – never the hero the headmaster Dumbledore had always promised him he was.

He would never be the boy that Lily Evans loved.

He would also never become the man that Hermione thought she loved for a moment in time.

Severus Snape sighed heavily as he heard the wards locked down from the outside and the few hours' reality that Hermione would live a new life and he would be erased, forgotten on the surface of this world.

Everything had been for an absolute paradox of what was, should have been and never will be.

He had given up everything for Hermione and he would never have her, she would never love him.

The gates and wards closed in and he was at the depths of Azkaban and once he was left by the Aurors, tears streamed down his eyes in an unstoppable cry of relief, hatred, regret and despair with the heavy heaving of his chest at the hours ticking by and the fate he had to face and face alone after all that he had done for each of the individuals that were no longer within his reach at that very moment.

He knew it would all come to an end and into this end.

He had let Narcissa use him after everything he had done for the woman, for her most loved son.

And he had let him.

He was about to die very much alone, forever erased in this world and all for the belief that he was doing the right thing, that he was sacrificing himself for the greater good, all for a woman who made him believe that he was a good man when all those years, she would say anything to gain for her advantage.

 _And Narcissa Malfoy, who had caused each of them all of these, had loved nobody else but herself._


	71. Chapter 71

**Author's Notes:** **July 19, 2018 East Coast** **I'M ALIVE.** **Clearly, I've been on hiatus again by here I am, back and alive with a glorious chapter for everyone  
Okay, maybe not perfect or glorious.  
Before we all jump into the chapter as I'm very sure you've been waiting for this one for quite some time and totally and casually made it a habit to check a 'no update' chapter and then suddenly out of your extraordinary day today VOILA chapter is posted.** **THANK YOU. That is all I can say to all my patient readers who consistently check it and whether you comment or just stay behind the screen every now and again to read silently, still a hug and a thank you to all of you.  
It was summer in my country when I last posted and at the time I was settling into my new apartment as I've mentioned.  
Now it is July and a midyear recital is what I've been praying for my students as I've mentioned before, I'm a musician and music teacher in real life =) So the task of peparing the kids of our 29th performance and the idea of transferring all my things at my new apartment including my upright piano and helping mom with her own transfer in her own apartment has taken all the time I have.  
Plus, let's not forget the writer's block that I've been battling for weeks and weeks and weeks.  
I'd wake up early for students and come home late and I could barely write a sentence.  
It has taken me a lot of sitdown coffee talk with myself, an open Word format, a lot of "Oh Children" by Nick Cave into my backround music for days, weeks and months to get me to write this chapter.  
Generally, I'm not sure if you had foreseen this chapter coming or what you're about to read.  
I hope you don't judge me or rather the characters for it.  
I've come to realize and accept to that chapter70 won't be the end as there are simply facts and things that need some time to be written better and properly executed. We are now facing a chapter 77 length and an epilogue if that should be permitted by my writing.** **It has taken me a lot of nights of thinking and editing how to properly execute a chapter that has always been there at the beginning but I wasn't sure how to write.  
But now, it is here and is ready for the world to read. .  
Writing and editing it for weeks and having it to be executed for the world to see felt like a huge amount of real life secret of mine that I've witnessed was to be told out into the world.  
Again, the chapter is not perfect and I'd come to admit that the story isn't for the weak or faint-hearted.  
It's just too heavy and dark but I very much appreciate all those who are staying to read it and is very much overwhelmed for the love you spare into reading it especially commenting it.  
Without further ado, here is the chapter I know you've all been waiting for months.** **I have come to love these characters that aren't even mine and aren't even real. And I cry and bury my thoughts with them for a chapter that has been quite very heavy to write.** **Bear with my love and tears.** **Now I'm settled in my apartment and the students' recital is near to commence, you will be reading more of this and more of my other works very soon.** **Lots of love always.** **Gloomy weather as it is winter-like in my country.  
So I am writing usually by the window of my fave café at my fave spot with a coffee at hand and words and chapters after another for my beloved stories.** **XX**

 **Chapter Seventy**

 **The Revelation**

 **Part II**

 _"_ _After tonight, victory is finally ours." Bellatrix's silky voice echoed in the West Wing of the manor._

 _Narcissa stared at her sister as she secured her cloak and ready to leave any moment now._

 _The Death Eaters heard of a plan to transfer Harry Potter to a safer location tonight._

 _And by far, this may be the only possible exposure of the boy out at the open after weeks of being kept by the Order._

 _The Dark Lord had given a clear order – bring him the boy whatever it takes – kill whoever gets in the way._

 _"_ _Bella, I heard that the orders were quite clear." Narcissa said as she handed her sister the wand she had just cleaned for her. "Get the boy. Nothing else._

 _"_ _The Dark Lord gave orders, Cissy." Bellatrix sweetly replied taking the wand. "Kill anyone who gets in our way. So you best make sure that Draco stays home. I cannot account for what others will do."_

 _If Narcissa was provoked, she didn't show it._

 _She watched as her older sister stared at her reflection, eyeing her from it._

 _"_ _Lucius overheard you." Narcissa continued. "The Dark Lord gave clear orders, Bella."_

 _"_ _Your pathetic husband.." Bellatrix began with a treacherous smile as she turned from the mirror and stared at her newly shined wand. "Speaking of.. Where is he?"_

 _"_ _I suppose he is downstairs with the others." Narcissa replied. "Or with Severus at the drawing room with the Dark Lord."_

 _"_ _Bloody traitor." Bellatrix hissed at her sister. "And Draco?"_

 _"_ _Keep him out of this." Narcissa snapped at her. "He is not concerned of anything about tonight."_

 _"_ _Ofcourse he is of concern since he had been marked, dear little sister." Bellatrix laughed at her. "Can you smell that?"_

 _"_ _Smell what?" Narcissa asked her back._

 _"_ _Victory?" Bellatrix answered and then she cackled at her and excitedly moved around her._

 _Narcissa was to say something when there was a knock upon the door._

 _They both turned and stared as the door gently opened and Snape entered._

 _Bellatrix's expression quickly turned sour while a look of relief passed Narcissa's features._

 _He was dressed well and ready for the mission tonight._

 _"_ _Come to gloat?" Bellatrix said staring viciously at Snape whom the Dark Lord had just seen._

 _Snape only eyed her mockingly._

 _"_ _Excuse me?" he said walking to Narcissa._

 _"_ _Know your place…." Bellatrix spat at him. "..Half-Blood."_

 _Snape stared at her but had completely ignored her as he walked to Narcissa._

 _"_ _You asked for me?" Snape softly said kissing her cheek and then eyeing Bellatrix he continued. "We'd like to talk in private."_

 _"_ _Insolent bastard." Bellatrix hissed at him anger rising in her face. 'There's nothing you have to say to my sister that I cannot know of-"_

 _"_ _Apparently, some of us prefer privacy." Snape silkily said walking to Narcissa's side. "Not that you understand that ofcourse."_

 _"_ _Why you-"_

 _"_ _Bella, please." Narcissa warningly said staring at her sister._

 _Eyes wide, Bellatrix unbelievingly stared back at her sister then at Snape who was obviously trying to restrain a smile over his thin lips._

 _"_ _Really, Cissy?" Bellatrix coldly lashed at her sister who only stared back at her, waiting she leaves them._

 _Snape curtly nodded at her and gestured his hand towards the door triggering her anger further._

 _"_ _You can smile now, oh yes you can." Bellatrix spat at him. "But I'm going to make sure that you get the end you deserve."_

 _Snape simply ignored her as she never intimidated him at all._

 _"_ _Bella, please." Narcissa exhaustedly said staring at her._

 _Bellatrix stared at Snape the back at her sister._

 _Fuming in anger, she turned then halting for a moment in front of Narcissa and giving her own sister a murderous glare._

 _"_ _I can't believe you let this treacherous, sniveling leech play you at his hands." Bellatrix hissed at her hating every morsel of Snape. "Careful, Cissy. Sometimes the mouth you feed is the same mouth that bites."_

 _"_ _I don't bite, Bella." Snape silkily told her with a mocking smile over his lips. "And even if you're the last woman on this cursed world, I wouldn't fuck you."_

 _Bellatrix's eyes flashed in anger as she took her wand out and aimed it at Snape._

 _Narcissa's hand shot out of nowhere and had grabbed Bellatrix's wrist to stop her._

 _"_ _Let go." Bellatrix demanded, her eyes glinting at Snape. "I'm going to teach this little opportunist a lesson-"_

 _"_ _The Dark Lord's orders are specific, Bella." Snape warned her. "I believe you understand what that means."_

 _"_ _You don't tell me what to do you sniveling traitor-"_

 _"_ _That means you are NOT to use the curse we have just created for his own purpose."_

 _The sisters paused, staring at Snape with question in their eyes._

 _"_ _Oh yes, Bella." Snape silkily said. "The Dark Lord knows what you've been planning. You know that he knows everything, yes?"_

 _A gleam passed Bellatrix's face as she lowered her hand against Narcissa's hold of her._

 _"_ _Are you afraid that I would use it?" she asked him gently. "Are you afraid that I will have the honor to use something that you and the Dark Lord have brilliantly created together?"_

 _Snape didn't say anything._

 _She cackled at him._

 _"_ _How touching it is, Sevvy." Bellatrix whispered, alluringly biting her lower lip as if seducing Snape._

 _"_ _The enchantment is not yet done." Snape warned her. "It has never been used, never been tried. Should something go wrong, I cannot save your ungrateful arse-"_

 _"_ _I'm not asking you to save my life!"_

 _"_ _Well apparently, I've been doing it for your whole family for the past years." Snape harshly interrupted her with a glint in his eyes and a mocking smirk. "Isn't that correct…Bella?"_

 _Bellatrix opened her mouth, ready to lash back at him but instead, she smiled._

 _"_ _But I'm sure nothing is wrong with it." Bellatrix whispered clicking her tongue. "After all, you made it – and aren't you the man with all the perfection in this world?"_

 _Her voice was laced not just of sarcasm but of hatred for the man that the Dark Lord trusted above the rest of them._

 _"_ _The Dark Lord's orders are clear, Bellatrix." Snape warned her again. "The Urduja Curse is not yet ready."_

 _"_ _What do you fear?" Bellatrix asked him. "I heard it's not even lethal. Not to us anyway."_

 _"_ _I'm sure you're not as intelligent as the rest." Snape mocked her. "But I am quite sure you understand what it means when the Dark Lord forbids something – it is to be followed and without question."_

 _"_ _I'm sure you're the one who knows how to follow all the rules." Bellatrix muttered back at him. "Besides, the curse doesn't kill."_

 _"_ _Orders are clear, Bella." Snape firmly said. "We're not to use it. Not against anyone in the Order and most especially not against Harry Potter."_

 _"_ _Not yet anyway." Bellatrix said nodding coherently at him and cackling a laughter again. "It's going to teach them a lesson you know. I've heard of all the properties it-"_

 _"_ _The Dark Lord has clearly said-"_

 _"_ _Like I've said, it's not even deadly." Bellatrix whispered back at him enjoying the look on Snape's face at her complete defiance._

 _"_ _Enough of this!" Narcissa cried at them both, hands shaking at her sides._

 _Silence spread across the room for a moment while they only exchanged glares._

 _"_ _I will speak with Severus now, Bella." she gently told her sister eyeing the door. "I will see you before you leave."_

 _Bellatrix gave them both a look of hatred before walking to the door and banging it behind her on her way out._

 _She left them and in her focused anger, had not noticed that Draco was there in the shadows and had been listening the whole time._

There was the sound of Apparition and the wards being taken down as Hermione and Draco returned at the Malfoy Manor.

Despite that the rain had gone from bad to worse the whole night, the sun was slowly rising.

It was the day of the wedding and the day of the trial's verdict.

"What now, Draco?" Hermione breathlessly asked staring at Draco.

"I need to bring you back with the others." Draco replied. "They're expecting you to prepare for the wedding."

"I'm not going back there." Hermione protested. "I'm not marrying him."

"And you won't." Draco assured her walking to her. "But you have to be there. We can't draw Harry's attention from it. We need to make sure he's complacent that things are going his way."

"And what of you?" Hermione interrupted him. "What are you going to do?"

He gently moved from her, turning away and avoiding her gaze.

"I ask you, Draco." Hermione's voice was demanding as he released himself from her. "What are you going to do?"

He turned from her but Hermione followed him, grabbing either side of his arms.

"Draco-"

"I've got a plan." Draco gently told her. "But you've got to follow through what I ask for it to succeed."

She stared doubtfully back at him.

"I ask you. Tell me what you are going to do."

Draco stared back at her and she could tell that he wanted to let her know but was already determined that he wouldn't.

"You're scaring me." Hermione said her eyes softening at him. "I need to know."

"You won't marry him." Draco promised her walking to her and slowly taking her hand into his. "Just trust me. I won't let it happen."

"But you won't tell me what you will do." Hermione worriedly told him. "I need to know."

"You won't marry Harry." Draco said in a firm tone giving her a reassuring gaze. "Just trust me that it won't get to that point."

Hermione followed him around the room and forced him to face her.

He had it all figured and yet Hermione looked doubtful of his plan.

"I ask you-" she said staring deep into his eyes. "Look at me, Draco. I ask you what-"

"I assure you." Draco gently whispered keeping her hand in his. "Before the sun sets, everything will be in the order they should be."

"You said we're in this together." Hermione fearfully said. "You said-"

Draco stopped her by placing his other hand over her left cheek.

She stared, heart thumping fast as her eyes met his.

"Your eyes." Hermione whispered.

"My eyes?" he asked back with a forced smile over his face.

"Something tells me that something isn't right." Hermione said as she tried to take her hand from him but he didn't let go. "Promise me that everything will be alright."

"I promise." Draco whispered to her in assurance. "There will be no wedding and my godfather will be safe. But right now, you must ensure that Harry remains focused to your wedding and nowhere else."

Hermione shook her head.

She could feel it; something wasn't right.

"I don't want this assurance." Hermione said, eyes demanding. "I want to know your plan."

Draco heavily sighed moving her closer to him.

"Draco-"

A smile was evident from his lips as if he was relieved or rather giving up on something they can no longer do anything about.

"Hermione Granger." Draco sighed heavily kissing her forehead. "You've never change. Always wanting the answers right away."

He placed his arms on either side of her and Hermione moved closer to him, their bodies touching very gently.

She looked up at him and saw that look in his eyes – the one that he only ever wore whenever he was determined to win something over from Harry.

The look of determination without guilt, without fear – one that told her that he would do whatever it takes to win this one game out.

"There's something you're not telling me." Hermione whispered. "And it's scaring me."

"Don't be afraid." Draco whispered moving his face closer hers so that their eyes were of same level.

His fingers moved from her left cheek to remove the strands of hair blocking her eyes.

"Your eyes are so beautiful." he whispered moving himself closer to her as if to kiss her. "Have I ever told you how beautiful they are?"

Hermione didn't answer him, she sighed heavily as she continued to feel the foreboding feeling in her chest.

"You're telling me now." Hermione said as a tear fell from her eyes. "And that's scaring me further."

"I told you not to be afraid." Draco whispered back at her. "I will make all things right again. Don't be afraid, 'Mione."

His fingers moved from her temples and he slowly placed both hands on either side of her face, gently caressing her.

"I'm not."Hermione whispered without breaking their eye contact. "I am with you."

 _"_ _Severus, please." Narcissa's soft voice begged the man._

 _"_ _I won't harm her." Snape assured her as he straightened up while Narcissa secured the front of her traveling cloak. "I promise you that."_

 _The conversation was over and she knew of it._

 _Narcissa scoffed at him and gently pushed him away._

 _The blonde woman looked unconvinced and though she didn't want to do it, she had to beg Snape._

 _"_ _You need to understand that Bella could get.. overexcited and well, emotional as any other woman-"_

 _"_ _Again, Cissy." Snape interrupted her. "For as long as she stays out of my way and does not do anything drastic or crazy, she will be safe."_

 _"_ _Bella will kill, Severus." Narcissa fearfully said. "She will kill if she gets the chance. She is reckless and ruthless."_

 _"_ _I can't babysit her while I try to save the boy to ensure the fate of the Wizarding World, Cissy." Snape said shaking his head. "I just can't do both."_

 _"_ _Severus."_

 _"_ _If she gets in my way and something happens, I can't answer to that."_

 _"_ _Fine." Narcissa sighed heavily. "Just be careful. Please.""_

 _"_ _I always am." Snape said. "You underestimate me."_

 _Narcissa looked at him, a hint of offense in her eyes._

 _"_ _Head over your heart, Severus." Narcissa gently reminded him. "This isn't the time to make a mistake."_

 _"_ _I'm not Lucius." Snape thoughtlessly said and he immediately wanted to take it back seeing the look on Narcissa's face._

 _But she knew he was right._

 _"_ _That wasn't what I meant." Snape regretfully said but Narcissa shook her head at him._

 _"_ _I am growing old, Severus. I worry too much." Narcissa simply told him._

 _"_ _That's why I tell you that you should not." Snape simply told her. "When have I ever made you feel that I am not in control?"_

 _He challenged her gaze and she was unable to say anything but only nod her head._

 _"_ _And the boy?" Narcissa asked unable to stop herself. "What do you plan-"_

 _"_ _We can't talk about that here." Snape cut her short with a warning look. "But I believe you are well aware of both our sentiments over the matter."_

 _Narcissa nodded again, staring at his ready to leave form._

 _Snape finished and he stared back at her pale face._

 _"_ _Do me a favor, Cissy." Snape said. "Ensure that Draco does not do anything drastic tonight by following us. Other than your sister being a danger at both ends, we have a shoot-to-kill order. I can't babysit your entire family."_

 _"_ _I will make sure he stays in his room." Narcissa promised him as she walked him to the door._

 _Snape paused and slowly turned to her and Narcissa quickly placed her arms around his neck and tightly embraced him._

 _"_ _Be careful." Narcissa said tightly embracing him. "Severus, if Harry Potter dies.. if he is handed to the Dark Lord.. you know it will be the end of all of us."_

 _"_ _I know what to do." Snape promised, kissing her over the head._

 _"_ _If the Dark Lord…" her voice was filled with fear and stress. "He will kill you if he finds out of your loyalty."_

 _"_ _He won't doubt my loyalty." Snape said gently breaking their embrace to look her in the eye. "Not after everything that I had offered and given him."_

 _If she was still afraid, Narcissa had no reservation to show her feelings towards her closest friend, her only friend._

 _"_ _I can't lose you." Narcissa said taking his hand into hers and firmly pressing it. "I can't."_

 _"_ _And you won't." Snape said taking her hand into his lips and kissing the back of it respectfully. "They plan to ambush the Order and that is the reason I volunteered for the first team, Cissy – to ensure that things go our way. No other man can do this."_

 _"_ _No other man can do what you do." Narcissa agreed with him. "No other man can ever be Severus Snape."_

 _Snape's black eyes warmed at her words and he pulled her into another tight and comforting embrace._

 _"_ _We've planned this already. I will protect the boy as he is transferred. I will ensure that the transfer becomes successful no matter the consequences.. and.. the possible casualties."_

 _"_ _You can't stop me from worrying." Narcissa interrupted him. "You've given too much already. Your safety worries me."_

 _"_ _I will give anything I could to ensure that this war is won by Harry Potter." Snape promised her, his black eyes drawing hers closely._

 _Narcissa nodded quietly, kissing him over the left cheek._

 _"_ _I will see you tomorrow." Narcissa whispered against his ear. "May the gods protect you."_

 _"_ _I will see you soon." Snape said with the smallest of smiles he could give her. "Stay with Draco."_

 _Narcissa quietly nodded and watched as Snape moved to the door and gently left without another word, without looking back._

 _The door had closed & like Bellatrix, Snape had been too preoccupied in his thoughts that he didn't realize that the young heir of the Malfoys had been spying on them._

 _Draco remained still, listening to Snape's fading footsteps just like he had listened to Bellatrix's fading ones a few minutes ago._

 _A few more minutes and heard the footsteps of his mother entering a farther door at the west wing._

 _He looked at the grandfather's clock at the end of the empty corridor of the manor, counting the minutes down._

 _The Death Eaters were bound to leave within a few minutes with his father, aunt Bellatrix and Snape in the lead of the team that would ambush Harry Potter and the Order._

 _Through their infiltration within the Ministry, they have come across the plan that the boy would be taken out into the night from his present location and into a safer one where the security of the boy would be at its best._

 _The Dark Lord thought that this was the closest shot into getting to the boy after weeks of being kept from the world by the Order members._

 _Draco adjusted his black wristwatch and synchronized it carefully with the grandfather's clock for which he knew the Death Eaters were following as the manor was the place they would all return to._

 _He kept his wand inside his cloak and listened further but there were no more sounds anywhere near him._

 _His way was clear._

 _The Dark Lord's order had been very clearly – take the boy and anyone else who gets in the way would be executed on the spot._

 _Draco knew it was a deadly mission as even Narcissa sounded unsure of both Lucius and Snape joining this mission._

 _But his father was very determined to gain back the trust of the Dark Lord. And with a mission this crucial Snape was not to be left behind._

 _He wasn't sure of the intentions of his godfather, but he heard that he made a promise to Narcissa that he would protect 'the boy' from Bellatrix and the rest of the Death Eaters._

 _Was if finally proof that he is disloyal to the Dark Lord?_

 _And if so, his mother obviously knew of his treachery to the Dark Lord and his allies._

 _He was a risk to the mission and the mission tonight was a clear shoot to kill._

 _He couldn't let that happen._

 _He should ensure Hermione Granger's safety._

 _His Hermione._

 _His mother can call him desperate and to hell with the rest of the Death Eaters, but if his mother had ensured and asked Snape for the protection of Harry Potter then surely, he could come up with something to save Hermione Granger no matter the consequence._

 _To hell with Harry Potter, Draco thought miserably._

 _Everyone else can die tonight but he wasn't going to take a gamble and a risk for Hermione's life._

 _He had watched from afar for a very long time and he wasn't going to any longer._

 _His eyes gleamed as he cloaked himself in black in order to blend with the rest of the Death Eaters set to take flight into the cold night._

 _Draco stared back at his reflection from his black wrist watch – eyes blue and determine to do what it takes to get to Hermione._

 _It's either he takes and protects her or he lets her go with an almost sure death tonight._

 _It was a now or never plan._

 _There was no other choice, there was no other way._

 _The Dark Lord' order tonight was very precise – kill anyone who gets in the way of taking the boy – and that places everyone's head in the guillotine and he couldn't let that happen._

 _Draco inhaled sharply and strained his ears against his door to hear any sound within the premises._

 _It was very quiet now._

 _Draco turned, securing his traveling cloak and slowly taking out his wand and muttering a charm before waving it gently over his face._

 _He wasn't going to do anything, Draco told himself as he walked down the grand staircase._

 _He was just going to ensure Hermione Granger's safety – that was all._

 _And if things got out of hand, he'd use the spell that he heard his aunt Bella had recently learn from the Dark Lord_

 _It wasn't lethal but enough to teach a lesson as she had described it._

 _Enough to teach Potter a lesson after all these years._

 _He reached the first floor where the Death Eaters were preparing to leave, gathered and huddled together awaiting the signal._

 _Seeing that neither Lucius, Snape nor Bella wasn't there yet, he easily blended within the crowd of masked and cloaked Death Eaters._

 _Draco sighed heavily, keeping his face hidden within a mask to keep stealth of his identity._

 _With a wand at hand and a heart determined to do what he had to do in order to save Hermione Granger's life in a surely aligned death sentence tonight._

Harry had woken from his stupor.

Something was painful at the back of his head and neck and there was something burdensome in his chest.

What has just happened?

He looked around at the unfamiliar place he was in.

But the stench of sea salt and the sound of the waves at a distance was consuming him, his thoughts.

Where was he?

He lay in an angle over the dirty and debris-ridden floor and he kept rubbing his eyes to clear his visions.

Up ahead of him he could see some broken parts of the place as if in verge of collapse but some magic kept it together.

Magic.

His eyes strained to remain open as his thoughts clouded him, forming slowly and giving him a very slow recall about what had transpired and where he was.

He could feel the dry tears along his features and when he slowly turned, he could see small light coming through from a broken boarded up window not far from where he lay.

The place looked familiar to him.

The stench of the place even brought in a handful of heavy feelings inside of him.

He someone knew this place but didn't want to be here.

He felt imprisoned where he was.

Imprisoned.

Prison.

Azkaban.

Snape.

Hermione.

The cottage.

He was at the cottage.

He was to get married to Hermione today.

Eyes turned wide, chest heaving painfully, Harry tried to get up from the dirty floor.

He had passed out several hours ago.

No, it wasn't a dream - what he faced and whom he had spoken to wasn't unreal.

It did happen.

It was Dark Magic but it did happen.

The reality, the truth in his heart and mind now.

His mind painfully raced again, his heart pumping fast as he tried to get up from his state, trying to look for his wand that somehow got buried somewhere in the floor he had fallen into.

Harry moved in panic as reality jarred through his mind, sinking every bit of reality that he had forgotten after passing out in tears several hours ago.

It had been too much, the truth and he couldn't do anything about it.

He had passed out in his agonizing cries hours ago when the truth was laid before him.

Snape was innocent.

Hermione had been taken in and kept for the safety of his life.

And it was Narcissa Malfoy who had machinated all of it.

"No." Harry cried in panic and fear as he found his wand somewhere in the debris and quickly gathered it in his hand. "No…"

He tried to stand still, tried to keep his thoughts together as the memories of the past hours were slowly returning to him.

He remembered now.

He remembered Narcissa Malfoy's preserved message through time – a message she meant to present to the Wizengamot in order to save Snape's life for a sure death sentence in Azkaban.

The woman was wise.

She had been long dead but she was able to foresee the possible outcome of the future just because she had been part of the past that had change the course of all their lives.

A love for a son.

What a mother wouldn't do for a son.

She wasn't like his mother, Lily Evans.

But she was a mother nevertheless.

And she loved her son no less than Lily loved him.

And despite his hatred for the woman, she was long dead and there was nothing she could do about that.

But there was something else he can do about the present or what is still about to happen.

"Snape.." Harry gasped, thoughts of the man and the thought of reality of the years that had transpired constricted his breathing.

He could barely think straight as tears burned in his eyes as he tried to get away from the almost dilapidated building.

 _The soul bound.._

If Snape dies, Hermione _dies._

But that wasn't just the point of the truth that had come to him.

Harry felt himself waking up from a reverie – no, from a nightmare.

The truth was in his hands.

And the clock was ticking down.

"Severus Snape.." he heavily gasped as he staggered to reach the door of the cottage with his wand in his hand.

His heart raced as he knew that time was ticking.

Severus Snape may not be as innocent but he was a victim as the rest of them.

And in several hours, at the very hour of his wedding, Severus Snape was going to be sentenced & executed to death for a crime he didn't even commit.

 _There was a sound and Narcissa awoke from her mild slumber._

 _"_ _Draco?" she whispered clutching her chest as she remembered her dream._

 _Something scratched against the master bedroom's door._

 _"_ _Draco?" Narcissa called out grabbing her wand from under her pillow._

 _She quickly waved it to the door and made her way to the door._

 _Draco was standing still against the door._

 _"_ _Draco?" Narcissa cried out this time seeing her son drenched from the storm._

 _Draco had dropped his wand and had fallen into his knees as she approached him, eyes wide in shock and fear._

 _She didn't need to know what happened because she already knew._

 _"_ _My son.." she cried getting to her knees and quickly enveloping him in his arms but he was staring out of nowhere, out of shock._

 _Draco had left stealthily with the Death Eaters that went to ambush Harry Potter in their attempt to take the boy._

 _He wasn't supposed to be there but he had been depressed and desperate in the past few days knowing the war was to commence and anyone who tries to save the boy will surely die._

 _He had been desperate._

 _Narcissa saw it coming from the moment Draco had become indifferent from that news that was brought about to them._

 _His son had never been the same._

 _But she had never thought that Draco would actually do something about it; and it wasn't even well-thought of._

 _And Draco had failed miserably as his emotions took place._

 _She had always been right and Draco's defiance led to this grave circumstance._

 _He had meant to teach Potter a lesson._

 _Years of jealousy and envy for the boy, years of accumulated hatred for the boy who owned the heart of that good-for-nothing Mudblood._

 _He had only meant to save her and to teach him a lesson to separate them forever._

 _He didn't understand the depth of the curse._

 _Draco had meant to aim the deadly Urduja Curse at Harry Potter._

 _But in the heat of the attacks and the raw and heightened emotions from both ends, he had squarely hit someone else instead._

 _Draco barely felt her mother drag her by his feet towards her own bed, carefully laying him as if he was a fragile little child._

 _"_ _I will talk to Bella." Narcissa gently and reassuringly told him. "I'm quite sure she can clarify it all for us. If you tell me that she has also-"_

 _She stopped._

 _Draco had turned away from her again, consumed in his grief as he curled himself away from her, silent tears in his eyes. She has yet to see both Lucius and Bellatrix about what really took place hours ago at the ambush._

 _According to Draco, he had taken flight and tailed the team of the Death Eaters who had left for the night to ambush the Order in their attempt to transfer Harry Potter at a safer location._

 _It was quite hard to distinguish who were there and it was a great risk to find his father or Snape without having to reveal himself – which was, a straight defiance already to the Dark Lord's orders._

 _But he had quickly found Bellatrix and quickly recognized her wand movements which was at par to some of his measured ones having her years of teaching him how to make good use of a wand._

 _And upon locating her, he quickly found his father and Snape and he tried his best to be as close to them as he could without having to reveal himself._

 _He had recklessly defied his mother and father about going after this deadly one-way mission._

 _But chaos and confusion dispersed as the Order devised a plan to create doubles of Potter._

 _It could have been anyone, it could have been anyone and nobody would know who to attack which accomplished their plan – to divide the Death Eaters and confuse them._

 _But Draco was clever unlike the rest and only alike his godfather._

 _He knew what he had to look for – a flying pattern that was ever so familiar to him._

 _From his position a few spaces away from Snape and Bellatrix he immediately spotted Potter._

 _He knew that flying all too well with all the years he had played Quiditch against the boy._

 _He right away knew which pair to follow._

 _It had been a few failed attempts from Potter's end but he immediately recognized the Quidditch maneuver Harry Potter had been attempting – he knew that airborne tactic from any given angle._

 _And then he spotted her and it confirmed to him that the pair he had been following was indeed no decoy._

 _He found Hermione Granger, arms tight around Harry, clinging for dear life as they flew against death in the dark skies._

 _Draco was agile; he knew he couldn't get closer to them without being hit by the Death Eaters and he could neither get closer to Bella and Snape who was closest to the pair without them recognizing it was him._

 _The sky was burdened with darkness, with an uprising storm and the smell of death everywhere._

 _Flying close to them for a few minutes had already had him missing two deadly spells very closely._

 _And his aunt Bella's reckless aims of spells wasn't helping him focus on evading death and saving his forbidden love._

 _"_ _Fuck." Draco muttered as his thoughts got interrupted by a red light that narrowly missed his cheek._

 _He looked back, wand at the ready and he was sure that the spell had come from Snape but had been meant for another who was ahead of him._

 _Was he aiming at his aunt Bella?_

 _He refocused his gaze ahead of him and saw how fast Bella had been flying and how Snape was seemingly, well odd enough, trying to tail her and yet keeping his distance from her._

 _A gleam in his blue eyes and whatever Snape had been doing gave him a sudden idea._

 _He followed in quick and close pursuit after her aunt Bella who was probably the best airborne lietunant the Dark Lord has ever had._

 _She taught him how to fly fast and taught him a lot of other tricks of the trade – she could probably kill anyone within a few miles or radius and still survive any assault from any direction._

 _All he had to do was ensure a synchronized flying pattern and movement of his aunt Bella to avoid being seen or recognized._

 _Draco heavily breathed and he lowered his hood to see more clearly while keeping his face hidden with the Death Eater's mask he had copied from the rest._

 _He successfully tailed his aunt Bellatrix, dodging spells and keeping the pair ahead of him within sight._

 _He only needed to find a good angle until he noticed that Snape seemed to be doing the same thing._

 _He wasn't quite absolute and sure, but it seemed like it was what he was doing._

 _Realizing this, he quickly knew that Snape was up to something._

 _He wasn't following Bella, he had been creating a different kind of flying pattern for which Bellatrix seemed to be trying to oppose and avoid without her realizing it._

 _Snape was blocking not just Bellatrix but any other Death Eater flying very close to the pair he was also following._

 _He obviously knew it was Harry Potter and Hermione Granger._

 _By calculation to what he was witnessing, Draco knew that he was protecting them and was doing his best to accomplish it without being doubted of his position._

 _The chase went on._

 _Flashes of light from various of spells were exchanged in the air and Draco, despite that he promised himself to save his energy for a one spell-execution tonight, had no choice but to execute defensive counter-spells aimed at his way or the ones that were bouncing off towards his direction from the Death Eaters around him._

 _The Death Eaters were reckless, they executed spells after one another obviously enjoying the murder spree that the Dark Lord had allowed tonight._

 _By now, he could barely find his father as other than Snape, everyone else seemed to be executing spells after another just to eliminate anyone getting in their way in their desperate attempt to hit any of the decoy Potters and their partner in hopes of actually hitting the right target._

 _"_ _Fuck." Draco cursed as another blinding light very early missed him, forcing him to dodge his flight a little and move closer to Bellatrix than he intended to. "Bloody hell."_

 _And then he heard it._

 _Hermione's scream of Harry's name as they both nearly fell off their brooms but Harry had managed to quickly maneuver the broom into another dive._

 _His eyes narrowed._

 _Time was running out for him._

 _He gripped his broom tighter, flying faster and closer to the pair while trying to avoid the flashes of spells around him._

 _He could feel the cold air against his face as sped faster and faster by the moment._

 _The Death Eaters were drawing closer, blocking and securing Harry and Hermione's flying pattern._

 _And then he saw it – Harry had slowed down a little – he was about to do the Quidditch tactic._

 _He thinks the maneuver would save them._

 _But something was wrong as Potter seemed to keep on halting, keep on hesitating to do the somersault-like move._

 _Draco's eyes moved around him, in quick calculation it was a very, very bad idea._

 _This wasn't a Quidditch field for him to attempt something as dangerous as that tactic and Harry Potter was well aware of it._

 _But because of the closing in Death Eaters that will entrap them sooner, it gives Harry very limited options for an escape route ._

 _"_ _No, Potter." Draco muttered realizing that if Harry does it, there was a tendency for either or both of them to fall off their broom should he make on very minimal mistake._

 _He was going to kill himself as he was going to kill Hermione Granger should that happen._

 _"_ _Fuck it, Potter." Draco whispered with panic in his eyes as he raced forward knowing that he had to attempt anything to disrupt Harry's attempt. "No. You know this isn't going to work."_

 _Draco sped forward, keeping only a few distance from Bellatrix and Snape who was right behind him now._

 _"_ _Hang on, Granger." Draco heavily thought to himself. "I'm going to save you."_

 _He looked around him, trying to think fast of what he could possibly do to stop Harry's stupid attempt._

 _Bellatrix's spells were unrelenting towards the pair making it difficult for them to actually finish the move; but if he comes closer, Bellatrix could also hit him with one of her reckless aims._

 _"_ _Fuck." Draco just missed another spell and Bellatrix's laughter echoed in the cold air_

 _They were all really going to die tonight._

 _A sudden flash and looking at his side, he saw Snape wave his wand to deflect a spell that bounced from Bellatrix's and back towards him._

 _Draco easily dodged it and when he looked back ahead, Harry seemed to have found a perfect angle to do it and was only counting down._

 _He kept close, speeding faster as he strained his eyes to remain open and focused on his target._

 _He couldn't make a mistake as he only had one good shot._

 _It was now or never.._

 _With one hand steady and tight around his broomstick, he moved his wand hand out and aimed at the perfect angle._

 _He carefully calculated Harry's movements which had been correct since the beginning of the night that he had been tailing him._

 _He had been using Quidditch speed, flying patterns and techniques and since the rest didn't know of it, he was the one who easily recognized them and found a way to follow them while the rest missed the whole tactic Harry had been doing._

 _He raised his wand, eyes focused and wand aimed directly at the back of Harry Potter's head._

 _He wasn't going to kill the boy._

 _He was just going to teach him a lesson._

 _And he needed to save her life away from this war._

 _The Order would still have their war hero but he needed to ensure that Hermione survives the war – and that meant separating her from him - whatever that could cost him._

 _Until the war was over, they couldn't be together and he was going to do them a favor by saving her life._

 _She was smart._

 _She would eventually realize his efforts and know that he isn't a bad person after all these years._

 _She was going to forgive him when she realizes that he was only trying to save her life after all this time._

 _"_ _I'm sorry." Draco sighed heavily making the decision. "This is the only way to save you."_

 _He sighed heavily, concentrating very hard despite all the screams, flashes of light, speed and harsh feeling of the cold air passing right against him._

 _He aimed, counting down himself and ready to strike at any moment._

 _Draco's movements were very calculated as he moved his eyes for a split moment around and beneath them to estimate the measure of dive he had to make should Hermione fall off the broom and how fast he can catch her and take her away before she falls off from the London skies._

 _Blue eyes straight and focused, he slowly opened his mouth, ready to utter a spell he knew not of its true potential, power and outcome - a spell that has never been used before and was only created by the Dark Lord for his use._

 _The Urduja Curse._

 _Determined, Draco whispered the spell right out from his mouth, a glow began to form at the tip of his wand as he began to expel the curse from his wand straight at the back of Harry Potter's head._

 _But something he didn't really calculate happened and everything refocused before his eyes as if in slow-motion._

 _At the very same time that his spell was executed, someone else had done the same thing._

 _A sudden movement and flash that very much resembled the light he had just casted appeared and had been expelled from another direction, another wand - colliding with his in the air and clearly disrupting the line and angle of his perfect aim._

 _Draco's eyes widened in severe shock at the realization of it, a heavy and painful tug at his heart._

 _Its direction completely differed as someone else had casted the Urduja Curse but had not been executed properly that it aimed at no one in particular, thus, disrupting the alignment of his aim._

 _The light from his wand had been refocused and shifted slightly into the other direction, completely missing its original target._

 _"_ _NO!" Draco cried in shock unable to stop his fearful scream in the air as he realized what had just happened._

 _Hermione's recognizable scream ahead of him echoed through an ear-splitting sound against the cold air._

 _A flash of red light and it instantaneously knocked Harry Potter out unconscious and soon, the pair was speeding fast in a downward motion without direction._

 _His dread realized, Draco's eyes widened with tears as he tried to speed faster forward in an attempt to take back what he knew couldn't be reversed any longer._

 _"_ _No.." Draco cried, eyes wide at what had just happened. "No… no…"_

 _Then the feeling of slow-motion dispersed and everything was moving back and fast around him before he could even recover from the shock._

 _Another light and he heard the thick splash of water as someone had expelled Aguamenti right up at the air and then a laughter from Bellatrix soon followed._

 _Draco wildly looked around, his flying without proper direction as he stared helplessly at what happened next._

 _Harry and Hermione were both knocked out unconscious and had totally lost control of their flying and both were falling fast at breakneck speed down the grounds of London to their sure death._

 _He sped down to follow and saw the Aguamenti's spell quickly sped and engulfed Harry Potter to safety._

 _But it only reached one individual._

 _"_ _Hermione.." Draco cried in spite of himself as panic rose in his chest as he saw her falling unconscious down the same grounds that Harry was aimlessly falling down onto._

 _He sped right downwards towards her seeing her unconscious silhouette after being squarely hit by the spell he had executed himself that was aimed, directed and intended for Harry Potter._

 _"_ _Hermione…." Draco cried helplessly, desperately trying to keep her in his sight. "Hermione…"_

 _His whole body was shaking, fear consuming him and dread clouding his judgment as he sped to save her whilst uncaring if the Death Eaters saw him or what he was doing._

 _But he was outrun by another flyer right next to him._

 _He only saw a black blur but he quickly recognized the length of the cloak of the rider._

 _It was Snape._

 _He was speeding down right after Hermione._

 _He was going to save her life._

 _Draco slowed down his speed as his common sense that momentarily left him slowly returned._

 _He watched from a distance as Snape managed to get to Hermione just in time before she fell off the waters across London._

 _Bellatrix's voice echoed a few feet above him and he could still hear the spells being expelled from different directions._

 _He looked back and though he was sure that Snape had already gotten Hermione, they had disappeared from sight._

 _Draco's tear-strained eyes wildly looked around him, searching for them._

 _They were now high above London waters._

 _The water was still, motionless._

 _But he was sure that there was no other way for them to escape and land because the air was littered with Anti-Apparition magic._

 _Could Snape have taken her down there?_

 _"_ _Retreat!" Bellatrix's voice echoed loudly somewhere above him._

 _Draco looked up, distracted by Bellatrix's screams._

 _"_ _Back to the manor!" she had commanded loud and clear. "Retreat!"_

 _Draco slowed down, almost fatally colliding with another Death Eater._

 _He quickly flew to another direction to avoid colliding with another Death Eater._

 _His eyes still searched the waters but there was nothing there that he could see._

 _He didn't want to leave but if he didn't leave, he was going to be seen._

 _"_ _Hermione.." Draco whispered as hot burning tears settled at the side of his eyes with regret already consuming his soul._

 _Draco looked around and saw that the Order were slowing down towards the waters where they had obviously seen Harry Potter fall straight for._

 _The other Death Eaters were beginning to Disapparate in Bellatrix's orders._

 _He looked back around and knew they were all heading back towards the manor._

 _And soon they would find out – his father atleast – that he had left the manor and followed pursuit into this mission._

 _He took one last glance at the still dark waters._

 _Did he really get to her on time?_

 _What if they had drowned?_

 _No, Snape wasn't that daft._

 _But there were no bodies floating from the water or much movement from its current al to tell him that they were actually underwater._

 _It was close to impossible to Apparate and Disapparate above the waters or in mid-air because of the Anti-Apparition._

 _They had completely disappeared._

 _Draco removed his gaze from the dark water and gazing up at the retreating Death Eaters, he flew up with them, keeping pace and blending back again at the pack of murderers._

 _Without having much of a choice, tears in his eyes, Draco sped right up again with the rest of them before being seen closer to the waters._

 _He Disapparated from the scene to race back to the Malfoy Manor before anyone realizes where he was or what he has done._


	72. Chapter 72

**Author's Notes:** **ANOTHER CHAPTER!** **yes, because i've missed writing so much and because writer's block was able to stay away from quite some time.** **At the coming weekend I'm having my music recital for my students so i will be dead busy the whole week to update, edit or write anything at all so here I am gloriously blessing you all with a new chapter.** **I hope everyone is well.** **It's the stormy season in my country right now and we're enduring very cold and rainy weather everyday. so yes, i am able to write better at this condition especially at the dead hours with a coffee at hand.** **hope all is well at your end.** **lots of love always** **xx** **please enjoy the chapter and the other stories will also be updated son!** **xx**

 **Chapter Seventy One**

 **The House of Black and Malfoy**

There was a reason he left London.

He wanted to forget and he thought he was going to forget everything.

But for the everyday he spent his life even years and miles apart from London, the memories of the place never left him.

It reminded him every night in his nightmares and every waking moment.

A dream, a nightmare that consumed all his days kept coming back but he didn't know how to fix it, he didn't know what it was.

It wasn't until very recently when his godfather and Hermione Granger resurfaced into the face of the Wizarding World did he understand and realize what it could have all been, what it could have all meant – what it possibly connects.

It wasn't a dream, it wasn't a nightmare.

It all happened and it were all buried deep inside his mind.

And there was only one way to understand all of it.

Taking flight, with his new life and with a courage in his heart that would have made any Gryffindor jealous, he returned to London to face the old life he left behind and find answers of his own.

And more than three months later, the grandfather's clock at the West Wing still chimes the same way he remembers it the way it did way back ten years ago.

Almost nothing has changed.

But a decade has passed and lives have been both made and destroyed by that night the Death Eaters were given the order to ambush the Order of the Phoenix to take Harry Potter.

Draco looked up from the vials he was holding in his hand and stared at his reflection as he listened to the loud sound of the clock.

He stared back at himself as he secured the vials in his inner pocket of his cloak.

He straightened up and straightened the black collar of his clothes to keep it neck-deep.

Draco opened a drawer and stared at the Slytherin scarf and he smiled at it as his thin fingers caressed it.

He gently pulled it out but it wasn't what he had meant to take.

It was the red, old and tainted Gryffindor scarf hidden beneath his drawers that he had taken out.

It was Hermione's scarf that he had found many years ago.

The clock had stopped its chimes and Draco stared up at his reflection as he slowly placed the red scarf around his neck.

It felt not too long ago that they were at Hogwarts, not too long ago that rivalry was as trivial as a Quidditch match and the worse thing was failing from an exam.

Not from a life to be taken at Azkaban, not a life destroyed by a curse.

He bowed his head, nodding to himself as tears started to stain the side of his eyes.

Red and gold – the only colours in the almost lifeless look about him.

Draco smiled at his reflection – Gryffindor suited him well – it placed colour in the grievous aura he had.

And come to think of it, courage did look good him.

He tried to keep the tears from streaming down his face; he shouldn't be scared, it was bound to happen.

He meant to finish what he had begun a very long time ago – he meant to fix the lives he destroyed.

The Gryffindor scarf suited him well – courage looked good on him.

There were broken dreams or rather repetitive nightmare inside his head for years that never left him.

Going through the years, he got used to it understanding that it may have been his conscience eating him all those years. And despite that he felt different and he felt that they couldn't just be mere dreams, he went through with life.

And meant to endure it all until his dying day.

It wasn't long ago that he had been in the West Wing, spying on his mother, on his godfather at the night of the ambush.

It felt not so long ago and yet a decade had passed.

A decade had passed since he had destroyed the life of Hermione Granger.

He thought he had lost her forever but fate had plans and finding her was one of them.

Saving Snape's life at the last minute was perhaps another.

Draco swallowed back his tears, forcing a smile as he stared back at his reflection, looking good with the red scarf around his neck.

It was time to fix what no other soul ever knew he had done.

For he didn't even remember all of it until very recently when his mother's powerful cast of Obliviate had been broken and that is again, thanks to his godfather.

And now he remembers that the years of nightmares that have been eating him alive weren't mere dreams.

He now remembers and he remembers it all.

 _"Don't you trust me?" he asked again._

 _"_ _There's nothing else to tell, Draco." Snape firmly said. "I've told you everything that has happened and everything there is to know about the ten years."_

 _Draco only stared at him, eyes closely locked at him._

 _"_ _Look up at me." Draco coldly demanded. "Look up at me, godfather."_

 _Snape was hesitant but he looked back at Draco._

 _"_ _Put down your defenses." Draco said slowly pulling his wand out from his pocket._

 _"_ _What?" Snape quietly asked him although his eyes flickered for a swift moment over Draco's wand._

 _"_ _You heard me. Put down your defenses." Draco said placing his wand over the table where he could clearly see it._

 _"_ _This is ridiculous, Draco."_

 _"_ _Put down your defenses." Draco slowly muttered each word._

 _Snape stared at him._

 _"_ _I've already been checked by the Wizengamot and Ministry on that."_

 _"_ _I know." Draco said. "But they're not aware of the depth and strength of your power to close your mind against their power to go through it to look for evidences of the past."_

 _Snape sat there unmoving as Draco waited._

 _"_ _We are wasting time, Draco." Snape said unconsciously placing his hands across his chest._

 _"_ _Just put it down." Draco quietly said. "It's just the two of us in this room and you know that it's just me. It's just me, godfather. There's nothing to be worried about. There's nothing you have hidden in those years that you should still be ashamed of. There's nothing in those years I couldn't handle."_

 _Snape's black eyes flickered at his tone and mention._

 _"_ _I'm not worried-"_

 _"_ _Then you will show me what's in that head of yours-"_

 _"_ _They've already seen what's in my head – you already know what's in my head-"_

 _"_ _Not everything." Draco said taking the wand from the table. "I haven't seen everything. Put your defenses down and let me see through your mind."_

 _"_ _This is invasion of privacy."_

 _"_ _Invasion of privacy?" Draco incredulously asked him. "Invasion of your privacy? I'm trying to save your life!"_

 _He almost laughed._

 _Snape looked both nervous and displeased._

 _"_ _There's nothing in my head you have not yet known or have seen-"_

 _"_ _Then if there's nothing to keep from me. Let me see it all over again!" Draco said and this time his voice was hoarse, cold and demanding._

 _Snape met the eyes of the young Malfoy._

 _They were cold and impatient, almost owned once more by the boy that was pure of a Malfoy and no trace of his mother._

 _Snape looked alarmed now._

 _Draco was looking and sounding more like his father at the moment._

 _"_ _Draco-"_

 _"_ _Lower your defenses." Draco whispered standing up and slowly raising his wand and pointing it over his forehead._

 _Snape, unarmed and stunned sat there wordlessly._

 _They stared at one another as if waiting and daring the other to make their next move._

 _Snape pursed his lips and looked closely at Draco._

 _Something dark passed his expression._

 _"_ _What are you looking for Draco?" Snape slowly asked him. "You seem to be looking for an answer you already have."_

 _"_ _I don't have answers." Draco said. "That's why I'm searching for them."_

 _"_ _Something tells me it's not random answers you're looking for."_

 _Draco didn't say anything._

 _He blinked for a moment, a second thought and then he returned to his passive expression._

 _"_ _I see." Snape whispered sighing heavily and nodding at him. "You're looking for something specific." Snape whispered as his muscles relaxed as he tried to overpower Draco by means of emotions._

 _"_ _I'm not looking for something specific."_

 _"_ _You are looking for an answer you have already." Snape pointed out. "You only seem to be looking for some verification."_

 _Draco didn't say anything._

 _"_ _Tell me what you are looking for-"_

 _"_ _I will do the questioning here!" Draco suddenly yelled at him. "I am your Defense Council!"_

 _Snape's eyes widened._

 _Draco advanced, wand closer to his face and his other hand had been banged over the desk._

 _The frustration, the exhaustion and anger were suddenly all over his face._

 _He had never seen the boy this angry or frustrated before._

 _Something was taking a toll over the boy._

 _"_ _Draco-"_

 _"_ _Just tell me the truth." Draco said. "Please."_

 _He was slightly shaking now and his voice constricted in his throat in his attempt to control his anger._

 _Snape slowly reached for the wand over his face and gently held it at its end._

 _Draco kept it pointed over him._

 _"_ _How about you put your defenses down, Draco." Snape slowly instructed keeping his black eyes over his grey ones._

 _Draco didn't say anything._

 _"_ _You've said it yourself." Snape slowly said. "It's just the two of us here. Man to man. Godfather to godson. There's nothing to be kept between the two of us for we know one another more than anyone else."_

 _Draco still didn't say anything nor did he lower his wand._

 _Snape was reminded of the boy he tried to convince years ago to be helped in his mission with the Dark Lord._

 _"_ _Draco, there's nothing to keep between the two of us." Snape slowly whispered as he gently held the wand pointed over his face. "Why don't you tell me the truth?"_

 _"_ _I'm the one asking you-"_

 _"_ _Tell me what you are specifically looking for."_

 _All refinement and composure was lost from Draco._

 _He suddenly looked harassed, sleepless and frustrated._

 _"_ _I'm not your enemy." Snape softly whispered making his features a bit gentler. "I'm your godfather. I'm your ally, Draco."_

 _Snape waited in silence, watching Draco carefully as he was consumed by something he didn't yet understand._

 _And then slowly, Draco sat back down, a heavy sigh and tears in his eyes as he looked back up at Snape._

 _His godfather was confused and worried as he stared back at his godson._

 _"_ _Draco?"_

 _"_ _I've been having dreams." Draco slowly admitted to him. "Dreams. Nightmares. For years..years. They never go away. They… they keep on resurfacing."_

 _Snape stared, carefully studying the look on his face and his words._

 _"_ _What's happening to me?" Draco asked in frustration as he lowered his wand and buried his face in his hands. "Something's wrong.. something's not right… it's been there.. something's in there, in me… It won't go away. I need to understand… I need to know the truth. Please help me."_

 _Snape watched as careful tears streamed down the side of his handsome face, the look of desperation and a gleam of madness in his eyes._

 _He understood it._

 _"_ _Memories." Snape slowly answered shifting in his chair and staring at Draco's wand between them. "Forgotten memories."_

 _Draco stopped moving and he looked up at him, confused._

 _A slow but sure understanding passed both their eyes._

 _"_ _Buried memories." Draco corrected him. "Help me. Help me, godfather."_

 _His eyes drew Snape in as Draco moved his wand towards him._

 _"_ _Only you can do this." Draco wept. "Only you can do this. There's no one else as powerful as you when it comes to this kind of magic."_

 _Snape shook his head._

 _"_ _Draco, you need to understand that this kind of magic – it has complications and if we try to unbury whatever it was-"_

 _"_ _I don't care!" Draco angrily yelled at him again. "We don't have time – I don't give a damn!"_

 _"_ _Draco, calm down-"_

 _"_ _Something has been stolen from me and I need to remember!" Draco cried at him. "We both know she did it – we both know she could do anything if she willed it-"_

 _"_ _Enough of this!" Snape warned him coldly. "You will not speak of your mother this way. You're absolutely accusing-"_

 _"_ _I NEED TO REMEMBER WHAT MOTHER MADE ME FORGET!" Draco was shaking in anger as he screamed at him unable to contain himself any longer. "YOU KNOW HER! YOU KNOW HER MAGIC AND I KNOW YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT!"_

 _Snape's black eyes were wide in shock as he stared at Draco's desperate form._

 _He knew Draco could be right and knowing Narcissa himself, he was sure that Narcissa had done something again for the love of her son._

 _But Draco wasn't daft; he wasn't unintelligent like his father._

 _He knew there was something in all those years he had been having the nightmares and without all possible help to help him uncover it, he endured it convincing himself they were all but nightmare eating his conscience for all the choices and sins of his past. He ignored all of it because there was no life for him to go back to at London._

 _He felt it were all mere nightmares eating his conscience for all the choices and sins of his past._

 _And Snape didn't want to help the boy for he knew that it could ruin the boy's life._

 _For Draco was young with a future ahead of him and he knew that it was the reason Narcissa had done whatever it was she could have done this time around._

 _And he himself had come to accept into terms that his life was no longer worth saving, not worth anything and he could deal and face death now._

 _Snape was shaken out of his reverie when Draco suddenly grabbed his arms and held them tightly down the table._

 _"_ _Please." Draco cried in frustration forcing the wand in his hand. "Help me.. I need to know and I know you understand.. I've done.. I could have done something and I…I need to fix it. I need to remember."_

 _Snape stared at him, completely unwilling to help the boy because he could almost guess what could have happened that night._

 _"_ _We can't do this, Draco." Snape simply told him with a curt nod handing him back his wand. "I'm sorry. I will not allow-"_

 _"_ _No, no – you can't – you can't deny me-" he stopped him from moving away from the table. "You can't leave me this way – this is something you can do – only you can do – and you're my godfather and this –"_

 _"_ _Draco-"_

 _"_ _I cannot be mistaken." Draco pleaded. "I know there's something that isn't right here – something is missing from all of this-"_

 _"_ _I cannot help you-"_

 _"_ _These dreams – nightmares for years and years – they're just there, inside my head and they won't go away – maddening, killing me – they won't-"_

 _"_ _Draco, calm yourself down-"_

 _"_ _It's there- something in there is buried and I need you to get them out – I need your help – please, help me-"_

 _Snape glared, unable to comprehend the urgency of the burden his godson seem to relieve everyday._

 _He was curious but he wasn't sure that he should unbury whatever it was that Narcissa kept from his own son's mind._

 _"_ _Please." Draco whispered. "If you want to make things right, this is one way of undoing all the wrongs you think you've done."_

 _It took a while for Snape to answer but he sighed heavily at him with a firm nod._

 _"_ _I cannot see them, Draco." Snape slowly said. "We cannot know for sure what else Potter is planning, if they use this.. if they ever think my mind has been tampered and they see you in it, see different memories, they will attempt to take you down-"_

 _"_ _You don't need to see them." Draco interrupted him determined to convince his godfather. "There's.. there is this dark magic that reverses… aunt Bella taught it to me and I'm sure that-"_

 _"_ _I wonder how many things Bellatrix has taught you." Snape shortly said with a glint of hatred in his eyes. "And how many your mother didn't realize she was teaching you."_

 _"_ _It doesn't matter what she's taught me." Draco said positioning himself in front of Snape. "What matters is I never use any of them against anyone."_

 _Snape paused and stared at him unsure of how to respond._

 _"_ _If I reverse whatever has been taken out of your mind, there is no taking it away again." Snape fairly warned him as he touched the tip of the wand, the first time he has really touched a wand in three months that he had been imprisoned._

 _Draco nodded at him, a look of firm determination in his eyes as if he had thought of this over and over before he went to Azkaban._

 _"_ _I need to know." Draco said as he let Snape settle in front of him, placing either hands over his temples. "I'm almost sure I've done something… unforgivable."_

 _Snape's black eyes met Draco's._

 _"_ _Once done, I cannot undo it anymore, Draco." Snape gave him a final warning. "Are you sure about this?"_

 _Draco nodded at him as he remained still, waiting._

 _"_ _I cannot do this alone." Draco said closing his eyes and moving his face close to his godfather in a bow. "I need to remember. Help me make things right.. Let us make things right together for the last time."_

 _A heavy tug in his heart passed as Snape heard those words – as his godson begged him to unburden him of something he had been carrying all these years._

 _He looked at him, unwilling and unsure._

 _But he held the wand firmly with a look of reluctance in his face._

 _Draco stopped crying and stopped moving as he waited still as Snape moved him into position._

 _"_ _I will do this under one condition." Snape said as he paused and slowly made him look up at him._

 _Draco slowly opened his eyes again and nodded._

 _"_ _Anything." Draco answered him._

 _Godfather and godson exchanged unblinking glares._

 _"_ _Forgive yourself." Snape gently commanded him. "Forgive yourself for whatever it is that your mother buried deep inside your mind. You have to understand that she had done it for a reason and that is for your own good. Do you understand?"_

 _A pause then a short nod of understanding from Draco._

 _"_ _I understand." Draco answered._

 _"_ _Forgive yourself, Draco." Snape said. "You were young. You were all too young to become a victim of the war that has been." and he stilled him again and placed the tip of his wand at the left side of his temple and began to mutter nonstop under his breath._

 _Black eyes stared unblinkingly as a shot of purple light came out from the wand and straight to its master's mind._

The Daily Prophet was ready to print two headlines today:

Potter-Granger Nuptials and the trial's outcome but they were not to release the second headline until they were sure of the outcome of the case against Severus Snape.

They were going to wait for a signal, a message if the wedding would commence.

For the trial's verdict was going to depend on whether the bride appears at the wedding or not.

Should the wedding commence at its proper hour, Severus Snape's verdict would be a lifetime sentence at Azkaban. But should the wedding come to an inevitable and unpredictable turnout, his fate was clear – death sentence by execution of the Dementor's Kiss.

Kingsley looked up from the two samples of the Daily Prophet over his desk because of the knock that came.

"Minister?"

It was Remus Lupin.

"Come in, Remus, come in." he invited the man he knew too well. "Have a seat. You're early."

Lupin nodded and entered the first things he noticed were the newspapers over his desk.

"What is this?" he asked, confused for the two headlines.

"I have been sent this anonymously." he pointed over the headlines. "I think we both know who sent it."

Lupin didn't say anything as he picked up both articles.

Both showed a large photograph of Harry and Hermione from their wedding preparations where the first headlines were very the same.

The latter however differed.

"Did Harry send you this?" he asked him. "Because he has not come home from lastnight. I came here to see him."

"Potter is not in his office?" the Minister asked him as Lupin shook his head.

"We don't know where he is." Lupin answered. "We haven't seen him since sunset."

"If not him, then I will support the idea that perhaps he had someone send this in." Kingsley answered him. "The wedding is at three?"

"Yes." Lupin answered him. "You will be there?"

"Yes." Kingsley replied. "The verdict is at the same time."

Lupin stared at him, confused.

"But the Wizengamot-"

"Has all its heads present when the verdict is given." Kingsley said. "I am suppose to give a signal."

"A signal?"

A heavy look passed Kingsley's face.

"If the bride arrives." Kingsley heavily answered him. "The Wizengamot gives its verdict."

"They will await for the wedding to commence?" Lupin asked, confused.

"The final verdict will depend on the wedding's outcome." Kingsley replied. "It has taken me a while to understand why I wasn't asked to be at the verdict today. It has taken me a while to understand why a vote of eleven on twelve has already been given when it was still on the tenth trial."

"They will give a verdict with a twelve trial case not yet done?" Lupin worriedly asked.

"We're supposed to have two more, Remus." Kingsley told him. "But the evidences are hard. One way or another, Severus Snape will meet his end within the walls of Azkaban."

Kingsley stared at Lupin's confused face as he moved one of the papers towards him and opened at a particular page.

Lupin grabbed it and read fast the article that was released by the Ministry of Magic.

By Order of the High Court of the Wizengamot and appeal of Mr. Harry James Potter, the verdict would be given under ten out of twelve trials since the evidences that had been gathered were more than enough and no other witnesses were to be presented.

"Can he do this?" Lupin worriedly asked him. "Can Harry do this?"

"I'm afraid he can." Kingsley sorrowfully answered him. "The boy is a great Auror. Youngest to be head of his department. I will not be biased if I tell that he does not know his job."

"He did his best." Lupin gravely said. "He did his best to become the best."

"And he is the best one I have ever known of." Kingsley heavily sighed at him. "He had grown to be the best in the department all because of a love he had lost a long time ago."

There was silence between them as both of them thought over the years that had passed, of a boy who had given everything and yet fate had punished severely.

They thought of the boy whose whole life had been a waste for himself.

"What will happen?" Lupin asked after a while. "We can't.. Do just stand back?"

"We wait." Kingsley gravely told Lupin as he sat back in his large armchair, rubbing his temples with the tips of his fingers.

Lupin stared at him, at complete loss of words.

"The twelfth and thirteenth vote are yet to come." Kingsley slowly said looking up at him.

Their eyes met.

Lupin looked at him, a scrutinizing glare from his eyes.

"I am the thirteenth vote, Remus." Kingsley honestly told him. "I am second to the first and most important vote."

"And the twelfth?" Lupin asked him moving closer the Minister's desk. "The most important vote? Who is the last one?"

"The Head of the Wizengamot himself." Kingsley slowly answered him with a contemptuous look over his face.

"The old.. the old wizard?" Lupin slowly asked.

Kingsley nodded at him.

"Order of Merlin, First Class, Eduardus Limette Black Jr."

"Black?" Lupin interrupted him. "Do you mean the family Black?"

"Great grandson of Eduardus Limette Black Senior who had been the first wizard to be disowned in the Black family for an unknown reason." Kingsley clarified to him with a curt nod.

Lupin stared at him with an open mouthed.

He wasn't sure he knew of the man he spoke of but he recalled several people from Sirius' family tree back at Grimmauld Place that were erased by members of the family once they have been disowned.

"Related to Sirius?" he asked the Minister.

"Not just related." Kingsley confirmed to him. "A family member of the Blacks that is one closely related to Narcissa Malfoy."

"Draco knows him?" Lupin asked, eyes wide at this information they weren't sure if would be helpful or not.

The Minister nodded at him as his eyes turned away from Lupin and into the fireplace as they listened to the chime of the clock in his office as another hour had come.

"He is Draco Malfoy's great uncle." Kingsley told him. "He is closest to madame Malfoy, Draco's mother."

A look of contemplation passed both their faces.

"And we best hope Remus that Draco knows how to make good use of it."

 _"_ _Drink this tea, Draco." Narcissa firmly said as she entered the room, her footsteps echoing. "This will ease the pain in your stomach."_

 _Draco didn't move from the bed, he was facing the window as he lay crumpled on his stomach with dry tears all over his face._

 _"_ _Draco." Narcissa's voice came again but he still didn't move a muscle._

 _His eyes were bloodshot red from tears and his mind elsewhere, oblivious to Narcissa's movements in his room._

 _It was half past three in the morning and the rainstorm had continued throughout the night._

 _Draco had come home to her from a very terrible night._

 _Nothing according to his plan or even the Order and Death Eater's plans tonight had come to happen._

 _Everything had gone out of control in unexpected turn of events._

 _Narcissa stared at Draco's unmoving form._

 _He had been like that for hours and she knew that this wasn't a good sign._

 _"_ _Draco." Narcissa called him out, voice firm as she walked towards his bed. "You can't stay this way. I'm telling you to drink this tea to ease you up and help you get some sleep"_

 _Draco remained still but was wide awake and eyes staring almost lifelessly out of nowhere._

 _The Death Eaters had just ambushed Harry Potter and the Order in their attempt to transfer him to a safer location._

 _His father was there as was his aunt Bellatrix and ofcourse his godfather, Severus Snape._

 _But despite their efforts to thwart the transfer, they have come to face the Order who had come very prepared tonight._

 _He should have listened to his mother and remained at the Malfoy Manor._

 _Nothing had gone according to plan tonight and as Draco should have known better, knew he wasn't supposed to be there in the first place._

 _And he was now paying very dearly for it._

 _Narcissa was losing her patience and she turned to leave when Draco spoke._

 _"_ _I killed her." Draco very weakly whispered another tear dispensing from his eyes to the bed covers as he lay his head askew, facing the fireplace. "I killed her."_

 _Narcissa walked back to the bed staring at his son, consumed by grief._

 _"_ _This is ridiculous." Narcissa's stern voice came. "We don't know that yet. Besides, the curse is not meant to kill. You are not at fault, here Draco. We are yet to find out what it does-"_

 _"_ _Not yet." Draco said, his voice dry but his tears began to fall again. "But soon it will."_

 _Narcissa stared down at his form that had been muttering nonstop for the past hour._

 _She tried to contain herself, tried to focus and remain impassive but the state of his son was getting worse just by the hours._

 _"_ _Draco, get up." Narcissa commanded. "Get yourself up from that bed. Now."_

 _"_ _I want to die." Draco whispered in the dead air. "I want to die…"_

 _Narcissa's eyes flashed._

 _"_ _Stop it." Narcissa coldly said reaching for her son. "Draco, look at me."_

 _"_ _I want to die." Draco only repeated. "I killed her. I killed her…" his voice was shaking as he spoke, muttering more to himself and fear consuming him alive._

 _"_ _If you will follow me, you can think clearly and recall that there could be an instance where it was your aunt Bella-"_

 _"_ _I saw the light hit her." Draco whispered almost inaudibly. "I saw the light…"_

 _"_ _We don't know that." Narcissa assured her son. "We don't know that for sure. You said it yourself, everyone was firing out-"_

 _"_ _I killed her-"_

 _"_ _Stop it, this instant, Draco!" Narcissa warningly said rolling her eyes and trying to persuade him to look at her. "We don't know that for sure! We have yet to find out-"_

 _"_ _You don't understand-" he cried at her. "You weren't there – you –"_

 _"_ _You've got to calm down." Narcissa said getting to the bed and forcibly pulling him to her. "Look at me, Draco!"_

 _"_ _NO!" Draco suddenly screamed at his mother. "You don't understand – you weren't there – it was me! I saw it! I am sure of it!"_

 _His blue eyes were filled with tears and hatred and Narcissa stared back helplessly at her beloved son with utmost pain and pity._

 _She closed her eyes, inhaling deeply as she gently this time approached Draco._

 _"_ _My dear boy." she whispered. "Come, please-"_

 _"_ _Don't touch me!" Draco said shoving her hand away. "I'm not a child!"_

 _Narcissa's eyes glinted dangerously._

 _"_ _But you are my child!" Narcissa angrily cried at him. "My child, Draco! Do you hear me?!"_

 _Draco didn't say anything, he remained impassive._

 _Narcissa shook her head, tears beginning to fill in her eyes upon seeing Draco this way._

 _"_ _Please. You are my son." she moved closer to him. "I will get you through this but you need to listen to me. Please, Draco."_

 _Draco remained unmoving, revulsion of hatred for himself was written all over his face._

 _Narcissa opened her hand towards him._

 _"_ _You are my only son and I will not abandon you." she gently whispered._

 _His eyes moved from the bed then towards her mother's palm extended for him to take._

 _Their eyes met._

 _He was broken and only his mother knew that it was beyond repair._

 _A love lost is the greatest fall of all._

 _Draco suddenly choked on his own tears as he gave away to what he was feeling and he slowly crawled into her arms._

 _"_ _It was me." he cried like a child as he moved and crawled into Narcissa's open arms. "It was me. I saw the light come from my own wand, mother. It was me…"_

 _Narcissa took his hand firmly and pulled him into her arms and in a tight embrace._

 _She closed her eyes as she held him protectively._

 _He cried harder as she held him, the confirmation coming from the lips of her own son._

 _And she knew it was true._

 _"_ _Shush, Draco, my dear boy." Narcissa whispered gravely kissing Draco's blonde hair. "Sleep my child, I will not let harm come to you."_

 _Narcissa gently held him as he cried to sleep in her arms as she very gently brushed his head to calm him._

 _"_ _I will protect you, my dear boy." Narcissa whispered her eyes focused at the vast fireplace across the room while she held him. "Fear not. I will give you my life, Draco. I will do anything in my power to protect you."_

 _Draco didn't answer, he continued to cry in her arms regretting everything he had done his whole life, regretting what he had decided upon himself that ultimately became his beloved's demise._

 _"_ _I killed her." Draco cried in her arms. "I want do die… I want to die… please, let me die.. Let me die.."_

 _"_ _No, no, my dear boy." Narcissa whispered. "I'm here, I am here.. I won't let any harm come to you. I will get you through this." she whispered as she carefully and secretly pulled her wand from her pocket and gently pointed it at the back of Draco's head that she had been brushing._

 _"_ _I love you, my son. I will not let any harm come to you." Narcissa promised pressing a kiss over Draco's head as she placed the tip of her wand as gently as she could over his head with Draco very oblivious to it. "Sleep, my boy, sleep. I am here."_

 _She closed her eyes, tears restrained at the sides of her eyes as she began to hum a very soft lullaby to him as Draco closed his eyes, soft and silent tears streaming nonstop from them._

 _"_ _My only son…I will protect you, my dear boy." Narcissa whispered gravely as she deeply kissed Draco's head, she opened her eyes focused elsewhere as she embraced him tightly, protectively as light came from her wand and straight into the back of Draco's head._

 _"_ _Fear not. I will give you my life. I will do anything to protect you. Not a goddamn soul in this world will ever know of what you have."_

 _A glass crashed loudly against the wall that scattered all over the carpeted floor._

 _Narcissa swallowed hard and entered the vast sitting room of the Malfoy Manor._

 _The rain outside was heavy and the skies seemed angry, violent and punishing the land._

 _"_ _Should I ask that to be cleaned?" Narcissa asked entering and walking over the large couch where her sister sat with her wand in her hand, legs limply raised at the arms of the couch as she lay lazily over it._

 _"_ _No." Lucius answered instead. "She would like the rest of the china set sent here for her break."_

 _"_ _Better be quiet or I will not think twice of murdering you in front of your wife." Bellatrix angrily hissed at him._

 _"_ _Threatening me?" Lucius lashed back. "At my own house?"_

 _"_ _This isn't your house anymore, pretty boy." Bellatrix snapped back at him. "You've lost all rights to this household and gave it to the Dark Lord when you failed last-"_

 _"_ _Why you spoiled –"_

 _"_ _Silence!" Narcissa angrily said to the both of them._

 _Emotions were quite high as each Death Eater stayed at either the manor or at their own hiding places._

 _The ambush the previous night had been nothing but murder-spree without the luck of getting Harry Potter at all._

 _An Auror died, the blood-traitor's son was dying at the hospital while another had been severely injured, the Muggle-Born was missing and presumed dead while the rest have been injured and had been forced to retreat._

 _Other than, no sighting of Harry Potter other than vanishing in the waters of London with the Muggle-Born._

 _If she was dead, he was unlikely to survive the same fall she had endured after the fatal fall from the sky_

 _But the Dark Lord was very discontent with the outcome._

 _He doesn't want a presumable death of the boy – he wanted to kill the boy himself and each of the Death Eaters are now enduring the consequences of the failed attempt to take the boy lastnight._

 _Narcissa stared at her husband and her sister with glinting eyes._

 _"_ _Are we really going to divide amongst ourselves now?" Narcissa asked them walking with vicious glare in her eyes._

 _They both fell silent as Narcissa watched them with angry eyes._

 _Lucius slowly sat back at the armchair from the other end of the room while Bellatrix returned to her position and faced the fireplace instead._

 _"_ _How's Draco?" Lucius asked looking up at his wife._

 _"_ _Still sick." Narcissa simply answered him._

 _Bellatrix scoffed at the corner._

 _"_ _Is there anything you would like to say, Bella?" she asked her sister._

 _Her black eyes slowly turned to her, scrutinizing her own sister._

 _"_ _Are you sure that Draco has been here all night long?" she slowly asked Narcissa. "Sure that he didn't slither his way out of the manor lastnight?"_

 _Narcissa stared but there was nothing in her expression that would give away what she knew._

 _"_ _Yes." Narcissa answered. "I stayed until the late hours. He was in his room."_

 _Bellatrix stared at her sister, a sharp look in her eyes._

 _She slowly stood up and walked to her sister without breaking eye contact._

 _"_ _What are you doing?" Narcissa whispered as Bellatrix walked to her, wand in hand._

 _"_ _Look at me, Cissy." Bellatrix whispered like a hissing snake. "Look at me and tell me you're telling that truth."_

 _"_ _The truth?" she asked regretting she left her wand in her room._

 _"_ _The truth, Cissy." Bellatrix said stopping in front of her. "Your son. Was he in the manor last night or did he find a way to follow us?"_

 _"_ _I don't understand-"_

 _"_ _Bellatrix, we told you, Draco had been here the whole night.." Lucius interrupted seeing the murderous glare of the woman._

 _"_ _Silence!" Bellatrix angrily told Lucius and turning back to her sister. "Cissy?"_

 _Narcissa stared back at her and she knew that she was trying to break through her mind's barrier._

 _"_ _Don't lie to me." Bellatrix asked softly moving her face inches to her sister's. "I will ask again. Where was Draco lastnight?"_

 _"_ _Draco has been with me the whole-"_

 _"_ _DON'T LIE TO ME, CISSY!"_

 _"_ _I am not lying-"_

 _"_ _We counted heads, Cissy!" Bellatrix screamed at her face. "Greyback counted heads! And even someone as dumb as him counted fifteen Death Eaters that took flight lastnight! WHERE WAS DRACO LASTNIGHT?!"_

 _Narcissa stared at her sister, hands shaking at her side but she couldn't and would never reveal what she knew._

 _"_ _You're mad." Narcissa whispered at her wide-eyed expression towards her. "Draco was with me the whole night. He has been here – I would never let him –"_

 _"_ _Let him?" Bellatrix interrupted her. "Let him? You couldn't even control what he feels!"_

 _"_ _Because I cannot control his feelings!" Narcissa screamed back at her. "But I would never let him or allow him to leave this manor lastnight-"_

 _"_ _There were fifteen of us, Cissy!" Bellatrix crazily wailed at her. "And there were fourteen that returned! There was someone else with us lastnight! I cannot be mistaken-"_

 _"_ _Then you are." Narcissa calmly replied. "You are mistaken, Bella."_

 _There was silence between them._

 _Lucius stood standing next to the sisters while Bellatrix tried so hard to go through her sister's mind and get the truth out of her._

 _But Narcissa stood her ground._

 _She was a powerful witch but being a mother made her close to invincible._

 _"_ _If the Dark Lord finds out, Cissy I cannot vouch for you or for your son." Bellatrix slowly whispered giving up knowing that Narcissa will never tell her the truth_

 _"_ _I appreciate your loyalty to the Dark Lord, Bella." Narcissa told her sister who turned away from her. "Should our lives been different.. should circumstances allowed us…you would have become a good wife to the Dark Lord."_

 _Bellatrix stopped walking and Lucius stared at Narcissa in warning._

 _Bellatrix slowly turned to Narcissa, hand shaking with her wand._

 _"_ _What did you.."_

 _"_ _You would have been a good wife." Narcissa said unblinkingly. "Your dedication, your loyalty and love for the Dark Lord.. it almost tells me you're ready for a family of your own."_

 _"_ _I don't understand..you dare speak to me.. you dare tell me.. How could you say.. I am never.." "_

 _"_ _I am your sister. You are ready. I do know how you feel." Narcissa said walking towards Bellatrix. "And when you have a family of your own, you do understand that you would do anything – absolutely anything – to protect them. Yes?"_

 _Black eyes met grayish blue ones as the Black sisters stared deeply onto one another's eyes._

 _A gleam of understanding passed Bellatrix's face and a look of relief and acceptance from Narcissa's face._

 _An understanding between two sisters._

 _"_ _One way or another we're all going to die, Bella." Narcissa softly said walking to her and reaching for her hand. "And there's nothing I won't do to protect you."_

 _Bellatrix didn't say anything but she turned away from Narcissa with an unmistakable tears in her eyes._

 _"_ _Won't you do the same for me?" Narcissa gently asked her. "For Draco?"_

 _She waited as Bellatrix took a moment to answer but she did answer._

 _"_ _I don't know anything about what you're talking about." Bellatrix slowly answered fisting her hands at her sides without looking back. "As tonight, I don't know anything…"_

 _Narcissa sighed and nodded in relief._

 _"_ _Thank you, Bella." she said with a twinkle of gratitude in her eyes. "You will not-"_

 _"_ _I will not vouch for you or for your son.. or any of you.. should you be caught red-handed, Cissy." Bellatrix cut shortly with no hint of emotion in her voice._

 _And before Narcissa or Lucius can say anything, Bellatrix turned away, not looking back to let her sister see the tears that had ran down her cheeks before she shut the door very loudly behind her back._

"Identification?"

"Excuse me?" Draco asked with a raised tone as he took out his wand to lay on the table before the Auror.

"Identification?" the Auror repeated ignoring the look on Draco's face.

"Identification?" Draco asked again. "I'm his Defense Council-I think I've been here more than-"

"We need statement of names of everyone who will visit him today." the Auror replied taking Draco's wand and staring around it and placing it over a golden scale over his table.

"Fine." Draco snapped as he was given his wand back. "Draco Black Malfoy."

"Please leave all your belongings, Mr. Malfoy." the Auror said stopping him from walking past the perimeter to enter the hallway that would lead down the special cell where Snape was.

"I'm sorry?" Draco asked again beginning to be impatient. "What's going on? What is this?"

"Protocols, Mr. Malfoy." the Auror replied gesturing to the table for Draco to deposit all his belongings. "We are extra careful today because it is the final trial and verdict."

"Right." Draco muttered taking out a few of his documents, his wallet and watch halfway throwing everything over the table. "May I pass now?"

The Auror took all his things and placed them neatly in a small basket but halted him on his way in.

"What?" Draco asked rolling his eyes at the Auror who was eyeing his wand in his hand.

"I cannot allow your wand inside." the Auror simply told him opening his hand to take his wand.

"What?" Draco snapped losing his patience now. "What did you say?"

"You can't bring your wand inside, Mr. Malfoy." the Auror firmly repeated.

"I'm sorry?" Draco snapped turning to the Auror. "This is ridiculous. I'm his Defense Council and I'm sure there are more than four of you on my way in and probably six more before I reach my client's-"

"Please leave your wand-"

"I'm not goddamn leaving my wand-"

"Protocols, Mr. Malfoy." the Auror said blocking Draco's way inside. "Either you leave it here or you are refused entry."

Draco stared at the Auror and he knew that this wasn't going to work out this way.

"If something happens to me inside because I'm unarmed I'm fucking going to _murder_ you from my grave." Draco angrily said throwing his wand back into the table.

The Auror nodded firmly, ignoring Draco's temper and taking the wand and including it with Draco's other belongings.

"May I pass now?" Draco spat at the Auror with threat in his eyes.

The Auror stared at him, up and down and up again, looking at him as if checking if there was still anything else he could take from Draco.

"Unlike you, I don't have the luxury of time right now." Draco angrily said straightening his cloak and securing it over himself.

The Auror looked completely insulted and his eyes moved to his cloak and the Gryffindor scarf around his neck.

"What?" Draco lashed at the guard as he tightened the tie of his cloak around himself. "Don't tell me I cannot bring my cloak and scarf down there? Or are you an idiot? Do you know how fucking cold it is down here at Azkaban?"

The Auror looked like he wanted to argue further but thought better of it.

"You may pass now, sir." the Auror said with spite in his tone and muttering "Malfoys.." as he let Draco pass him by to go to the cell where Snape was transferred to await the final trial and verdict.

"Idiot." Draco hissed angrily rolling his eyes at the man as he was let pass. "I thought Aurors are supposed to be smart."

He passed the Auror muttering how cold it was down the Azkaban cells as he pulled his cloak tighter around himself with the two vials secured and safe inside the deep pocket of his cloak.

Draco tuned away with his usual smirk and a gleam of triumph in his eyes.


	73. Chapter 73

**Author's Notes:** **ANOTHER CHAPTER!** **yes, because i've missed writing so much and because writer's block was able to stay away from quite some time.** **At the coming weekend I'm having my music recital for my students so i will be dead busy the whole week to update, edit or write anything at all so here I am gloriously blessing you all with a new chapter.** **I hope everyone is well.** **It's the stormy season in my country right now and we're enduring very cold and rainy weather everyday. so yes, i am able to write better at this condition especially at the dead hours with a coffee at hand.** **hope all is well at your end.** **lots of love always** **xx** **please enjoy the chapter and the other stories will also be updated son!** **xx**

 **Chapter Seventy One**

 **The House of Black and Malfoy**

There was a reason he left London.

He wanted to forget and he thought he was going to forget everything.

But for the everyday he spent his life even years and miles apart from London, the memories of the place never left him.

It reminded him every night in his nightmares and every waking moment.

A dream, a nightmare that consumed all his days kept coming back but he didn't know how to fix it, he didn't know what it was.

It wasn't until very recently when his godfather and Hermione Granger resurfaced into the face of the Wizarding World did he understand and realize what it could have all been, what it could have all meant – what it possibly connects.

It wasn't a dream, it wasn't a nightmare.

It all happened and it were all buried deep inside his mind.

And there was only one way to understand all of it.

Taking flight, with his new life and with a courage in his heart that would have made any Gryffindor jealous, he returned to London to face the old life he left behind and find answers of his own.

And more than three months later, the grandfather's clock at the West Wing still chimes the same way he remembers it the way it did way back ten years ago.

Almost nothing has changed.

But a decade has passed and lives have been both made and destroyed by that night the Death Eaters were given the order to ambush the Order of the Phoenix to take Harry Potter.

Draco looked up from the vials he was holding in his hand and stared at his reflection as he listened to the loud sound of the clock.

He stared back at himself as he secured the vials in his inner pocket of his cloak.

He straightened up and straightened the black collar of his clothes to keep it neck-deep.

Draco opened a drawer and stared at the Slytherin scarf and he smiled at it as his thin fingers caressed it.

He gently pulled it out but it wasn't what he had meant to take.

It was the red, old and tainted Gryffindor scarf hidden beneath his drawers that he had taken out.

It was Hermione's scarf that he had found many years ago.

The clock had stopped its chimes and Draco stared up at his reflection as he slowly placed the red scarf around his neck.

It felt not too long ago that they were at Hogwarts, not too long ago that rivalry was as trivial as a Quidditch match and the worse thing was failing from an exam.

Not from a life to be taken at Azkaban, not a life destroyed by a curse.

He bowed his head, nodding to himself as tears started to stain the side of his eyes.

Red and gold – the only colours in the almost lifeless look about him.

Draco smiled at his reflection – Gryffindor suited him well – it placed colour in the grievous aura he had.

And come to think of it, courage did look good him.

He tried to keep the tears from streaming down his face; he shouldn't be scared, it was bound to happen.

He meant to finish what he had begun a very long time ago – he meant to fix the lives he destroyed.

The Gryffindor scarf suited him well – courage looked good on him.

There were broken dreams or rather repetitive nightmare inside his head for years that never left him.

Going through the years, he got used to it understanding that it may have been his conscience eating him all those years. And despite that he felt different and he felt that they couldn't just be mere dreams, he went through with life.

And meant to endure it all until his dying day.

It wasn't long ago that he had been in the West Wing, spying on his mother, on his godfather at the night of the ambush.

It felt not so long ago and yet a decade had passed.

A decade had passed since he had destroyed the life of Hermione Granger.

He thought he had lost her forever but fate had plans and finding her was one of them.

Saving Snape's life at the last minute was perhaps another.

Draco swallowed back his tears, forcing a smile as he stared back at his reflection, looking good with the red scarf around his neck.

It was time to fix what no other soul ever knew he had done.

For he didn't even remember all of it until very recently when his mother's powerful cast of Obliviate had been broken and that is again, thanks to his godfather.

And now he remembers that the years of nightmares that have been eating him alive weren't mere dreams.

He now remembers and he remembers it all.

 _"Don't you trust me?" he asked again._

 _"_ _There's nothing else to tell, Draco." Snape firmly said. "I've told you everything that has happened and everything there is to know about the ten years."_

 _Draco only stared at him, eyes closely locked at him._

 _"_ _Look up at me." Draco coldly demanded. "Look up at me, godfather."_

 _Snape was hesitant but he looked back at Draco._

 _"_ _Put down your defenses." Draco said slowly pulling his wand out from his pocket._

 _"_ _What?" Snape quietly asked him although his eyes flickered for a swift moment over Draco's wand._

 _"_ _You heard me. Put down your defenses." Draco said placing his wand over the table where he could clearly see it._

 _"_ _This is ridiculous, Draco."_

 _"_ _Put down your defenses." Draco slowly muttered each word._

 _Snape stared at him._

 _"_ _I've already been checked by the Wizengamot and Ministry on that."_

 _"_ _I know." Draco said. "But they're not aware of the depth and strength of your power to close your mind against their power to go through it to look for evidences of the past."_

 _Snape sat there unmoving as Draco waited._

 _"_ _We are wasting time, Draco." Snape said unconsciously placing his hands across his chest._

 _"_ _Just put it down." Draco quietly said. "It's just the two of us in this room and you know that it's just me. It's just me, godfather. There's nothing to be worried about. There's nothing you have hidden in those years that you should still be ashamed of. There's nothing in those years I couldn't handle."_

 _Snape's black eyes flickered at his tone and mention._

 _"_ _I'm not worried-"_

 _"_ _Then you will show me what's in that head of yours-"_

 _"_ _They've already seen what's in my head – you already know what's in my head-"_

 _"_ _Not everything." Draco said taking the wand from the table. "I haven't seen everything. Put your defenses down and let me see through your mind."_

 _"_ _This is invasion of privacy."_

 _"_ _Invasion of privacy?" Draco incredulously asked him. "Invasion of your privacy? I'm trying to save your life!"_

 _He almost laughed._

 _Snape looked both nervous and displeased._

 _"_ _There's nothing in my head you have not yet known or have seen-"_

 _"_ _Then if there's nothing to keep from me. Let me see it all over again!" Draco said and this time his voice was hoarse, cold and demanding._

 _Snape met the eyes of the young Malfoy._

 _They were cold and impatient, almost owned once more by the boy that was pure of a Malfoy and no trace of his mother._

 _Snape looked alarmed now._

 _Draco was looking and sounding more like his father at the moment._

 _"_ _Draco-"_

 _"_ _Lower your defenses." Draco whispered standing up and slowly raising his wand and pointing it over his forehead._

 _Snape, unarmed and stunned sat there wordlessly._

 _They stared at one another as if waiting and daring the other to make their next move._

 _Snape pursed his lips and looked closely at Draco._

 _Something dark passed his expression._

 _"_ _What are you looking for Draco?" Snape slowly asked him. "You seem to be looking for an answer you already have."_

 _"_ _I don't have answers." Draco said. "That's why I'm searching for them."_

 _"_ _Something tells me it's not random answers you're looking for."_

 _Draco didn't say anything._

 _He blinked for a moment, a second thought and then he returned to his passive expression._

 _"_ _I see." Snape whispered sighing heavily and nodding at him. "You're looking for something specific." Snape whispered as his muscles relaxed as he tried to overpower Draco by means of emotions._

 _"_ _I'm not looking for something specific."_

 _"_ _You are looking for an answer you have already." Snape pointed out. "You only seem to be looking for some verification."_

 _Draco didn't say anything._

 _"_ _Tell me what you are looking for-"_

 _"_ _I will do the questioning here!" Draco suddenly yelled at him. "I am your Defense Council!"_

 _Snape's eyes widened._

 _Draco advanced, wand closer to his face and his other hand had been banged over the desk._

 _The frustration, the exhaustion and anger were suddenly all over his face._

 _He had never seen the boy this angry or frustrated before._

 _Something was taking a toll over the boy._

 _"_ _Draco-"_

 _"_ _Just tell me the truth." Draco said. "Please."_

 _He was slightly shaking now and his voice constricted in his throat in his attempt to control his anger._

 _Snape slowly reached for the wand over his face and gently held it at its end._

 _Draco kept it pointed over him._

 _"_ _How about you put your defenses down, Draco." Snape slowly instructed keeping his black eyes over his grey ones._

 _Draco didn't say anything._

 _"_ _You've said it yourself." Snape slowly said. "It's just the two of us here. Man to man. Godfather to godson. There's nothing to be kept between the two of us for we know one another more than anyone else."_

 _Draco still didn't say anything nor did he lower his wand._

 _Snape was reminded of the boy he tried to convince years ago to be helped in his mission with the Dark Lord._

 _"_ _Draco, there's nothing to keep between the two of us." Snape slowly whispered as he gently held the wand pointed over his face. "Why don't you tell me the truth?"_

 _"_ _I'm the one asking you-"_

 _"_ _Tell me what you are specifically looking for."_

 _All refinement and composure was lost from Draco._

 _He suddenly looked harassed, sleepless and frustrated._

 _"_ _I'm not your enemy." Snape softly whispered making his features a bit gentler. "I'm your godfather. I'm your ally, Draco."_

 _Snape waited in silence, watching Draco carefully as he was consumed by something he didn't yet understand._

 _And then slowly, Draco sat back down, a heavy sigh and tears in his eyes as he looked back up at Snape._

 _His godfather was confused and worried as he stared back at his godson._

 _"_ _Draco?"_

 _"_ _I've been having dreams." Draco slowly admitted to him. "Dreams. Nightmares. For years..years. They never go away. They… they keep on resurfacing."_

 _Snape stared, carefully studying the look on his face and his words._

 _"_ _What's happening to me?" Draco asked in frustration as he lowered his wand and buried his face in his hands. "Something's wrong.. something's not right… it's been there.. something's in there, in me… It won't go away. I need to understand… I need to know the truth. Please help me."_

 _Snape watched as careful tears streamed down the side of his handsome face, the look of desperation and a gleam of madness in his eyes._

 _He understood it._

 _"_ _Memories." Snape slowly answered shifting in his chair and staring at Draco's wand between them. "Forgotten memories."_

 _Draco stopped moving and he looked up at him, confused._

 _A slow but sure understanding passed both their eyes._

 _"_ _Buried memories." Draco corrected him. "Help me. Help me, godfather."_

 _His eyes drew Snape in as Draco moved his wand towards him._

 _"_ _Only you can do this." Draco wept. "Only you can do this. There's no one else as powerful as you when it comes to this kind of magic."_

 _Snape shook his head._

 _"_ _Draco, you need to understand that this kind of magic – it has complications and if we try to unbury whatever it was-"_

 _"_ _I don't care!" Draco angrily yelled at him again. "We don't have time – I don't give a damn!"_

 _"_ _Draco, calm down-"_

 _"_ _Something has been stolen from me and I need to remember!" Draco cried at him. "We both know she did it – we both know she could do anything if she willed it-"_

 _"_ _Enough of this!" Snape warned him coldly. "You will not speak of your mother this way. You're absolutely accusing-"_

 _"_ _I NEED TO REMEMBER WHAT MOTHER MADE ME FORGET!" Draco was shaking in anger as he screamed at him unable to contain himself any longer. "YOU KNOW HER! YOU KNOW HER MAGIC AND I KNOW YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT!"_

 _Snape's black eyes were wide in shock as he stared at Draco's desperate form._

 _He knew Draco could be right and knowing Narcissa himself, he was sure that Narcissa had done something again for the love of her son._

 _But Draco wasn't daft; he wasn't unintelligent like his father._

 _He knew there was something in all those years he had been having the nightmares and without all possible help to help him uncover it, he endured it convincing himself they were all but nightmare eating his conscience for all the choices and sins of his past. He ignored all of it because there was no life for him to go back to at London._

 _He felt it were all mere nightmares eating his conscience for all the choices and sins of his past._

 _And Snape didn't want to help the boy for he knew that it could ruin the boy's life._

 _For Draco was young with a future ahead of him and he knew that it was the reason Narcissa had done whatever it was she could have done this time around._

 _And he himself had come to accept into terms that his life was no longer worth saving, not worth anything and he could deal and face death now._

 _Snape was shaken out of his reverie when Draco suddenly grabbed his arms and held them tightly down the table._

 _"_ _Please." Draco cried in frustration forcing the wand in his hand. "Help me.. I need to know and I know you understand.. I've done.. I could have done something and I…I need to fix it. I need to remember."_

 _Snape stared at him, completely unwilling to help the boy because he could almost guess what could have happened that night._

 _"_ _We can't do this, Draco." Snape simply told him with a curt nod handing him back his wand. "I'm sorry. I will not allow-"_

 _"_ _No, no – you can't – you can't deny me-" he stopped him from moving away from the table. "You can't leave me this way – this is something you can do – only you can do – and you're my godfather and this –"_

 _"_ _Draco-"_

 _"_ _I cannot be mistaken." Draco pleaded. "I know there's something that isn't right here – something is missing from all of this-"_

 _"_ _I cannot help you-"_

 _"_ _These dreams – nightmares for years and years – they're just there, inside my head and they won't go away – maddening, killing me – they won't-"_

 _"_ _Draco, calm yourself down-"_

 _"_ _It's there- something in there is buried and I need you to get them out – I need your help – please, help me-"_

 _Snape glared, unable to comprehend the urgency of the burden his godson seem to relieve everyday._

 _He was curious but he wasn't sure that he should unbury whatever it was that Narcissa kept from his own son's mind._

 _"_ _Please." Draco whispered. "If you want to make things right, this is one way of undoing all the wrongs you think you've done."_

 _It took a while for Snape to answer but he sighed heavily at him with a firm nod._

 _"_ _I cannot see them, Draco." Snape slowly said. "We cannot know for sure what else Potter is planning, if they use this.. if they ever think my mind has been tampered and they see you in it, see different memories, they will attempt to take you down-"_

 _"_ _You don't need to see them." Draco interrupted him determined to convince his godfather. "There's.. there is this dark magic that reverses… aunt Bella taught it to me and I'm sure that-"_

 _"_ _I wonder how many things Bellatrix has taught you." Snape shortly said with a glint of hatred in his eyes. "And how many your mother didn't realize she was teaching you."_

 _"_ _It doesn't matter what she's taught me." Draco said positioning himself in front of Snape. "What matters is I never use any of them against anyone."_

 _Snape paused and stared at him unsure of how to respond._

 _"_ _If I reverse whatever has been taken out of your mind, there is no taking it away again." Snape fairly warned him as he touched the tip of the wand, the first time he has really touched a wand in three months that he had been imprisoned._

 _Draco nodded at him, a look of firm determination in his eyes as if he had thought of this over and over before he went to Azkaban._

 _"_ _I need to know." Draco said as he let Snape settle in front of him, placing either hands over his temples. "I'm almost sure I've done something… unforgivable."_

 _Snape's black eyes met Draco's._

 _"_ _Once done, I cannot undo it anymore, Draco." Snape gave him a final warning. "Are you sure about this?"_

 _Draco nodded at him as he remained still, waiting._

 _"_ _I cannot do this alone." Draco said closing his eyes and moving his face close to his godfather in a bow. "I need to remember. Help me make things right.. Let us make things right together for the last time."_

 _A heavy tug in his heart passed as Snape heard those words – as his godson begged him to unburden him of something he had been carrying all these years._

 _He looked at him, unwilling and unsure._

 _But he held the wand firmly with a look of reluctance in his face._

 _Draco stopped crying and stopped moving as he waited still as Snape moved him into position._

 _"_ _I will do this under one condition." Snape said as he paused and slowly made him look up at him._

 _Draco slowly opened his eyes again and nodded._

 _"_ _Anything." Draco answered him._

 _Godfather and godson exchanged unblinking glares._

 _"_ _Forgive yourself." Snape gently commanded him. "Forgive yourself for whatever it is that your mother buried deep inside your mind. You have to understand that she had done it for a reason and that is for your own good. Do you understand?"_

 _A pause then a short nod of understanding from Draco._

 _"_ _I understand." Draco answered._

 _"_ _Forgive yourself, Draco." Snape said. "You were young. You were all too young to become a victim of the war that has been." and he stilled him again and placed the tip of his wand at the left side of his temple and began to mutter nonstop under his breath._

 _Black eyes stared unblinkingly as a shot of purple light came out from the wand and straight to its master's mind._

The Daily Prophet was ready to print two headlines today:

Potter-Granger Nuptials and the trial's outcome but they were not to release the second headline until they were sure of the outcome of the case against Severus Snape.

They were going to wait for a signal, a message if the wedding would commence.

For the trial's verdict was going to depend on whether the bride appears at the wedding or not.

Should the wedding commence at its proper hour, Severus Snape's verdict would be a lifetime sentence at Azkaban. But should the wedding come to an inevitable and unpredictable turnout, his fate was clear – death sentence by execution of the Dementor's Kiss.

Kingsley looked up from the two samples of the Daily Prophet over his desk because of the knock that came.

"Minister?"

It was Remus Lupin.

"Come in, Remus, come in." he invited the man he knew too well. "Have a seat. You're early."

Lupin nodded and entered the first things he noticed were the newspapers over his desk.

"What is this?" he asked, confused for the two headlines.

"I have been sent this anonymously." he pointed over the headlines. "I think we both know who sent it."

Lupin didn't say anything as he picked up both articles.

Both showed a large photograph of Harry and Hermione from their wedding preparations where the first headlines were very the same.

The latter however differed.

"Did Harry send you this?" he asked him. "Because he has not come home from lastnight. I came here to see him."

"Potter is not in his office?" the Minister asked him as Lupin shook his head.

"We don't know where he is." Lupin answered. "We haven't seen him since sunset."

"If not him, then I will support the idea that perhaps he had someone send this in." Kingsley answered him. "The wedding is at three?"

"Yes." Lupin answered him. "You will be there?"

"Yes." Kingsley replied. "The verdict is at the same time."

Lupin stared at him, confused.

"But the Wizengamot-"

"Has all its heads present when the verdict is given." Kingsley said. "I am suppose to give a signal."

"A signal?"

A heavy look passed Kingsley's face.

"If the bride arrives." Kingsley heavily answered him. "The Wizengamot gives its verdict."

"They will await for the wedding to commence?" Lupin asked, confused.

"The final verdict will depend on the wedding's outcome." Kingsley replied. "It has taken me a while to understand why I wasn't asked to be at the verdict today. It has taken me a while to understand why a vote of eleven on twelve has already been given when it was still on the tenth trial."

"They will give a verdict with a twelve trial case not yet done?" Lupin worriedly asked.

"We're supposed to have two more, Remus." Kingsley told him. "But the evidences are hard. One way or another, Severus Snape will meet his end within the walls of Azkaban."

Kingsley stared at Lupin's confused face as he moved one of the papers towards him and opened at a particular page.

Lupin grabbed it and read fast the article that was released by the Ministry of Magic.

By Order of the High Court of the Wizengamot and appeal of Mr. Harry James Potter, the verdict would be given under ten out of twelve trials since the evidences that had been gathered were more than enough and no other witnesses were to be presented.

"Can he do this?" Lupin worriedly asked him. "Can Harry do this?"

"I'm afraid he can." Kingsley sorrowfully answered him. "The boy is a great Auror. Youngest to be head of his department. I will not be biased if I tell that he does not know his job."

"He did his best." Lupin gravely said. "He did his best to become the best."

"And he is the best one I have ever known of." Kingsley heavily sighed at him. "He had grown to be the best in the department all because of a love he had lost a long time ago."

There was silence between them as both of them thought over the years that had passed, of a boy who had given everything and yet fate had punished severely.

They thought of the boy whose whole life had been a waste for himself.

"What will happen?" Lupin asked after a while. "We can't.. Do just stand back?"

"We wait." Kingsley gravely told Lupin as he sat back in his large armchair, rubbing his temples with the tips of his fingers.

Lupin stared at him, at complete loss of words.

"The twelfth and thirteenth vote are yet to come." Kingsley slowly said looking up at him.

Their eyes met.

Lupin looked at him, a scrutinizing glare from his eyes.

"I am the thirteenth vote, Remus." Kingsley honestly told him. "I am second to the first and most important vote."

"And the twelfth?" Lupin asked him moving closer the Minister's desk. "The most important vote? Who is the last one?"

"The Head of the Wizengamot himself." Kingsley slowly answered him with a contemptuous look over his face.

"The old.. the old wizard?" Lupin slowly asked.

Kingsley nodded at him.

"Order of Merlin, First Class, Eduardus Limette Black Jr."

"Black?" Lupin interrupted him. "Do you mean the family Black?"

"Great grandson of Eduardus Limette Black Senior who had been the first wizard to be disowned in the Black family for an unknown reason." Kingsley clarified to him with a curt nod.

Lupin stared at him with an open mouthed.

He wasn't sure he knew of the man he spoke of but he recalled several people from Sirius' family tree back at Grimmauld Place that were erased by members of the family once they have been disowned.

"Related to Sirius?" he asked the Minister.

"Not just related." Kingsley confirmed to him. "A family member of the Blacks that is one closely related to Narcissa Malfoy."

"Draco knows him?" Lupin asked, eyes wide at this information they weren't sure if would be helpful or not.

The Minister nodded at him as his eyes turned away from Lupin and into the fireplace as they listened to the chime of the clock in his office as another hour had come.

"He is Draco Malfoy's great uncle." Kingsley told him. "He is closest to madame Malfoy, Draco's mother."

A look of contemplation passed both their faces.

"And we best hope Remus that Draco knows how to make good use of it."

 _"_ _Drink this tea, Draco." Narcissa firmly said as she entered the room, her footsteps echoing. "This will ease the pain in your stomach."_

 _Draco didn't move from the bed, he was facing the window as he lay crumpled on his stomach with dry tears all over his face._

 _"_ _Draco." Narcissa's voice came again but he still didn't move a muscle._

 _His eyes were bloodshot red from tears and his mind elsewhere, oblivious to Narcissa's movements in his room._

 _It was half past three in the morning and the rainstorm had continued throughout the night._

 _Draco had come home to her from a very terrible night._

 _Nothing according to his plan or even the Order and Death Eater's plans tonight had come to happen._

 _Everything had gone out of control in unexpected turn of events._

 _Narcissa stared at Draco's unmoving form._

 _He had been like that for hours and she knew that this wasn't a good sign._

 _"_ _Draco." Narcissa called him out, voice firm as she walked towards his bed. "You can't stay this way. I'm telling you to drink this tea to ease you up and help you get some sleep"_

 _Draco remained still but was wide awake and eyes staring almost lifelessly out of nowhere._

 _The Death Eaters had just ambushed Harry Potter and the Order in their attempt to transfer him to a safer location._

 _His father was there as was his aunt Bellatrix and ofcourse his godfather, Severus Snape._

 _But despite their efforts to thwart the transfer, they have come to face the Order who had come very prepared tonight._

 _He should have listened to his mother and remained at the Malfoy Manor._

 _Nothing had gone according to plan tonight and as Draco should have known better, knew he wasn't supposed to be there in the first place._

 _And he was now paying very dearly for it._

 _Narcissa was losing her patience and she turned to leave when Draco spoke._

 _"_ _I killed her." Draco very weakly whispered another tear dispensing from his eyes to the bed covers as he lay his head askew, facing the fireplace. "I killed her."_

 _Narcissa walked back to the bed staring at his son, consumed by grief._

 _"_ _This is ridiculous." Narcissa's stern voice came. "We don't know that yet. Besides, the curse is not meant to kill. You are not at fault, here Draco. We are yet to find out what it does-"_

 _"_ _Not yet." Draco said, his voice dry but his tears began to fall again. "But soon it will."_

 _Narcissa stared down at his form that had been muttering nonstop for the past hour._

 _She tried to contain herself, tried to focus and remain impassive but the state of his son was getting worse just by the hours._

 _"_ _Draco, get up." Narcissa commanded. "Get yourself up from that bed. Now."_

 _"_ _I want to die." Draco whispered in the dead air. "I want to die…"_

 _Narcissa's eyes flashed._

 _"_ _Stop it." Narcissa coldly said reaching for her son. "Draco, look at me."_

 _"_ _I want to die." Draco only repeated. "I killed her. I killed her…" his voice was shaking as he spoke, muttering more to himself and fear consuming him alive._

 _"_ _If you will follow me, you can think clearly and recall that there could be an instance where it was your aunt Bella-"_

 _"_ _I saw the light hit her." Draco whispered almost inaudibly. "I saw the light…"_

 _"_ _We don't know that." Narcissa assured her son. "We don't know that for sure. You said it yourself, everyone was firing out-"_

 _"_ _I killed her-"_

 _"_ _Stop it, this instant, Draco!" Narcissa warningly said rolling her eyes and trying to persuade him to look at her. "We don't know that for sure! We have yet to find out-"_

 _"_ _You don't understand-" he cried at her. "You weren't there – you –"_

 _"_ _You've got to calm down." Narcissa said getting to the bed and forcibly pulling him to her. "Look at me, Draco!"_

 _"_ _NO!" Draco suddenly screamed at his mother. "You don't understand – you weren't there – it was me! I saw it! I am sure of it!"_

 _His blue eyes were filled with tears and hatred and Narcissa stared back helplessly at her beloved son with utmost pain and pity._

 _She closed her eyes, inhaling deeply as she gently this time approached Draco._

 _"_ _My dear boy." she whispered. "Come, please-"_

 _"_ _Don't touch me!" Draco said shoving her hand away. "I'm not a child!"_

 _Narcissa's eyes glinted dangerously._

 _"_ _But you are my child!" Narcissa angrily cried at him. "My child, Draco! Do you hear me?!"_

 _Draco didn't say anything, he remained impassive._

 _Narcissa shook her head, tears beginning to fill in her eyes upon seeing Draco this way._

 _"_ _Please. You are my son." she moved closer to him. "I will get you through this but you need to listen to me. Please, Draco."_

 _Draco remained unmoving, revulsion of hatred for himself was written all over his face._

 _Narcissa opened her hand towards him._

 _"_ _You are my only son and I will not abandon you." she gently whispered._

 _His eyes moved from the bed then towards her mother's palm extended for him to take._

 _Their eyes met._

 _He was broken and only his mother knew that it was beyond repair._

 _A love lost is the greatest fall of all._

 _Draco suddenly choked on his own tears as he gave away to what he was feeling and he slowly crawled into her arms._

 _"_ _It was me." he cried like a child as he moved and crawled into Narcissa's open arms. "It was me. I saw the light come from my own wand, mother. It was me…"_

 _Narcissa took his hand firmly and pulled him into her arms and in a tight embrace._

 _She closed her eyes as she held him protectively._

 _He cried harder as she held him, the confirmation coming from the lips of her own son._

 _And she knew it was true._

 _"_ _Shush, Draco, my dear boy." Narcissa whispered gravely kissing Draco's blonde hair. "Sleep my child, I will not let harm come to you."_

 _Narcissa gently held him as he cried to sleep in her arms as she very gently brushed his head to calm him._

 _"_ _I will protect you, my dear boy." Narcissa whispered her eyes focused at the vast fireplace across the room while she held him. "Fear not. I will give you my life, Draco. I will do anything in my power to protect you."_

 _Draco didn't answer, he continued to cry in her arms regretting everything he had done his whole life, regretting what he had decided upon himself that ultimately became his beloved's demise._

 _"_ _I killed her." Draco cried in her arms. "I want do die… I want to die… please, let me die.. Let me die.."_

 _"_ _No, no, my dear boy." Narcissa whispered. "I'm here, I am here.. I won't let any harm come to you. I will get you through this." she whispered as she carefully and secretly pulled her wand from her pocket and gently pointed it at the back of Draco's head that she had been brushing._

 _"_ _I love you, my son. I will not let any harm come to you." Narcissa promised pressing a kiss over Draco's head as she placed the tip of her wand as gently as she could over his head with Draco very oblivious to it. "Sleep, my boy, sleep. I am here."_

 _She closed her eyes, tears restrained at the sides of her eyes as she began to hum a very soft lullaby to him as Draco closed his eyes, soft and silent tears streaming nonstop from them._

 _"_ _My only son…I will protect you, my dear boy." Narcissa whispered gravely as she deeply kissed Draco's head, she opened her eyes focused elsewhere as she embraced him tightly, protectively as light came from her wand and straight into the back of Draco's head._

 _"_ _Fear not. I will give you my life. I will do anything to protect you. Not a goddamn soul in this world will ever know of what you have."_

 _A glass crashed loudly against the wall that scattered all over the carpeted floor._

 _Narcissa swallowed hard and entered the vast sitting room of the Malfoy Manor._

 _The rain outside was heavy and the skies seemed angry, violent and punishing the land._

 _"_ _Should I ask that to be cleaned?" Narcissa asked entering and walking over the large couch where her sister sat with her wand in her hand, legs limply raised at the arms of the couch as she lay lazily over it._

 _"_ _No." Lucius answered instead. "She would like the rest of the china set sent here for her break."_

 _"_ _Better be quiet or I will not think twice of murdering you in front of your wife." Bellatrix angrily hissed at him._

 _"_ _Threatening me?" Lucius lashed back. "At my own house?"_

 _"_ _This isn't your house anymore, pretty boy." Bellatrix snapped back at him. "You've lost all rights to this household and gave it to the Dark Lord when you failed last-"_

 _"_ _Why you spoiled –"_

 _"_ _Silence!" Narcissa angrily said to the both of them._

 _Emotions were quite high as each Death Eater stayed at either the manor or at their own hiding places._

 _The ambush the previous night had been nothing but murder-spree without the luck of getting Harry Potter at all._

 _An Auror died, the blood-traitor's son was dying at the hospital while another had been severely injured, the Muggle-Born was missing and presumed dead while the rest have been injured and had been forced to retreat._

 _Other than, no sighting of Harry Potter other than vanishing in the waters of London with the Muggle-Born._

 _If she was dead, he was unlikely to survive the same fall she had endured after the fatal fall from the sky_

 _But the Dark Lord was very discontent with the outcome._

 _He doesn't want a presumable death of the boy – he wanted to kill the boy himself and each of the Death Eaters are now enduring the consequences of the failed attempt to take the boy lastnight._

 _Narcissa stared at her husband and her sister with glinting eyes._

 _"_ _Are we really going to divide amongst ourselves now?" Narcissa asked them walking with vicious glare in her eyes._

 _They both fell silent as Narcissa watched them with angry eyes._

 _Lucius slowly sat back at the armchair from the other end of the room while Bellatrix returned to her position and faced the fireplace instead._

 _"_ _How's Draco?" Lucius asked looking up at his wife._

 _"_ _Still sick." Narcissa simply answered him._

 _Bellatrix scoffed at the corner._

 _"_ _Is there anything you would like to say, Bella?" she asked her sister._

 _Her black eyes slowly turned to her, scrutinizing her own sister._

 _"_ _Are you sure that Draco has been here all night long?" she slowly asked Narcissa. "Sure that he didn't slither his way out of the manor lastnight?"_

 _Narcissa stared but there was nothing in her expression that would give away what she knew._

 _"_ _Yes." Narcissa answered. "I stayed until the late hours. He was in his room."_

 _Bellatrix stared at her sister, a sharp look in her eyes._

 _She slowly stood up and walked to her sister without breaking eye contact._

 _"_ _What are you doing?" Narcissa whispered as Bellatrix walked to her, wand in hand._

 _"_ _Look at me, Cissy." Bellatrix whispered like a hissing snake. "Look at me and tell me you're telling that truth."_

 _"_ _The truth?" she asked regretting she left her wand in her room._

 _"_ _The truth, Cissy." Bellatrix said stopping in front of her. "Your son. Was he in the manor last night or did he find a way to follow us?"_

 _"_ _I don't understand-"_

 _"_ _Bellatrix, we told you, Draco had been here the whole night.." Lucius interrupted seeing the murderous glare of the woman._

 _"_ _Silence!" Bellatrix angrily told Lucius and turning back to her sister. "Cissy?"_

 _Narcissa stared back at her and she knew that she was trying to break through her mind's barrier._

 _"_ _Don't lie to me." Bellatrix asked softly moving her face inches to her sister's. "I will ask again. Where was Draco lastnight?"_

 _"_ _Draco has been with me the whole-"_

 _"_ _DON'T LIE TO ME, CISSY!"_

 _"_ _I am not lying-"_

 _"_ _We counted heads, Cissy!" Bellatrix screamed at her face. "Greyback counted heads! And even someone as dumb as him counted fifteen Death Eaters that took flight lastnight! WHERE WAS DRACO LASTNIGHT?!"_

 _Narcissa stared at her sister, hands shaking at her side but she couldn't and would never reveal what she knew._

 _"_ _You're mad." Narcissa whispered at her wide-eyed expression towards her. "Draco was with me the whole night. He has been here – I would never let him –"_

 _"_ _Let him?" Bellatrix interrupted her. "Let him? You couldn't even control what he feels!"_

 _"_ _Because I cannot control his feelings!" Narcissa screamed back at her. "But I would never let him or allow him to leave this manor lastnight-"_

 _"_ _There were fifteen of us, Cissy!" Bellatrix crazily wailed at her. "And there were fourteen that returned! There was someone else with us lastnight! I cannot be mistaken-"_

 _"_ _Then you are." Narcissa calmly replied. "You are mistaken, Bella."_

 _There was silence between them._

 _Lucius stood standing next to the sisters while Bellatrix tried so hard to go through her sister's mind and get the truth out of her._

 _But Narcissa stood her ground._

 _She was a powerful witch but being a mother made her close to invincible._

 _"_ _If the Dark Lord finds out, Cissy I cannot vouch for you or for your son." Bellatrix slowly whispered giving up knowing that Narcissa will never tell her the truth_

 _"_ _I appreciate your loyalty to the Dark Lord, Bella." Narcissa told her sister who turned away from her. "Should our lives been different.. should circumstances allowed us…you would have become a good wife to the Dark Lord."_

 _Bellatrix stopped walking and Lucius stared at Narcissa in warning._

 _Bellatrix slowly turned to Narcissa, hand shaking with her wand._

 _"_ _What did you.."_

 _"_ _You would have been a good wife." Narcissa said unblinkingly. "Your dedication, your loyalty and love for the Dark Lord.. it almost tells me you're ready for a family of your own."_

 _"_ _I don't understand..you dare speak to me.. you dare tell me.. How could you say.. I am never.." "_

 _"_ _I am your sister. You are ready. I do know how you feel." Narcissa said walking towards Bellatrix. "And when you have a family of your own, you do understand that you would do anything – absolutely anything – to protect them. Yes?"_

 _Black eyes met grayish blue ones as the Black sisters stared deeply onto one another's eyes._

 _A gleam of understanding passed Bellatrix's face and a look of relief and acceptance from Narcissa's face._

 _An understanding between two sisters._

 _"_ _One way or another we're all going to die, Bella." Narcissa softly said walking to her and reaching for her hand. "And there's nothing I won't do to protect you."_

 _Bellatrix didn't say anything but she turned away from Narcissa with an unmistakable tears in her eyes._

 _"_ _Won't you do the same for me?" Narcissa gently asked her. "For Draco?"_

 _She waited as Bellatrix took a moment to answer but she did answer._

 _"_ _I don't know anything about what you're talking about." Bellatrix slowly answered fisting her hands at her sides without looking back. "As tonight, I don't know anything…"_

 _Narcissa sighed and nodded in relief._

 _"_ _Thank you, Bella." she said with a twinkle of gratitude in her eyes. "You will not-"_

 _"_ _I will not vouch for you or for your son.. or any of you.. should you be caught red-handed, Cissy." Bellatrix cut shortly with no hint of emotion in her voice._

 _And before Narcissa or Lucius can say anything, Bellatrix turned away, not looking back to let her sister see the tears that had ran down her cheeks before she shut the door very loudly behind her back._

"Identification?"

"Excuse me?" Draco asked with a raised tone as he took out his wand to lay on the table before the Auror.

"Identification?" the Auror repeated ignoring the look on Draco's face.

"Identification?" Draco asked again. "I'm his Defense Council-I think I've been here more than-"

"We need statement of names of everyone who will visit him today." the Auror replied taking Draco's wand and staring around it and placing it over a golden scale over his table.

"Fine." Draco snapped as he was given his wand back. "Draco Black Malfoy."

"Please leave all your belongings, Mr. Malfoy." the Auror said stopping him from walking past the perimeter to enter the hallway that would lead down the special cell where Snape was.

"I'm sorry?" Draco asked again beginning to be impatient. "What's going on? What is this?"

"Protocols, Mr. Malfoy." the Auror replied gesturing to the table for Draco to deposit all his belongings. "We are extra careful today because it is the final trial and verdict."

"Right." Draco muttered taking out a few of his documents, his wallet and watch halfway throwing everything over the table. "May I pass now?"

The Auror took all his things and placed them neatly in a small basket but halted him on his way in.

"What?" Draco asked rolling his eyes at the Auror who was eyeing his wand in his hand.

"I cannot allow your wand inside." the Auror simply told him opening his hand to take his wand.

"What?" Draco snapped losing his patience now. "What did you say?"

"You can't bring your wand inside, Mr. Malfoy." the Auror firmly repeated.

"I'm sorry?" Draco snapped turning to the Auror. "This is ridiculous. I'm his Defense Council and I'm sure there are more than four of you on my way in and probably six more before I reach my client's-"

"Please leave your wand-"

"I'm not goddamn leaving my wand-"

"Protocols, Mr. Malfoy." the Auror said blocking Draco's way inside. "Either you leave it here or you are refused entry."

Draco stared at the Auror and he knew that this wasn't going to work out this way.

"If something happens to me inside because I'm unarmed I'm fucking going to _murder_ you from my grave." Draco angrily said throwing his wand back into the table.

The Auror nodded firmly, ignoring Draco's temper and taking the wand and including it with Draco's other belongings.

"May I pass now?" Draco spat at the Auror with threat in his eyes.

The Auror stared at him, up and down and up again, looking at him as if checking if there was still anything else he could take from Draco.

"Unlike you, I don't have the luxury of time right now." Draco angrily said straightening his cloak and securing it over himself.

The Auror looked completely insulted and his eyes moved to his cloak and the Gryffindor scarf around his neck.

"What?" Draco lashed at the guard as he tightened the tie of his cloak around himself. "Don't tell me I cannot bring my cloak and scarf down there? Or are you an idiot? Do you know how fucking cold it is down here at Azkaban?"

The Auror looked like he wanted to argue further but thought better of it.

"You may pass now, sir." the Auror said with spite in his tone and muttering "Malfoys.." as he let Draco pass him by to go to the cell where Snape was transferred to await the final trial and verdict.

"Idiot." Draco hissed angrily rolling his eyes at the man as he was let pass. "I thought Aurors are supposed to be smart."

He passed the Auror muttering how cold it was down the Azkaban cells as he pulled his cloak tighter around himself with the two vials secured and safe inside the deep pocket of his cloak.

Draco tuned away with his usual smirk and a gleam of triumph in his eyes.


	74. Chapter 74

_**Author's Notes:**_

 _ **".. through hardships, to the stars…"**_ _**First and foremost I would like to thank everyone who kept coming back to check if I was still alive and if there was any update from this story.**_  
 _ **My writer's block have been extensive for this story and so much has happened since July.**_  
 _ **I managed to accomplish a successful recital for my students at that time, the 'setting down' to my own place and at another end of town was also quite good as I had been nearer my work and better incomea t the area.**_  
 _ **Some of the weeks and months have been routinary and quite monotonous that I had relapses of my depression and also a bit bad on my health at some aspects.**_  
 _ **There were so many things that has happened that became factors for me to not have enough focus to know how to continue this story.**_  
 _ **I wasn't completely on hiatus as everyone could see that I have updated the rest of my stories except for this one.**_  
 _ **This is so special to me and closest to my heart that I can't seem to put it down the right way despite that the end is just right there at the corner. Like the OC that I am, I have to brush things here and there and never finish or keep doing it all over again.**_  
 _ **But most importantly this month had been extremely difficult.**_  
 _ **As I've written in my other ANs on the other stories, my father just passed away. And though that was devastating beyond imaginable, I felt that it was a turning point, too much emotions in me that I had to let it out into a story and this story that I've been writing at the highest and lowest point in my life since I've began writing it gave a sort of fuel back to me to enable me to close this one chapter and move to the next so we can very soon go to the ending.**_  
 _ **I'm sorry i had to burst that all our here cause it makes me feel extremely depress lately.**_  
 _ **I had to miss so much into my writing and right now, my writing comforts me better than anything else in this world.**_ _**I know that everyone has been patient with me and with this story and I am grateful for all the comments. I would want to reply to everyone who made a comment but I'm too excited to post this chapter and I promise to write to everyone back.**_ _**The closer we get to the ending, the more it gets heavier for me to write as we not only go to the end and close a chapter of my life in a sense, but the weigh of the things and the last revelations become more and more difficult to reveal as if I am in the story, watching everything unfold and feeling everything that each character is feeling.**_ ___**To Ines – my bestfriend and one of my oldest readers, I have not heard from you for a while and I hope that when you read this, know that you are always in my mind as I close the last few chapters of this story where we found one another and became really good friends.**_ ___**Other than, I hope everyone at the other end of the world is doing way better than I am right now.**_ _**I love you all and despite that it is dark times at my end, I still am trying to send back love and light to everyone.**_

 _ **Chapter Seventy Two**_

 _ **Per Aspera Ad Astra**_

 _"The world does not need to know." he repeated the words to him across the table. "No soul in the world would ever find out. Do you know how much you sound like your mother at this very moment?"_

 _Draco looked away from him, guilt over his face._

 _He did not need to be reminded on how manipulative his mother was for he knew it very much._

 _It has taken him hours already and still, the bargain for which he begs his godfather won't work._

 _He thought talking to him and giving him enough good reasons to give in to him would make him understand and thus, make him surrender to his will._

 _But he won't be shaken off from the decision._

 _Sooner or later, he would have to use force._

 _"Please allow me to make things right." he repeated but he can tell that he was not interested with the bargain for which he was offering him._

 _But he looked down, avoiding his gaze as he contemplated the offer._

 _He almost had his hopes up but he shook his head to his godson._

 _"The offer is tempting and very generous, Draco." he said with a small smile. "But I have made up my mind. I have given her back her freedom and I will not take it back-"_

 _"I am not talking about hers. It's you that-"_

 _"I have lived enough." he gently interrupted him. "The curse is broken. I owe her a lifetime and I have repaid your mother with the life debt I owed her. I am a free man as it is."_

 _He didn't believe him._

 _He knew that this was his way to sway things out because he didn't believe that he deserved a good life after all those years._

 _"The curse is broken, Draco." he told him. "She is free to live her life. As you are – all of you."_

 _His black eyes bored back to him and they stared at one another for quite some time wordlessly._

 _"The marriage. That wasn't really to marry her, was it?" he suddenly asked him and for the first time, a gleam of interest was returned to him by his godfather. "That wasn't for love. That was to secure her future."_

 _"You have become sharper through time, Draco." Snape answered him with a tight nod._

 _Draco almost smiled at the compliment._

 _He straightened up over his seat across the table and nodded at Draco._

 _"I have fortune enough to last her good years to begin again." he admitted to him now that all cards were being laid over the table. "I did not mean to marry her. I needed documents to seal everything. Once my will was done, she was meant to go."_

 _He looked back at him, contemplating the events that had been._

 _"But you didn't get to marry her. That means that you were not able to seal your will to her name?"_

 _"Yes, that is true." he admitted to her. "But I always had a plan. Should that have failed, I had another set of documents for which she would inherit it all. I had her sign several things for which she did not understand before."_

 _He admired him always for his intelligence and ability not to neglect any detail._

 _"You never meant to marry her." Draco said. "It was you…It was you, wasn't it?"_

 _His black eyes moved to him as he read his thoughts clearly._

 _"Yes." he answered Draco. "I called for the Aurors that day."_

 _His black eyes returned to him as if it was something he didn't want to tell Draco but now that things were being broken down into details and death was coming his way, there was no use of hiding anything._

 _"But…" Draco began trying to find the right words. "But you.. Why would… You wanted to be found? You wanted to be caught – to be taken to Azkaban-"_

 _"Correct." Snape admitted to him once more. "But they came earlier than I had expected. Remus Lupin did not get the letter I have sent and he was meant to read. The night before the wedding, I had taken down all the wards of the island and the wards around the perimeter of the cottage and days before that, I had signed us up at a public records. I knew that someone in that location used to work at the Ministry of Magic."_

 _The truth seemed too heavy or him to take in at that moment but it were all flowing towards him like an uncontrolled water dam._

 _He had hunches according to all the records and testimonial he had been studying for the case and now that it were all coming out from his godfather's mouth, he knew that he had completely given up with life._

 _He had always meant to bring her back._

 _But things always got in the way and for a final attempt because he was sure that Hermione was never going to go back to the outside world as a decision of her own he had to content himself to devise a plan for it._

 _He may have wanted her all those years and had kept her but it was so obvious that he had been indecisive if he wanted to keep her or give her back the life she was supposed to have anyway._

 _He had loved her and that wasn't a question._

 _But he was also just a man who was conflicted of his own life._

 _Nevertheless he always meant to bring her back and this truth was evidence enough._

 _He was right that they were no longer bounded by the curse and for it, he was willing to give back her life and go die alone in Azkaban with the same guilt he was having inside of him that was growing like a monster within as days were passing._

 _"But why would you do that?" he asked him as he could no longer contain himself, he reached over and grabbed him by the collar of his prison clothes. "Why would you do that to yourself?!"_

 _He looked calmly back up at him, undisturbed by his actions towards him._

 _Draco looked as conflicted as ever._

 _"Did Narcissa's love never taught you anything?" he asked Draco looking back at him._

 _He looked back at him, angry with himself and for one moment, angry with his mother who had weaved all these together._

 _And then he understood what he was trying to say – he was only trying to put to right all the wrongs that had ever been the way he wanted them to be. ._

 _"Per aspera, ad astra.." Draco whispered back to him as he unclenched his fingers from around his clothes and moved back at him, eyes never leaving Snape._

She possibly regretted most of the things that has happened in the past several hours but right now, there was nothing she could do.

She couldn't shake the feeling that the last words that she had given Snape were probably the last words he would ever have heard from her.

Did she regret it?

No, not really.

Because she felt like unburdening herself of all the years she had been carrying those truths inside her soul, to enable herself to scream all her frustrations and anger right at his face while he waited for an inevitable death at Azkaban - made her feel whole again – and most importantly, made her feel for the first time in ten years that she was back and in control.

She felt she was in control of her life once more.

Draco was right to tell her that she had so much hatred and angered buried inside of her and he had helped her expel it all out towards the man that made her life a living hell.

He made her survive, he helped her live through the war but the exchange had been great – a life was taken.

 _Therefore, a life must be taken in return._

Hermione looked back at her beautiful reflection by the mirror and a glint, a spark – a fire of life of some sort – appeared before her eyes that has not been there since the day that she had set Snape's black robes on fire many years ago.

"A penny for your thoughts?"

Hermione's eyes widened momentarily and all the anger and burning fire in them vanished.

It quickly replaced with a soft gaze, a sad look about her face.

"Something wrong?" Fleur asked her as she entered the room seeing the surprised look over her face.

"Nothing." Hermione answered, eyes down. "Any word from Draco?"

"Nothing as well." Fleur answered her back. "I'll help you with your hair."

She walked behind Hermione who was donned in a nightdress and bathrobe before wearing her wedding dress.

"Something is going on out there, isn't it?" the bride had asked, curious and trying to meet Fleur's eyes.

"There is always something out there." Fleur simply answered her as she handed her a small chart of the things that were done for the wedding and who were tasked to do which and what.

The wedding preparation had taken too fast of a toll but everything had been done nicely and just on the right time.

Mrs. Weasley and Ginny were somewhere in the hotel floor checking the main guest list and anything else that was needed to be prepared for the wedding.

Harry had paid for a whole hotel floor with atleast twenty rooms for the Weasleys, for Bill and Fleur, for Hermione and for himself, for Lupin, one for the Minister of Magic and other excess rooms for clothes and supplies for the wedding.

 _And the clock was ticking but the groom was nowhere to be found._

Hermione stared back at her reflection and at the newspaper article that came out that morning.

Severus Snape's trial was cut off and a verdict was going to be given within the day – at precisely the same time of her wedding.

He was obviously going to be given the final verdict after her vows with Harry.

He made sure that vows were to be made and sealed right before he gives the signal on Snape's fate

She bit her lip, trying not to think of the ticking time.

Draco Malfoy was nowhere to be found.

He had promised her that he would do something for her, that he would save her from all of these and ensure that Snape lives.

But she had not heard from him, not a note even.

It wasn't the Draco she knew of.

And the missing groom and the no-show of Draco hours into the wedding told her that something was not right.

"Harry's still nowhere?" she asked unable to stop herself from doing so.

"It's tradition that the groom doesn't show up before the bride-to-be right before the wedding." Fleur said gathering strands of hair behind her back to try out how she would do Hermione's hair. "I didn't see Bill until we were ready to take our vows down that aisle."

Hermione quietly nodded and even if Fleur knew she didn't buy her little story, she didn't say anything else.

"Fleur, what if.." Hermione began unable to take her mind off from all of it. "What if-"

"Harry's coming for sure." Fleur simply cut her short. "It's impossible that he does not show up. Now, hold still 'Mione, I'm trying to fix it right back here."

"And no word from Draco?"

Fleur stopped moving her hand around her hair and kept it high up in a gentle tug.

She looked as frustrated as she was but she tried to remain calm as it is.

"Things will be alright." Fleur simply told her. "Harry will show up, you'll here from that Malfoy boy and Snape…"

She had stopped as she wasn't sure what to tell Hermione knowing that she was thinking anyway what the rest of the world thought that Snape deserves.

"I'm sorry." Hermione had said shortly looking back at the mirror at herself. "I should not pressure everyone.."

"I'm sorry too." Fleur said and gently this time, she began combing her hair. "I know this is not easy but we're trying to remain as it is. I know you're worried."

"For both of them." Hermione answered. "For the both of them."

"He'll be fine." Fleur answered her. "He'll come. I don't think he'll prepare for something as grand as all these to bail at the end of the line."

Hermione looked back at her and nodded, her eyes back on the paper a few inches from her.

She didn't really want any of them to suffer or die by the decisions and consequences that were from the past.

But right now something felt terribly wrong and she was sure that death was coming if not towards one of them, then all of them.

She didn't understand why she had to suffer all these for a love that was never and one that was never meant to happen either.

Harry was right – fate had been cruel to them all and it was now going to take another life for sure.

Snape was no different either – he always knew that things would never end up as a happy ending but nevertheless, he loved her and protected her despite it all.

But he took her life and in return for his protection and so-called love, he took the life she was meant to live with Harry away and so much hatred in that reality was consuming her at the moment for the life that was now being forced to her.

And Draco.

He seemed the only person now who does have the good intention for her so it wasn't going to make sense if he was just going to abandon her.

She never really knew Draco and yet she felt that she trusted him more than she now trusted the other two.

He had never been kind to her in their growing up life but he was sure making amends beyond necessary.

Where was he exactly?

It worried her.

She couldn't lose Draco.

Not after everything and not now more than ever.

Hermione sighed heavily as she stared back at her reflection.

No, Harry was not going to bail out on her.

Never.

He had always wanted to marry her and always wanted to be with her.

That decision was made clear more than ten years ago and she knew that wasn't going to change.

She knew of his determination up to the last time she had seen him.

He was willing to do whatever it takes to marry her and that was a positive thought and a threat to her all the same time.

Unless something truly riveting has changed, Harry would never abandon her on their wedding day of all days.

There was a sound of a movement, a thug and something painful behind his neck.

There was a feel of air about his face and the smell of something akin to ocean water.

And then there were the sound of waves.

"Mr. Malfoy?"

A voice that sounded far came but the name he heard was clear.

He knew that name, he knew it somehow.

"Mr. Draco Malfoy?"

The voice was reluctant and was seemingly doubtful of something.

He tried to move but he felt like his whole body had recoiled or was recovering from something heavy or some damage.

He could barely move a muscle with the pain over his body but he could move.

He could try to move and get up from wherever he was lying on.

What has happened exactly?

"He's fine, get him up, get him up." the voice commanded in a hurry.

Two pairs of hands claimed him and gently dragged him off from the floor.

No sooner than he expected, he had been taken into a room or had suddenly felt the comfort of bed.

It has been a long time since he felt this comfortable.

"Should we call his family or something?" asked a voice.

"He doesn't have a family anymore." answered a firmer voice. "He does not have friends?"

"He is the same as Mr. Harry Potter's year at Hogwarts." some small voice answered. "But I doubt they've been friends."

"Can't we just contact anyone?" asked a frustrated voice. "What the hell was he doing out there?

"Maybe drunk." answered the other voice. "Losing this case was definitely at toll on him. I heard he was good but I guess he couldn't save this one client."

"Of all the clients he couldn't save." commented another. "Aren't they related?"

"You mean they were both Death Eaters?" answered another.

"I mean related like relatives." sarcastically answered another voice.

"I know he's the godfather." answered the voice with command. "His father took his life and well, his mother has also long gone. He doesn't have anyone. Now get this done because I don't want paperwork."

 _'He doesn't have anyone…'_

Why did that phrase sound too hurtful? Too real?

"What's going on.." he tried to speak but only very little amount of voice came about from him. "What's going.. help.."

It didn't sound right.

Not his words, but his voice.

"Mr. Malfoy!" one of the voices exclaimed and he felt bodies nearing the bed he was on. "Mr. Malfoy, can you hear us?"

He groaned audibly and the movements around him gave him the feeling that he was being taken somewhere or being tended to with the pain around his body.

"Draco?" an old woman's gentle voice called his name out. "I'm a Healer and we will try to help you out. Do you remember who did this to you?"

He tried to answer but he couldn't find his voice.

He tried to swallow hard and clear his voice and tried as hard as he could to keep his mind steady, to focus and to think clearly.

Something didn't feel right.

No, something didn't sound right.

"Mr. Malfoy?" asked the firm voice again. "Do you remember who did this to you?"

He could move better but slower and although he felt that his throat felt normal again and maybe he can speak again, he couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong.

He was being moved around and he felt every bit of his skin was being touched or checked as if they were looking for something.

"No other injuries?" the woman's voice asked. "Anything else? Check his pulse. Just check everything."

There were sounds of rush and he was being moved again as hands checked around his arms and wrists, his pulse over his neck and voices counting several things after another.

"Draco.." he croaked out.

Everything sounded normal.

Everything except for one.

His voice didn't sound like his voice and neither did it feel like it.

He tried to focus, to think what has occurred in the past several hours but his mind felt clouded or rather blocked with something.

He was forcing himself to move by the moment and to think deeper, think better.

Something was clearly not right.

His mind raced, reeling back and forth into what was happening and what he was trying to recall that seemed taken from his head or was being blocked.

 _Draco Malfoy._

He was being called Draco Malfoy.

But that didn't sound right.

"Is he going to be alright?" asked a softer voice this time around. "Is there really nobody we can alert about him? What the hell was he doing out there?"

There was definitely a crowd around him now.

"He's fine." another answered. "Must have been knocked out. He needs to stay on the bed for a few more hours or so. I need to put bandages over his little cut here."

He felt a finger run around his temple.

"But will he make it into the trial?" asked the voice. "The verdict is in a few hours' time, isn't that?"

"It's not like he can still do anything about it. The verdict will be given and I think the world knows what it will be."

There was silence around the room except for the sound of movements of the people around him.

"And Severus Snape will die?" asked the voice.

Another pause.

"Yes." answered the other. "Severus Snape will surely be sentenced to death."

Severus Snape will die.

Death.

Snape.

Severus Snape.

He knew that name.

He knew that name much better than the other name.

He knew that name better than anyone else's simply because that was his name.

And out of the haze, the sounds and the confusion around him, he felt like reality had slapped him out of the current reverie he was floating in.

He was out of the limbo in a snap.

 _"I need to go.._ " he gasped suddenly struggling to get out of the bed. "I need to…"

The moment he got up, he felt all hands over him, trying to calm him down, voices echoing after another upon seeing the panicked rushing to him and his struggle to get off the bed and get the wires off him.

He barely heard himself as he complained and struggled against the pair of hands trying to get him back down.

" _Mr. Malfoy, please_!" one of the voices pleaded. "We need to heal your wounds and the cut around your head. Please calm down!"

"Malfoy – I'm not -" he croaked out trying to open his eyes better to refocus his visions. "What are you – Draco – _where's Draco_?"

"Mr. Malfoy, please stay still." a voice commanded and he felt something sharp at the side of his arm and he knew he was being sedated back to calm down. "Draco, please. Calm down. We'll help you out. You'll get to the verdict of your godfather."

Something was wrong with that phrase.

But he wasn't sure what to say or think.

Thoughts and words were all barred inside his head that he could barely form words and speak what was on his mind.

"Help me.." he croaked out as his visions refocused as the same time he felt his body weakening. "Help me get…No, I'm not… No… this.. this isn't… I'm not.."

His voice was weak and soft.

But his eyes could see better by the moment.

He was in a white room and that affirmed the thought that he was in a sort of infirmary.

And the people around him were obviously Healers as he would take to assume.

"Snape.." he suddenly blurted out unable to understand why. "Snape."

Another pause around him and even movements were halted.

"Mr. Malfoy?" asked a voice and he felt a gentle hand reach over his left hand.

Something didn't feel right about his left hand as the hand came over to help him out to settle better over the bed.

"Mr. Malfoy, you'll be alright." assured the voice. "We'll get you better in a few and you can go to your godfather's verdict today. But you have to remain calm."

"I'm.." he tried to say more but his eyes caught attention on something around the room. "I am.. I don't.. "

A spark and glint that came from a mirror came to take his attention.

His eyes narrowed, he had glimpsed something different, something wrong.

"Mirror.." he suddenly asked, heart beginning to race as his mind felt corrupt at the moment to comprehend what he had just scene and what he was hearing or feeling all around him. "Mirror…"

"Mr. Malfoy?" the Medi-Witch next to him asked in confusion looking at her other colleagues.

He moved about the bed, trying to get farther to reach to the mirror across the room.

"Sedate him again." a voice gently advised. "I don't think the first infuse was going to do any - _Mr. Malfoy!"_

The Medi-Witches gasped as in one strong thug and push, he pushed himself off from them and off from the bed.

He staggered as he hit the floor very painfully.

He cried out in pain but he struggled to get up, to move forward, right across the room.

The people around him panicked at what he tried to do but he pushed every hand that came on him and everybody that came closer to him.

He focused his attention across the room where a hospital mirror hung widely and clearly.

He staggered as he pushed and fought his way towards the opposite wall.

His heart was beating faster as he moved closer to the mirror, his voice stuck in his throat and his head spinning in great pain at what he was seeing.

 _It was impossible._

It was terribly impossible.

And it was horribly wrong.

He felt he was dragging the hospital robes and wires connected to him and he struggled to remove the bandages around his head as he staggered and reached the opposite wall.

He held up his shaking body and shaking hands.

His eyes narrowed in fear.

 _These weren't his hands._

This body didn't feel like his body.

And just like that, reality had hit him hard.

"No.." he gasped loudly in fear as the realization came and washed all over him as he fell forward the wall opposite him and held himself up by landing both hands over the wall where the mirror was.

He barely had enough time to really comprehend the situation but he had enough time to see his reflection very clearly before two pairs of hands dragged him away from the mirror.

He must have been screaming inside or loudly out of fear.

But he was screaming.

And then a sharp pain was shot twice at his left arm as a strong type of sedative was infused right at him.

He felt his visions blurring, his head spinning horribly and his fingers weakening very fast as if life was leaving his body in a mili-second phase.

But before he lost consciousness he was goddamn sure of one thing.

As he stared at his reflection, he knew that it wasn't a pair of black eyes he was seeing nor long, lanky and dirty raven hair.

"Mr. Malfoy, please calm down." an echo of a voice came. " _Please, Draco.."_

What he saw was golden sleek of blonde hair and not a pair of black eyes stared back at him at the reflection.

The horrible truth that was akin to a nightmare began to sink in him.

"What have you done.." he thought miserably and out of anger as the sedative took strong effect on him and he found his visions blurring and his body giving up. " _What have you done, Draco…"_

Instead in its place, a pair of beautiful gray-blue eyes – wide and terrified – stared back at him at the very brief moment that he had the chance to look upon his reflection that he thought was his own.

He waited in silence, in batted breath.

He lay in the darkness of the Azkaban cell and he knew that as the minutes ticked by, moving moment by moment closer to three in the afternoon, he knew that he had come into the right choice.

This was the right choice.

No, this was the only choice.

It had begun with him and it was right that it should end with him as well.

He remembers everything now and he knew that because of love, this weave of events took place – dragging along souls that weren't supposed to be dragged in and definitely destroying the lives of more than one person.

He knew his mother love him deeply.

But that wasn't love or the love that he knows to be true.

He would never be able to talk to her again but he forgives her for what she has done for she was his mother.

And he could hardly blame her for what she had done.

It was a mother's love – and how wrong she may have been – her love definitely knew no boundaries.

Was it a sin to love that much?

No, he didn't think so.

And that is why he was there, in the place where he should not have been – where he should never have to be.

He took the place of a man whom he knew deserve a life after all of what he had endured even in the early years of his life.

His godfather may not have been completely innocent, but he knew that he does not deserve to die horribly at the hands of the Dementors.

He mostly didn't have a choice in his life and he was going to give him the same fate – only this time, the advantage was his and not of another's.

His godfather deserve to live a life with or without Hermione Granger.

And Hermione, his beloved Hermione.

She would survive.

She would live a life again and she would return to her old self – he was sure of it.

She was a survivor and she would survive herself and the present predicament she was in.

He was sure that Harry would take good care of her and upon the realization that will soon dawn on his godfather, he was assured that he wouldn't let Harry Potter harm her.

She was going to be safe no matter the outcome and consequences of his choices.

She would soon live a better life.

And he would then be at peace of himself knowing that he had rewritten fate and righted all the wrongs that have been.

A forbidden love, his forbidden rapture towards the Muggle-Born he had fallen in love with had begun and caused all of this and he was going to make things right.

That love had caused so much pain that it was impossible to forgive the past so he was going to rewrite the future that was meant to happen while it hasn't yet.

One broken soul had caused so much damage that it broke all others.

But it should and would not remain that way any longer.

He was going to save Hermione's life as well as his godfather's and by doing so, he could finally be at peace to forgive himself.

And maybe someday, in some land of reverie, his own mother would learn to forgive him for what he was about to commit.

He had lived not a perfect life but it was good enough to have the chance to let Hermione know how much he loves her.

"Per aspera, ad astra…" he whispered to himself as he repeated the mantra in his head to calm himself, to remain focused at what he must do and what must be done.

Draco looked up from the Azkaban cell, garbed in prisoner clothes, long dark and lanky hair across his face and longer thinner physical features greeted the Azkaban Auror guard when he opened the gates of his cell.

He looked at the figure before him, no sadness nor emotion towards the man he was to take out of the cell to be brought about to his destiny.

 _"It's time_." the Auror simply said walking inside and another pair of Aurors walking behind him to take him out of his seat.

He didn't say anything nor did he meet their eyes.

He didn't even do anything and even adjusted his wrist as they bounded him magically away from the cell and bounded him the way prisoners were held when they were to be taken out of the cell.

"If you try anything, we have been given permission to kill you."

One of the guards warned him showing their wands at his face

He still didn't say anything.

Ofcourse that wasn't true.

He knew protocols and if he does try something, all they were allowed to do was stun him and use a very powerful spell to attack him but not kill him.

But it wasn't like he can still do anything.

Snape's physical form had been very weak after spending months in Azkaban and without a wand, his magic and skills were being drained down.

And those features would be left in the body and be taken in by the new bearer of it.

Draco stood up, a glint in his eyes as he focused on the stone floor he was walking onto from Snape's Azkaban cell.

Life had given him too much and too little at the same time.

He had grown comfortable into the life he knew he did not or never deserved at all.

It was time to give what wasn't his to begin with.

Draco Malfoy nodded at the guards and slowly looked up, face and chin up, bravery written all over his face as he began to be walked out of the cell.

He closed his eyes for a moment, a curt nod and a very small smile creased and appeared at the side of his lips.

This was his fate.

He was going to embrace it for better or for worse.

And he didn't want fear to consume him any longer.

Tears consumed the side of his face but he ignored it.

Ofcourse he was afraid.

Not of death, but of never having to see her again and bid her goodbye.

She was never going to see the light in her eyes and the bright life she had always been.

He was afraid of never going to see her again but he knew that life had been to kind to him for all the crimes he had committed and escaped from.

It was time to repay debts.

It was indeed time.

He was about to die.


End file.
